Jacob Abel breaks Indy Nxt victory duck at Barber Motorsports Park

Jacob Abel claimed his and his family’s Abel Motorsports team’s first Indy Nxt victory by holding off Nolan Siegel in round two of the season at Barber Motorsports Park.

The 23-year-old made his debut in 2022, and then in 2023 claimed his first podiums and maiden pole position. A second pole came this weekend at Barber after also topping both practice sessions, with victory capping off an excellent event.

Siegel spent the 35-lap race within attacking distance of Abel, who soaked up the pressure to win by 1.3326 seconds.

The top two were mostly alone through the race. An early caution period, caused by Yuven Sundaramoorthy stopping on track, brought the rest of the field back onto their tail but it was not long before they broke away again.

James Roe Jr briefly closed in to make it a three-car fight at the front, only to drop back into a battle with Caio Collet for third.

Midway through the race, Siegel was able to get alongside Abel from turns five to turn seven and that proved to be the closest he would get to being in the lead. He was denied a chance to attack Abel in the last two laps due to a full course yellow caused by Jamie Chadwick beaching her car in the gravel.

Roe held off Collet for third, and Louis Foster came through from the back of the grid to finish fifth. Electrical problems had hampered Foster through practice and qualifying, but they did not seem to recur on his car during the race. He rose from 21st to 12th before the caution period, and made up another two positions on the restart.  

It was not long before Foster was directly behind Chadwick, who was running sixth with a small gap to Bryce Aron ahead. Chadwick was able to close the gap while also defending against Foster. Myles Rowe would make it a four-car fight for fifth.  

Chadwick had been attempting a move past Aron when she made slight contact with the kerbs at turn one and was sent into the gravel. Aron later dropped to eighth on the final lap behind Foster, Rowe and Michael d’Orlando.

Further back, Reece Gold spent much of the race leading a train of drivers in 10th place. He lost out late on, falling behind Callum Hedge and Salvador de Alba.

Race result (35 laps)