Photo: James Black
Lochie Hughes almost crashed out of Indy Nxt’s first race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway last weekend, which he actually ended up winning.
The Andretti Global driver led every lap en route to his maiden victory, but got caught out by the final corner on IMS’s road course in a way that almost sent him into retirement as he hit the outside wall with his front and rear-left tyres.
Turn 14 is a right-hander that starts flat then becomes slightly cambered as it joins the banking of what is turn one of the oval. It then flattens out again once drivers are on the pit straight.
“By the look of it it looked like a pretty easy race, but it wasn’t. That’s for sure!” said Hughes after claiming victory.
“It was tough around here, with different conditions throughout the day, with practice and qualifying and just trying to manage the tyres throughout the race. I had a few moments; ended up actually clipping the wall a little bit there.
“I went to touch the push-to-pass and sort of had a snap and the wheel came out my hands a little bit. And then clipped the wall. It was actually a bit of a hard hit, but I hit it pretty square. So got away with that one, otherwise I would have looked like a bit of a fool. Great to get the win finally.
“Obviously Dennis [Hauger, Andretti team-mate] has been dominating lately, so to go to a track I know a bit more, and a place where I drove the car for the first time, and to have a good result is pretty good.”
Hughes was concerned about damage after his wall hit, adding: “There was two laps there where I was just going around going ‘please, nothing be broken!’. It was a little bit bent, but she pulled through.”
Aside from his own mistake, Hughes had to handle restarts following caution periods to make it to the finish in first place.
“It was just frustrating, really. Because I always a built a gap and was managing it, and then another restart bringing everyone back together. And with turn one here, you never quite know what’s going to go on, even if you get a perfect restart. So there’s always a chance of something out of your control happening into there.
“Just happy to lead all the laps and finish the race. I was counting down the laps, to be honest, the whole race.”
Hughes finished second in race two the next day, and the reigning USF Pro 2000 champion now sits second in the Indy Nxt standings with four podiums from four races. Should he make the podium in the next race in Detroit, he will be the first driver to start a season with a five-race run of top-three finishes since Spencer Pigot in 2015.