Alessandro de Tullio has secured his first victory in the Indy Nxt category in the second race held at Barber Motorsports Park, where he withstood the pressure from Max Taylor until the end of the competition.
The AJ Foyt Racing driver had been on the verge of winning the first race of the weekend, but an incident with Taylor cost him the victory. This time, both drivers maintained a steady pace throughout the race, with no significant incidents, and de Tullio managed to cross the finish line with a lead of 0.3635 seconds.
De Tullio, who started from pole position for the third consecutive time, held the top spot during the first lap. Nikita Johnson, who began in third position, had a great start and passed Taylor to move into second place, but he could not hold that position for long. Taylor reclaimed second place on the next lap, resuming his fight with de Tullio.
The two leading drivers could not distance themselves from Johnson for most of the race. Although they managed to open a small gap over the third-placed driver, Johnson quickly closed that distance. The thrilling battle between the drivers left little room for errors, and Taylor preferred not to risk with daring maneuvers. There were few opportunities to attempt to overtake de Tullio, who had an impeccable race, thus securing his first victory of the season.
Behind them, Enzo Fittipaldi kept the pressure on Johnson in the final laps. Fittipaldi had to defend his fourth place against his HMD Motorsports teammate, Tymek Kucharczyk. In the final laps, Kucharczyk had an interesting duel with Jordan Missig, which allowed Fittipaldi to focus on chasing Johnson. Ultimately, there were no opportunities for an overtaking, and Fittipaldi had to settle for fourth place.
Missig managed to briefly overtake Kucharczyk in the fight for fifth position, but Kucharczyk regained the position in the next turn, thus keeping his points in the standings.
Among other incidents, driver Josh Pierson lost positions at the start of the race and, as the competition progressed, had a slight collision with Salvador de Alba while fighting to enter the top 10. This resulted in a penalty for Pierson, who fell further back in the standings.
Regarding the overall standings, Bryce Aron was one of the drivers who gained the most positions, rising from 11th to 7th place, ahead of Juan Manuel Correa and Jack Beeton. Seb Murray rounded out the top 10.
Race results (30 laps)
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
| — | — | — | — |
| 1 | Alessandro de Tullio | AJ Foyt Racing | 36m39.2778s |
| 2 | Max Taylor | Andretti Global | +0.3635s |
| 3 | Nikita Johnson | Cape by ECR | +1.4774s |
| 4 | Enzo Fittipaldi | HMD Motorsports | +2.0964s |
| 5 | Tymek Kucharczyk | HMD Motorsports | +2.6203s |
| 6 | Jordan Missig | Abel Motorsports | +3.1550s |
| 7 | Bryce Aron | Chip Ganassi Racing | +4.1242s |
| 8 | Juan Manuel Correa | Cusick Morgan Motorsports | +4.7372s |
| 9 | Jack Beeton | HMD Motorsports | +16.8006s |
| 10 | Seb Murray | Andretti Global | +17.2904s |
| 11 | Salvador de Alba | HMD Motorsports | +22.4758s |
| 12 | James Roe | Chip Ganassi Racing | +23.8261s |
| 13 | Matteo Nannini | Cape by ECR | +25.9879s |
| 14 | Josh Pierson | Andretti Global | +29.7263s |
| 15 | Nicolas Stati | Cusick Morgan Motorsports | +30.2449s |
| 16 | Lochie Hughes | Andretti Global | +30.3755s |
| 17 | Ricardo Escotto | Juncos Hollinger Racing | +31.5668s |
| 18 | Colin Kaminsky | Abel Motorsports | +31.9267s |
| 19 | Nicholas Monteiro | AJ Foyt Racing | +33.4745s |
| 20 | Niels Koolen | Chip Ganassi Racing | +33.9445s |
| 21 | Carson Etter | Chip Ganassi Racing | +47.6990s |
| 22 | Alexander Koreiba | Juncos Hollinger Racing | +48.4994s |
| Ret | Myles Rowe | Abel Motorsports | |
| Ret | Max Garcia | Abel Motorsports | |
Fastest lap: Fittipaldi, 1m12.5465s
Championship standings 1 Johnson 168 2 Taylor 145 3 Kucharczyk 135 4 Fittipaldi 129 5 de Tullio 108 6 Correa 97 7 Hughes 92 8 Missig 92 9 Rowe 87 10 Murray 86
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
