In an exciting weekend at Barber Motorsports Park, Nikita Johnson achieved his second victory in the Indy Nxt category after his rivals Alessandro de Tullio and Max Taylor collided just nine laps from the end of the competition.
De Tullio had led much of the race, but started feeling the pressure from Taylor in the closing laps. Shortly after the collision between both drivers, Johnson was able to avoid the chaos and positioned himself at the front of the race just before the safety car was deployed.
The competition resumed for five laps, during which Johnson managed his lead and crossed the finish line as the winner, thus securing his second victory of the season.
The day began with another incident, when on the first lap Josh Pierson was sent to the gravel after a collision with Juan Manuel Correa and Seb Murray. After a few minutes behind the safety car, the race resumed, at which point de Tullio and Taylor were able to create a small advantage over Johnson, who remained in third place.
Over time, Taylor managed to close the gap with de Tullio, until in an attempt to overtake him, Taylor’s front wheels touched the rear of de Tullio, causing both drivers to spin out of the race, allowing Johnson to capitalize and move ahead.
After these incidents, Johnson remained in front despite Enzo Fittipaldi‘s attempt to close the distance in the final laps. Ultimately, Fittipaldi and Tymek Kucharczyk completed the podium, achieving second and third places, respectively. Enzo Fittipaldi has achieved his second consecutive second position in this race, while Kucharczyk has recorded his third third place of the season.
The fourth place went to Max Garcia, who defended his position against Myles Rowe, while Jordan Missig finished sixth. Ricardo Escotto made a good start and managed to finish seventh. The classification was completed with Bryce Aron, Jack Beeton, and Nicolas Stati in the top 10.
Race Results (35 laps)
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nikita Johnson | Cape by ECR | 47m05.1376s |
| 2 | Enzo Fittipaldi | HMD Motorsports | +0.7687s |
| 3 | Tymek Kucharczyk | HMD Motorsports | +1.1357s |
| 4 | Max Garcia | Abel Motorsports | +3.0952s |
| 5 | Myles Rowe | Abel Motorsports | +4.1444s |
| 6 | Jordan Missig | Abel Motorsports | +4.6248s |
| 7 | Ricardo Escotto | Juncos Hollinger Racing | +7.0911s |
| 8 | Bryce Aron | Chip Ganassi Racing | +7.9362s |
| 9 | Jack Beeton | HMD Motorsports | +8.3785s |
| 10 | Nicolas Stati | Cusick Morgan Motorsports | +9.8045s |
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
SourceID: SRC_bfb6b72f66ea07bd55280ae2860485a0f753a8d1