IndyCar: Hughes Wins INDY NXT Race at WWTR

Andretti  Global’s Lochie Hughes (pictured) took the lead from Caio Collet on Lap 62 and managed to keep the lead after weaving through lap traffic to win the INDY NXT by Firestone race today at World Wide Technology Raceway.  This is the second win of this season for the young Australian.

” I don’t really know what to say. Still kind of in shock. Really just so far behind in the beginning there. The car balance wasn’t feeling great. It wasn’t till we got to traffic and I
started, I didn’t really care anymore because I was in sixth.’

“Just started running the high line. Oh, there’s some grip out here. Yeah, kept the foot into it.  Got a little bit better with how I was using it.  We were in the lead.”

 “It’s like an Eminem song: Around the Outside.”

Myles Rowe, driving for Abel Motorsports, finished in second place, his best result of the season to date.  This was his third podium finish of the young American’s career in the series.

“I am so grateful to be on the podium. Especially on Father’s Day. For sure I we wanted a
little bit more. I think we could have done a little bit more. But Lochie came on quite surprisingly in the end, could make the high line work, especially in 3-4, which was the hardest part of the track to make that high line work. With it naturally being a flat-out corner, being able to stay up there and keep your foot in it is very important. We were
struggling with that.”

 “We were very loose especially as the race went on. The high line there in 3-4 is quite hard to manage, at least passing around the outside or making it faster than staying on the inside with a loose car rather than staying under the rubber.”

“Yeah, missed it a little bit there. For sure we’ll look at data and video and see what we could have done a little bit differently.”

Caio Collet of HMD Motorsports managed to take the lead on Lap 4 from the INDY NXT  Championship leader, Dennis Hauger, and held the lead until Lap 62.  This is Brazilian’s third podium of the last four races.

“After the first few laps I thought we had a pretty good car and pretty good race going on. Everything was settled.”

“But I think towards the end of the race, once we started hitting traffic, I started to really lose the balance. I think we took a gamble with downforce before the start of the race. Yeah, by lap 25, 30, I said, Okay, it’s a little bit tough to drive, but let’s see if we can make it to the end.’

‘Finally when we hit traffic, I was really stuck and I couldn’t really move on. I think it’s where Lochie came by me. I didn’t even see him. After the last 15 laps, I was just trying
to survive and finish the race. Really tough.”

“I think we had a great car the whole weekend. Wrong decision, I think we definitely missed out on the win. In general, I’m happy with what we did in the race. The race, after leading 58 laps, was tough to lose. We’ll move on.”

Andretti Global’s Dennis Hauger finished in fifth place today on his oval track debut, retaining the points lead.  The Norwegian is 19 points ahead of his teammate, Lochie.

This was the first caution-free race in three years.   There were 165 on-track passes, a new record.

Race Results

Lucille Dust reporting live from WWTR