Round 7 of the 2025 IndyNXT season is done and dusted at Road America, and it was another strong result for Tony Quinn Foundation Ambassador Callum Hedge, who sealed his fifth Top Ten finish of the season! Let’s see how his weekend unfolded.
Callum headed into Road America in good form, having scored a solid seventh-place finish last time out at World Wide Technology Raceway, the first oval race of the year. However, this weekend brought another shift in style, with the series returning to road course racing at the fast and narrow Road America circuit in Wisconsin.
He got his first laps of the weekend on Friday afternoon (local time) in the opening 45-minute practice session. Callum started solidly, ending the session P7 with a fastest lap of 1:54.3798, about 1.2 seconds off pace-setter Caio Collet, completing a total of 16 laps.
On Saturday morning, Callum returned to the track for another practice session before qualifying. He made great gains, improving to a 1:53.0088, nearly 1.5 seconds faster than Practice 1, now just six-tenths off pace-setting Collet, finishing a strong fourth heading into qualifying, a promising start for the Kiwi.
In qualifying, Callum was drawn in Group 1 and found himself leading a closely packed train of cars, a tough spot to be in, as he was left punching a hole in the air for those behind without getting the benefit of the tow himself.
Despite the disadvantage, he initially went P3 with a 1:53.296, then improved to a 1:53.2069 on his final run. He held third until teammate Jack William Miller snuck through after the flag, bumping Callum to fourth in the group by just half a tenth. Once both groups were combined, Callum was set to line up P7, matching his grid position from the last round.
Callum started the race on the inside of row four. At the start, he went side-by-side with Jordan Missig, battling for several corners, with Missig edging ahead by the end of Lap 1. Callum quickly reclaimed the spot on Lap 2, then set his sights on Miller.
On Lap 5, Miller ran wide under pressure, allowing Callum through into P6. From there, he closed in on Myles Rowe, sitting just a couple of tenths behind.
Callum stayed glued to the back of the American but couldn’t find a way through, and with the push-to-pass system out of action for all drivers, overtaking became even more difficult around the old-school, high-speed layout.
After 20 hard-fought green-flag laps, Callum crossed the line in sixth, just four-tenths off the Top 5, another strong result, and his fourth Top 10 in the last five races.
He remains seventh in the standings but has cut the gap to Salvador de Alba ahead, with the Mexican now just 30 points up the road.
IndyNXT now takes a week off before back-to-back weekends at Mid-Ohio and Iowa, starting 4–6 July at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
Header Image: Penske Entertainment – Joe Skibinski
