Indy NXT rookie Callum Hedge achieved results of 12th and 16th in the weekend’s Grand Prix of Monterey double-header at Laguna Seca.
Despite the challenging weekend, Hedge remains in top-five contention in the Championship battle. He currently sits sixth, just three points behind Jamie Chadwick.
A pair of wins for Britain’s Louis Foster sees him take the Championship lead off Jacob Abel and pull to a 35-point advantage. Caio Collet is third, a distant 49 points behind the runaway leaders.
The race weekend was Hedge’s first on the famed 2.238-mile (3.6-km), 11-turn circuit in California.
The Tony Quinn Foundation Ambassador was eighth fastest in Friday’s opening practice and climbed to sixth in Practice 2, completing a combined 35 laps across both runs.
Qualifying was split into two groups, with each competitor’s fastest time setting the Race 1 grid and their second-quickest effort determining the starting positions for Race 2.
Hedge qualified in Group A, setting a best lap of 1min 13.5853s, 0.9578s behind group leader Collet, which put him on the seventh row. Foster’s 1:12.1760 in Group 2 claimed the pole.
The Kiwi’s second-best effort of 1:13.7197 qualified him 12th for Race 2, with Foster again on pole.
Foster converted pole to a commanding race victory in the 35-lap opener, putting 8.2445 seconds on the field for his third win in the last four races.
Collet held on for second, with Abel snatching the final spot on the podium after third-placed Yuven Sundaramoorthy made contact with Lindsay Brewer’s lapped car on the final corner. Sundaramoorthy limped home in fourth with damage.
Hedge climbed from 14th to 12th to finish amidst a three-car battle pack, falling less than 1 second outside the top ten.
Foster’s Race 2 victory was just as convincing as the first, with the #26 Andretti Global entry heading home Collet by 4.3962 seconds. The duo finished an impressive 18 seconds ahead of third-placed Bryce Aron, who earned his maiden Indy NXT podium.
Hedge was fighting in a battle group on the cusps of the top ten, but a rare spin and stall as he attempted to pass Christian Brooks on Lap 16 brought a Safety Car.
He would continue, albeit a lap down on the field.
Abel lost significant ground in the championship battle while fighting for third with Reece Gold in the final eight laps. The two drivers made contact at the famed Corkscrew, forcing Gold’s car into the air and off track. The suspension of Gold’s car broke when he landed on the asphalt, ending his race.
Abel was assessed a drive-through penalty for avoidable contact, and he dropped to eleventh, losing 35 points to Foster in the title battle. The duo had entered the race tied at the top of the table.
Hedge finished 16th, remaining one lap down at the chequered flag.
Indy NXT returns on July 7 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in support of the IndyCar Grand Prix at Mid-Ohio.
Header Image: Penske Entertainment (Paul Hurley)
