Hunter McElrea has stormed to a lights-to-flag victory in this morning’s penultimate race of the 2023 Indy NXT season at Laguna Seca, keeping championship leader Christian Rasmussen at bay over all 35 laps for his second win of the season and fourth of his career.
The Kiwi Andretti Autosport driver set a best lap of 1:12.3117 in qualifying to take pole, topping his rival by nearly two-tenths of a second.
That set the scene for a commanding win, with McElrea cruising to a lead of over six seconds before the first of four caution flags flew.
Rasmussen kept the pressure on following the third restart, sitting within half a second of the lead, but ran out of time to make a pass when a fourth intervention was called following a crash between Jamie Chadwick and Nolan Siegel on the penultimate lap, which saw the race finish behind the Safety Car.
“What a crazy race,” McElrea said. “I was driving like 90 per cent and built like a six-second lead. The car was phenomenal. The restarts weren’t easy, weren’t making my life easy, but I knew we had the speed. That’s it: I just have to win two races and hope for the best.”
Victory for McElrea sees him reduce the gap to Rasmussen to 51 points, however, the latter starts on pole in tomorrow morning’s race and only needs to make the start to clinch the title.
“I did what I needed to do,” Rasmussen said. “Hunter was super quick all race long, and I knew I really didn’t have anything for him. It was a lonely race for me. I was just sitting in second. I had a big gap in front and a big gap behind.
“I was bringing it pretty good at the end,” Rasmussen said. “I could keep close to Hunter because I think I saved so much through the race. I don’t know if I would have had something for him on that last lap, but very satisfied with P2.
“I just have to start the race. Just going to be full enjoyment. Starting on the pole position, and we’ll see what happens.”
Danial Frost finished the race third, while Siegel retains third in the standings despite crashing out, 47 points adrift of McElrea.
Tomorrow morning’s Indy NXT season finale begins at 4.50 am.
Header Image: Penske Entertainment/ IndyCar
