Late damage ruined New Zealander Hunter McElrea’s chances of Indy NXT race victory at Iowa Speedway over the weekend, however, the Kiwi was able to salvage a strong result and finish fifth.
McElrea had qualified fifth for Saturday’s race on the tri-oval with a two-lap average speed of 258.48 km/h, behind only pole-taker Jacob Abel, Christian Rasmussen, championship leader Nolan Siegel and James Roe.
Morning rain at Iowa Speedway saw the race pushed back to 7.30 pm local time, some eight and a half hours after the scheduled 11.00 am start.
Rasmussen would immediately get to work to take the lead off Abel on Lap 2, a position he would hold for the remaining 74 laps. Meanwhile, a fierce battle was unfolding behind, with McElrea, Siegel and Abel duelling for the remaining podium spots.
While this was happening, Rasmussen built an 8-second lead over the field, with that slowly starting to reduce in the closing stages.
It would completely evaporate on Lap 60 when McElrea and Siegel made contact, the latter sent into a spin and left stranded on track, triggering the races only caution. Siegel was forced to retire following the contact, while McElrea sustained damage but remained out.
A ten-lap dash to the line would commence on Lap 65, and Rasmussen would continue where he left off to pull clear again. McElrea’s damage, however, compromised his pace and saw him lose spots to Abel, Rasmus Lindh and Matthew Brabham, who was filling in for the round.
Abel would reduce the gap to the lead over the final laps, setting up a thrilling run for the line, which saw him fall just 0.1227 seconds shy of taking the win. Lindh would take third and Brabham fourth.
As a result of his victory, Rasmussen takes the championship lead off Siegel, while Abel jumps McElrea to sit third in the standings, leaving the Kiwi fourth and now 46 points off the top spot.
Indy NXt returns at the Music City Grand Prix on August 6.
Header Image: Indy NXT
