Hunter McElrea battled back from an early penalty to finish seventh in the first of two Indy NXT races in Detroit.
The Kiwi had qualified second for the race, behind former Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship race-winner Louis Foster, who is also McElrea’s teammate at Andretti Autosport.
Both powered away well off the front row, only for McElrea to run into the back of Foster at Turn 3 on Lap 1, sending the Brit spinning into the wall. The Kiwi received a stop-go penalty for the collision but had time to make ground back.
Rookie driver Reece Gold was the race winner, passing a languishing Nolan Siegel on the final turns of the 45-lap race to take his maiden victory. Fellow rookie Jagger Jones was second, while Ernie Francis Jr. became the first Haitian-American to finish on the Indy NXT podium in third.
For Siegel, it was a heartbreaking end to the race, the rookie leading by as much as five seconds on the final lap until an apparent driveshaft failure slowed him down with just two turns to run. He was able to limp through those corners but was passed by a host of competitors on the run to the flag to end up eighth.
McElrea was one of those to pass the #39 to come home seventh, 5.7 seconds off the pace.
In all, five cars failed to finish the race, including contenders Foster and Daniel Frost. Championship leader Christian Rasmussen was also required to box on Lap 1 for a new front wing, eventually coming home ninth to retain his advantage over Siegel.
Indy NXT will race again in Detroit at 4.40 am on Monday, with Foster again qualifying on pole and McElrea starting fifth.
The race will be streamed live on the Indy NXT website.
Header Image: Indy NXT
