AJ Foyt Racing’s Alessandro De Tullio went flag-to-flag from pole to win the second leg of the doubleheader round for Indy NXT at Road America.
The recently-turned 20-year-old from Argentina led all 18 laps, but it wasn’t without some drama after he was put into a one-lap shootout at the end, but held firm to win by 1.0584s on the 4.014-mile, 14-turn natural terrain road course. It is De Tullio’s second win of the season.
“I dedicate this one to my dad for Father’s Day,” De Tullio said. “Happy Father’s Day to everyone as well. Yeah, we needed this. I needed this. After yesterday, we did overnight work to make the car a little bit better for today because we needed a bit of a better balance for the race, and the team gave me exactly that. So, big thanks to them as well. The whole #14 crew did an amazing job. I’m really happy to get this one and convert another pole. I know we haven’t converted many due to some situations, but I’m happy to get this done.”
Matteo Nannini (Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR) finished second, followed by Tymek Kucharczyk (HMD Motorsports), who charged from 16th to take the final spot on the podium.
Nikita Johnson (Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR) ended up fourth, with Enzo Fittipaldi (HMD Motorsports) in fifth.
The championship picture tightened up even more, with Johnson’s lead only eight points ahead of Kucharczyk (347-339), Fittiapaldi is in third (-26), with De Tullio vaulting to fourth (-45), and Max Taylor fifth (-60).
The Race
De Tullio led the field to the green flag, with Johnson alongside as the field filed in behind heading into Turn 1.
However, it only took a few corners before multiple cars, including Andretti Global teammates Josh Pierson and Lochie Hughes, the Race 1 winner, ended up off course. Everyone continued on and the race remained under green flag conditions. However, there was significant damage for both Hughes and Pierson pitted for repairs.
After a new nose and front wing assembly, Pierson made it out ahead of race leader De Tullio, while Hughes remained on pit lane undergoing suspension repairs and rear wing assembly.
By Lap 5, De Tullio held a 2.4s lead over Nannini, with Johnson in third at 2.7s behind.
The caution came out the following lap after James Roe (Chip Ganassi Racing) was stuck in the gravel trap after going off in Turn 13. At this point, Pierson returned to pit lane for further repairs.
The restart on Lap 8 saw De Tullio get a good jump on the field, with Kucharczyk, who did gain 11 positions from his 16th-place start, drop wheels in Turn 5 and lose three spots, falling to eighth.
De Tullio enjoyed a 1.1s lead over Nannini by Lap 10, with Johnson still in third.
The lead for De Tullio widened to 1.5s over Nannini just two laps later.
Meanwhile, Kucharczyk rallied back from his earlier miscue to push back into the top five, and then moved by Andretti Global’s Taylor to take fourth with seven laps to go.
Kucharczyk closed on the rear wing of Johnson with five laps to go, while De Tullio extended his lead to 2.5s over Nannini. Johnson lost out on third entering Turn 1 with four laps to go.
The caution came out moments later after Colin Kaminsky (Abel Motorsports), who was enjoying a top 10, mis-timed a pass on the frontstretch on Seb Murray (Andretti Global) and pounded the inside wall that separates pit lane from the race track, and then crossed the track before coming to a rest near the outside wall entering Turn 1.
The incident set up a one lap shootout to the finish, with De Tullio pushing right at the restart zone to put an immediate gap on Nannini. In the end, De Tullio did enough to coast back to the finish line unchallenged.
Taylor, meanwhile, saw his top 10 effort fade after going off in the final corner and fell to 19th.
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– The Motorsport.com Team