Courtesy INDY NXT BY FIRESTONE (Photo Courtesy INDYCAR)
DETROIT (Sunday, June 2, 2024) – Louis Foster led all 45 laps to win the Detroit Grand Prix on Sunday, moving closer to the INDY NXT by Firestone championship lead after misfortune struck his two closest title rivals.
Pole sitter Foster drove his No. 26 Copart/Novara Technologies car of Andretti Global to victory under caution. It was his second victory of the season and second in a row, as he won the second race of the doubleheader last month on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
Foster’s fourth career victory helped him jump from third to second in the standings, 25 points behind leader Jacob Abel. He entered this race 44 points behind Abel.
Abel finished fifth in the No. 51 Abel Construction entry fielded by Abel Motorsports. Nolan Siegel, who entered this race second in points, 25 behind Abel, finished 18th after sitting in the pits for the first three laps of the race due to a half-shaft problem in his No. 39 HMD Motorsports car. Siegel dropped to third in points, 44 behind leader Abel.
“We’re second in points now,” Foster said. “Unfortunate for Nolan, he didn’t start the race. That’s a shame. But it’s good for us. Abel didn’t have a great race, either. We’re just continuing our pace throughout the season. Hopefully we just keep getting decent luck, not any more bad luck, and I’ll be happy.”
Two rookies from HMD Motorsports shared the podium with Foster. Caio Collet pressured Foster for nearly the entire race before ending up a career-best second with his second consecutive podium finish in the No. 18 machine. Callum Hedge earned his first podium finish with a career-best result of third in the No. 17 car.
Rookie Myles Rowe produced an inspired drive to a career-best fourth after starting 19th in the 21-car field in the No. 99 HMD Motorsports with Force Indy car.
While Foster led every lap around the nine-turn, 1.645-mile temporary street circuit, this race was far from a parade. Foster stayed out front on three restarts despite constant pressure from Collet, and there were multiple jousts for position throughout the field.
Collet stayed within about a second of Foster for most of the race, with Foster only extending that gap to two-plus seconds before a caution flag flew on Lap 39 due to a spin by the No. 7 HMD Motorsports car driven by Christian Bogle.
Brazilian rookie Collet stayed within about one-half second of Foster on the restart on Lap 41 before James Roe spun in his No. 29 Topcon car fielded by Andretti Autosport on Lap 42, collecting the cars of Nolan Allaer, Christian Bogle and Niels Koolen in the incident, which triggered the race-ending caution period.
“At the start, I was just managing the gap,” Foster said. “About midway through, I pulled quite a gap on him (Collet), thinking it killed his tires. But to be fair to him, he came back at me quite hard in the late stages of race. It was getting close, but I think we had enough Push to Pass to keep him off.”
One of the most spirited duels of the race also came in the closing laps, between Hedge and Rowe for third. It appeared Rowe had barged past Hedge for his first career podium finish, but that move came just after the race-ending caution period started. So, Hedge was credited with third.
The next race is the Grand Prix at Road America on Sunday, June 9. Live coverage starts at 1:05 p.m. ET on Peacock and the INDYCAR Radio Network.
Results Sunday of the INDY NXT by Firestone Detroit Grand Prix INDY NXT by Firestone event on the 1.645-mile streets of Detroit circuit, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, laps completed and reason out (if any):
1. (1) Louis Foster, 45, Running
2. (3) Caio Collet, 45, Running
3. (6) Callum Hedge, 45, Running
4. (19) Myles Rowe, 45, Running
5. (2) Jacob Abel, 45, Running
6. (16) Reece Gold, 45, Running
7. (18) Salvador de Alba Jr., 45, Running
8. (14) Josh Pierson, 45, Running
9. (13) Jonathan Browne, 45, Running
10. (5) Michael d’Orlando, 45, Running
11. (20) Christian Bogle, 45, Running
12. (4) Jamie Chadwick, 45, Running
13. (15) Niels Koolen, 44, Running
14. (9) Yuven Sundaramoorthy, 44, Running
15. (8) Jack William Miller, 43, Running
16. (10) James Roe, 41, Contact
17. (17) Nolan Allaer, 41, Contact
18. (7) Nolan Siegel, 41, Running
19. (21) Lindsay Brewer, 38, Running
20. (11) Bryce Aron, 2, Contact
21. (12) Ricardo Escotto, 0, DQ
Race Statistics
Winner’s average speed: 79.206 mph
Time of Race: 00:56:04.5065
Margin of victory: Under caution
Cautions: 4 for 13 laps
Lead changes: 0
Lap Leaders:
Foster, Louis 1 – 45
