Nikita Johnson prevails after leaders collide late in Indy NXT Race 1 at Barber
The Florida native takes the championship lead after claiming his second win of the season
Motorsport photo Nikita Johnson wasn’t the fastest, but was in the right place at the right time to win the first race of a doubleheader weekend for Indy NXT at Barber Motorsports Park. The Florida native was running third but vaulted to the lead after pole-sitter Alessandro de Tullio and Max Taylor collided with nine laps to go. Johnson was untouchable after leading the field to the restart with five laps to go, with his #21 Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR entry besting Enzo Fittipaldi (HMD Motorsports by 0.
7667s on the 2. 3-mile, 17-turn natural terrain road course. “I kind of expected it,” Johnson said, regarding the incident between de Tullio and Taylor.
“I know those guys battle really hard. I’ve raced them forever, so I knew something was going to happen. And when I saw there were lapped cars I was like, ‘Yeah, it’s about to get messy.
’ So I just maintained my tires, left them a good gap and made sure I could avoid any trouble. ” Tymek Kucharczyk finished third, marking his third podium in as many races this season. Abel Motorsports teammates Max Garcia and Myles Rowe finished fourth and fifth, respectively.