XPost: rec.autos.sport.f1, rec.autos.sport.indycar

Three time W series winner Jamie Chadwick has a quality team,
qualified 18 out of 19, during race got involved in an accident,
repaired and finished 13th.

see https://racer.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/85/2023/03/indynxt-results-quals.pdf

https://us.motorsport.com/indylights/news/st-pete-indy-nxt-frost-snatches-great-opportunist-win/10440165/

St. Pete Indy NXT: Frost snatches great opportunist win
Danial Frost led only two laps of the crash-marred Indy NXT race in St. Petersburg, but they were the last two, after pouncing on HMD teammate
Nolan Siegel at the final restart.

By:
David Malsher-Lopez
Mar 5, 2023, 8:29 AM

St. Pete Indy NXT: Frost snatches great opportunist win
From pole, Andretti Autosport’s Louis Foster was able to hold off the
18-car pack, as Christian Rasmussen of HMD Motorsports got around Jacob
Abel (Abel Motorsports) to claim second, and Kyffin Simpson passed
Rasmus Lindh (both HMD).

The yellow flew first for a collision between Reece Gold of Juncos
Hollinger Racing squeezing Enaam Ahmed (Cape Motorsports) into the wall
on the run between Turns 3 and 4.

The second yellow was caused by contact between Colin Kaminsky and
Jagger Jones sending the latter into the Turn 4 tire-wall, and
three-time W Series champion Jamie Chadwick pushing the Cape Motorsports
driver further in. She was extracted and returned to pitlane for repairs.

At the restart, Abel made a great move to get past both Rasmussen and
Foster down the inside into Turn 1 and claim the lead, while Nolan
Siegel moved his HMD car past his squabbling teammates Simpson and Lindh
to snatch fourth. Danial Frost and Josh Green also took advantage to
move into fifth and sixth, up from seventh and 10th on the grid
respectively.

Abel stretched his lead over Foster, the reigning champion in Indy Pro
2000 (now called USF Pro 2000) to 2.5sec and then held it steady, as the Andretti driver kept Rasmussen at arm’s length. This trio were pulling
away from the Siegel-Frost-Green-Simpson-Lindh train, with Kaminsky and
Hunter McElrea completing the top 10.

Just before the halfway point in this 45-lap race, Foster had pared down Abel’s advantage to under one second, and Rasmussen remained within two seconds of the Andretti driver. Both Abel and Foster set their fastest
laps so far on Lap 24, but Foster’s was 0.2sec quicker. He was now just
half a second behind the leader.

Further back, Lindh and McElrea pounced on an error by Simpson at Turn 1
to move into seventh and eighth.

On Lap 27, the full course yellows flew for Josh Pierson stuffing his
HMD entry into the tire barrier at Turn 10. At the green flag, which
came on Lap 32, Abel took a curious but effective line through the final
turn to stay well clear of Foster who immediately came under pressure
from Rasmussen. Foster moved right under braking for Turn 1, but
slithered long, allowing Rasmussen and Siegel to dive past. As he
battled to retain fourth from Frost through Turn 3, he struck the wall
and had to limp to the pitlane. His teammate Chadwick outbraked herself
for Turn 4 and went into the tires again. Out came the full course
caution again.

On the restart, it was Abel’s turn to make an error under pressure while protecting the inside from Rasmussen, and while he struggled to gather
up the tail-out moment, hindering his immediate pursuer, Siegel and
Frost pounced to move into first and second.

Further around the lap, a three-car pile-up took out Josh Green and
Matteo Nannini, promoting Ernie Francis Jr. to fifth ahead of McElrea, Christian Bogle and Kaminsky.

Inevitably, after these caution periods, it was now a timed race, and at
the drop of the green, Siegel outbraked himself, allowing Frost to drive
around the outside of him in Turn 2.

Siegel then barely held off Abel and Rasmussen to the checkered flag,
while McElrea nipped past Francis to claim fifth.

Thanks to swift repair work by the Andretti team – and attrition –
Chadwick and Foster were able to rejoin the field to claim 13th and 14th respectively.

P

Name

Laps

Diff

Led

ST

Status

Team

Points

1

Danial Frost

40

LAP 40

2

7

Active

HMD Motorsports

51

2

Nolan Siegel

40

1.8038

4

6

Active

HMD Motorsports

41

3

Jacob Abel

40

1.9782

27

2

Active

Abel Motorsports

38

4

Christian Rasmussen

40

2.2621


3

Active

HMD Motorsports

32

5

Hunter McElrea

40

2.7494


12

Active

Andretti Autosport

30

6

Ernie Francis Jr.

40

4.3832


17

Active

HMD Motorsports

28

7

Josh Green

40

4.7900


10

Active

HMD Motorsports

26

8

Reece Gold

40

7.2390


8

Active

Juncos Hollinger Racing

24

9

Rasmus Lindh

40

8.2011


4

Active

HMD Motorsports

22

10

Kyffin Simpson

40

9.1595


5

Active

HMD Motorsports

20

11

Colin Kaminsky

40

16.6940


14

Active

Abel Motorsports

19

12

Christian Bogle

39

In Pit


19

In Pit

HMD Motorsports

18

13

Jamie Chadwick

39

1 LAPS


18

Active

Andretti Autosport

17

14

Louis Foster

38

2 LAPS

7

1

Active

Andretti Autosport

18

15

Matteo Nannini

34

Contact


9

Contact

Juncos Hollinger Racing

15

16

Josh Pierson

26

Contact


15

Contact

HMD Motorsports

14

17

James Roe

23

Mechanical


16

Mechanical

Andretti Autosport

13

18

Jagger Jones

3

Contact


13

Contact

Cape Motorsports

12

19

Enaam Ahmed

---

Contact


11

Contact

Cape Motorsports

11

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