ELKHART LAKE, Wis. — Matteo Nannini was declared the winner Sunday of the second race of the Grand Prix at Road America doubleheader for INDY NXT by Firestone after two AJ Foyt Racing cars were disqualified.
Foyt driver Alessandro de Tullio crossed the finish line of the 18-lap race 1.0584 seconds ahead of Nannini. But de Tullio and teammate Nicholas Monteiro were disqualified after post-race inspection discovered pole sitter de Tullio’s tires from qualifying Saturday were installed on Monteiro’s car and Monteiro’s tires from qualifying were mounted on de Tullio’s car for Race 2, a violation of series rules 15.1.3 and 15.1.12.2.
It was the first win of the season for Nannini, whose previous best was seventh in the second race of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course doubleheader in May. The Italian earned his second career victory in the INDYCAR development series, as he last won in May 2023 on the IMS road course.
“We’re finally where we belong,” Nannini said. “It’s been a rough start to the season so far. So happy for my team, my sponsors, everyone involved. It’s hopefully the first of many more.”
With the penalties, Tymek Kucharczyk was elevated to second place in the No. 71 HMD Motorsports car after a stirring drive from the 16th starting position, with series leader Nikita Johnson taking the final podium position in the No. 21 Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR machine.
Enzo Fittipaldi placed fourth in the No. 67 HMD Motorsports car after finishing 22nd Saturday in the first race, with Myles Rowe rounding out the top five in the No. 99 Abel Motorsports with Force Indy entry.
De Tullio led all 18 laps around the 14-turn, 4.014-mile road course, enduring two restarts. De Tullio was ahead of Nannini by nearly 2.4 seconds on Lap 15 when Colin Kaminsky veered into the outside wall on the front straightaway after losing control of his No. 57 Abel Motorsports machine while trying to pass Andretti Global’s Seb Murray in the No. 27 Megatron car.
That bunched the field for a one-lap race to the finish on a restart at the end of Lap 17. De Tullio never was threatened by Nannini, who passed Johnson in Turn 5 on Lap 2 for second and held that spot for the rest of the race.
Perhaps the biggest concern for de Tullio and Nannini on the final restart was Polish rookie Kucharczyk, who showed stunning pace while scything through the field. Kucharczyk, who recorded the quickest lap of the race, was nearly eight-tenths of a second quicker than any other driver in the closing laps, as he produced a race-high 20 on-track passes.
But Kucharczyk couldn’t make a dent on de Tullio or Nannini on the final lap and settled for his sixth podium finish of the season. Still, Kucharczyk’s fireworks were symbolic of a race that featured 294 on-track passes, including 274 for position – all INDY NXT records at Road America.
Lochie Hughes, winner of the first race of the doubleheader Saturday, placed 20th in the No. 26 Andretti Global car. Hughes was involved in a four-car incident in Turn 3 on Lap 1 and had to retreat to the pits for repairs, ending up two laps down at the finish.
Johnson’s lead in the series shrank from 10 points over Kucharczyk after Saturday’s race to one point over the Polish rookie. Fittipaldi is third, six points behind Johnson.
