By Steve Wittich

After a pair of pace laps of the 1.8-mile, 14-turn St. Petersburg street circuit behind the Honda Civic Type R, the veteran front row of pole winner Nolan Siegel (HMD Motorsports) and Jacob Abel (HMD Motorsports) brought the field down the long front straight for the first green flag of the year.

The pair went side-by-side through Turn 1, with Siegel using the inside line to hold the lead. The first lap was clean until Turn 13, when Josh Pierson (HMD Motorsports), who started ninth, got aggressive and nerfed Jamie Chadwick, who started tenth wide, causing the Andretti Global No. 28 to fall to the rear of the field.

Pierson was eventually penalized and had to drop behind Chadwick on track on Lap 8.

At the start, race control determined that Reece Gold (HMD Motorsports) jumped early, and the Floridian had to give up three positions.

The running order after the first lap was Siegel, Abel, Myles Rowe (HMD Motorsports w/Force Indy), Louis Foster (Andretti Global), Gold, Caio Collet (HMD Motorsports), Bryce Aron (Andretti Global), Michael d’Orlando (Andretti Cape), Pierson, Jonathan Browne (HMD Motorsports), James Roe (Andretti Global), Salvador de Alba (Andretti Cape), Christian Bogle (HMD Motorsports), Yuven Sundaramoorthy (Abel Motorsports), Jack William Miller (Miller Vinatieri Motorsports), Callum Hedge (HMD Motorsports), Niels Koolen (HMD Motorsports), Nolan Allaer (HMD Motorsports), Josh Mason (Abel Motorsports), Lindsay Brewer (Juncos Hollinger Racing), and Chadwick.

As the drivers began to get into a rhythm, Louis Foster made an inside pass in Turn 10

Things settled in for the next ten laps, with Foster turning the quickest laps in third and his teammate Chadwick moving forward after the early incident.

On Lap 8, Chadwick battled with Koolen, getting wide at the exit of Turn 2, making right-side contact, and being forced to pit road for repairs. The three-time W-Series champion was able to continue, completing 21 laps in what became an extended test session.

After ten laps, the running order was Siegel, Abel, Foster, Rowe, Collet, d’Orlando, Aron, Gold, Browne, de Alba, Bogle, Miller, Sundaramoorthy, Roe, Mason, Hedge, Allaer, Pierson, Koolen, Brewer and Chadwick, who was on pit road.

On the next two laps, Roe and Koolen both visited pit road. Irishman Roe had a mechanical issue that the Andretti Global crew was able to fix, and he returned to the track four laps down. Koolen’s headrest had come loose, and the Dutchman was forced to retire the No. 33.

After 15 laps, Siegel’s lead over Abel was 1.9 seconds, with Foster immediately behind the No. 51. The top ten were within 12 seconds and d’Orlando just turning the fastest lap.

As Siegel approached Brewer’s lapped car, race control ordered her to drive through pit lane to remain out of the way.

As the race saw the crossed flags to signify the halfway point, Siegel’s lead over Abel was just under three seconds. Abel was facing immense pressure from Foster, who had a two-and-a-half second gap, to Rowe, who was facing pressure from Collet.

The remainder of the running order at the halfway point was d’Orlando, Aron, Gold, Browne, de Aba, Bogle, Miller, Sundaramoorthy, Hedge, Mason, Allaer and Pearson all on the lead lap. Brewer, Roe and Chadwick were all several laps down but running. Koolen had retired.

Siegel continued to grow his lead, crossing the start/finish line almost five seconds ahead of Abel with 20 laps remaining. Foster had dropped over a second behind Abel. The best battle on track was between Rowe, Collet and d’Orlando for fourth place.

On Lap 27, Mason made contact with the left rear of the No. 21, exiting the final corner, maintaining his 15th position.

On Lap 30, Collet, who was running fifth, had an issue in the Turn 11/12 chicane. He slid through the grass inside the track before sliding across the track again to end up on the outside of the penultimate corner, dropping to 11th.

The first yellow of the race flew with 13 laps remaining when the No. 27 of Bryce Aron made heavy contact with all at the exit of Turn 10. It’s the fourth time the 90-degree right-hand turn with yachts on the right and grandstands on the left was the scene of a caution in the INDY NXT by Firestone races on the St. Petersburg Street Circuit. The American, who was running ninth, was a little too fast a corner entry, losing the rear end and slapping the concrete just beyond the tire barrier. He climbed from the heavily damaged car on his own. He was seen and released by INDYCAR Medical.

The unfortunate incident erased Siegel’s almost seven-second lead as the field packed up behind the pace car, and the AMR INDYCAR Safety Team got to work cleaning up the mess and repairing the wall.

The green flag came out with nine laps remaining, and Siegel diamonded the final corner, getting a significant jump on Abel, who had Foster shadowing him closely.

As the field went through the high-speed Turn 3, Miller’s No. 40 hit the wall with the left side of his car. The damage was heavy enough that the second-generation driver had to pull off in the Turn 4 run-off, necessitating another yellow flag, the second of the race.

Just before the yellow lights came on, d’Orlando got past his long-time USF2000 and USF Pro 2000 rival Rowe on the long run between Turn 3 and 4 for fourth place.

The green came out again with eight laps remaining, with Siegel’s jump not as significant as the previous restart but enough to hold off his competitors.

Behind the first four, reigning USF Pro 2000 champion Rowe ran wide, losing positions to Gold and Brown and falling to seventh.

That caused a significant stack-up, with intense battling between Collet, de Alba, Bogle, Hedge and Sundaramoorthy.

Siegel grew his gap on the first lap back to green to 1.4 seconds over Abel, who had Foster right on the gearbox of the Abel Construction sponsored machine.

On the next lap, Brazilian FIA Formula 3 veteran Collet made an opportunistic dive down the inside of Rowe in Turn 4, pushing the No. 99 wide and grabbing seventh place.

The top five with five laps remaining were Siegel, Abel, Foster, d’Orlando, and Gold. The best battle was for the final spot on the podium between Foster and d’Orlando.

With four laps remaining, Josh Mason’s no. 21 slowed on the run between Turn 3 and 4 but was out of the way, keeping the green flag flying.

Siegel had a 1.5-second lead with two laps remaining. The teenager had to be happy to see Abel, Foster, and d’Orlando covered by less than a second.

The trio continued to battle over the final two laps, but nobody could make a pass.

Siegel crossed the line 1.3 seconds ahead of Abel, with Foster holding off d’Orlando for the final podium spot.

INDY NXT by Firestone Grand Prix Of St. Peterburg unofficial results

RANK	CAR NO.	DRIVER	TEAM	DIFFERENCE
1	39	Nolan Siegel	HMD Motorsports	45 LAPS
2	51	Jacob Abel	Abel Motorsports	-1.3959
3	26	Louis Foster	Andretti Global	-1.8168
4	3	Michael d’Orlando	Andretti Cape	-2.548
5	10	Reece Gold	HMD Motorsports	-4.4578
6	23	Jonathan Browne	HMD Motorsports	-7.9631
7	18	Caio Collet	HMD Motorsports	-8.3781
8	99	Myles Rowe	HMD Motorsports with Force Indy	-9.9905
9	2	Salvador de Alba	Andretti Cape	-11.7563
10	7	Christian Bogle	HMD Motorsports	-12.3531
11	17	Callum Hedge	HMD Motorsports	-14.9387
12	22	Yuven Sundaramoorthy	Abel Motorsports	-15.672
13	14	Josh Pierson	HMD Motorsports	-16.224
14	11	Nolan Allaer	HMD Motorsports	-20.4555
15	76	Lindsay Brewer	Juncos Hollinger Racing	-3 LAPS
16	29	James Roe	Andretti Global	-4 LAPS
17	21	Josh Mason	Abel Motorsports	-7 LAPS
18	40	Jack William Miller	Miller Vinatieri Motorsports	– 9 LAPS
19	27	Bryce Aron	Andretti Global	-14 LAPS
20	28	Jamie Chadwick	Andretti Global	-24 LAPS
21	33	Niels Koolen	HMD Motorsports	-33 LAPS