Race

Juncos Hollinger Racing wrapped up a successful Saturday at Iowa with a podium for Rasmus Lindh in tonight’s INDY NXT by Firestone race. Team-mate Matthew Brabham also sealed a spectacular return to the series by taking a mighty P4 at the checkered flag.

Rasmus and Matthew were determined to follow yesterday’s assured qualifying performance with a strong start to today’s 75-lap race, and they quickly progressed from their P10 and P11 starting spots.

The #75 and #76 cars looked well-suited to the bumpy 0.875-mile oval course, and both men patiently worked their way up the field to put themselves on the cusp of the podium places when a late caution period brought the pack together with 15 laps left to run.

On the restart, the duo battled hard – but fairly – with their rivals to move up a position each and into P3 and P4 respectively.

Swede Rasmus’ P3 finish is his best result of the season and his first-ever INDY NXT podium, meanwhile Matthew completed 17 overtakes during the race – the highest of any driver in the field.

Matthew Brabham said:

“It was a great result for the team, so I’m super happy. It was an awesome race, and I had so much fun moving through the field. The car had the speed at the end and we came through all the way from P11 to finish P4. I didn’t do any of the testing and jumped in for the race, so I am pretty happy.

“I cannot thank Ricardo [Juncos], Brad [Hollinger], and everyone on the team enough. They did such a great job to prepare the cars and give me a good platform to do well straight away. Congratulations to the team for getting a podium with Rasmus too. It was a lot of fun out there and I’m hugely grateful for the opportunity.”

Rasmus Lindh said:

“I’m really happy with the result, thank you to Juncos Hollinger Racing for all of their effort. We’ve been strong all weekend. It took a little bit of a gamble during qualifying to put a lot of downforce into the car, but it worked out. Thank you to SKF, Husvärden, International Motorsport, and everyone involved in making this podium finish possible.”

Ricardo Juncos said:

“I’m super happy with the results. We showed our potential and a lot of pace. I want to thank all of the team members, as they have done a great job. I would also like to thank Matthew, as he jumped in the #75 car at the last minute. He couldn’t test much before qualifying, so I am really happy with his performance.

“We are still building this team for the future, and this was a good way to learn about Iowa going forwards. We will continue developing in INDY NXT to be a good support for our INDYCAR programme. Now, I’m looking forward to competing in Nashville as we continue to progress in the season ahead.”