Portland Turn 1 chaos spells trouble for Andretti Cape
Nestled between a stretch of oval races to close out the 2024 INDY NXT by Firestone season was a visit to Portland International Raceway. A long drive to the West Coast was rewarded with beautiful weather and exciting racing for the final road course race of the year.
Salvador de Alba placed his #2 Grupo Indi entry ninth on the grid with his qualifying effort on Saturday. His grid position in the middle of the field meant that he would have to be extra cautious while navigating the treacherous first turn of the race on Sunday.
Unfortunately, it was that chaos in the first turn that spelled trouble de Alba. He entered the turn in the middle of a three-wide scrap and was speared off by Josh Pierson’s #14 at the apex of the first corner. The contact spun de Alba around backwards, leaving him sitting in a cloud of tire smoke as the rest of the field split around him.
The rookie was lucky in that nobody else collected him while he sat stationary on the track, and he was also fortunate to escape the incident with minimal damage to his machine. He was able to start the car without assistance and continued on his way, albeit half a lap behind the other 16 drivers.
A caution on lap eight allowed de Alba to catch back up to the rest of the field, and he slowly picked off drivers as best he could once the race went green. The 1.96-mile Portland course creates a troublesome amount of wake for pursuing drivers, however, and the 24-year-old was only able to move ahead three positions by time the checkered flags flew.
de Alba’s 12th place result dropped him from sixth to seventh in the incredibly tight points standings, but he is only one point behind Andretti team-mate Jamie Chadwick and just 10 points behind Reece Gold for fifth.
The Andretti Cape INDY NXT team continues its lengthy road trip by heading directly to The Milwaukee Mile next weekend for the penultimate round of the season, and hopes are high that de Alba’s oval racing skills can help the crew rebound with a strong finish.
Salvador de Alba
“Pretty disappointing race for sure. Got kicked out in Turn 1, which really hurt. Nothing to do, we were avoiding all the contact until then. Car definitely had good pace, but just finished up and did what we could. It was a tough track to pass on. Again, pretty good pace in the race, but disappointed with the result.”