Contact ends Andretti Cape’s hopes of good finish at Mid-Ohio

The Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course was the setting for this weekend’s action, and Andretti Cape INDY NXT rolled in with extra confidence. The team had sampled the newly repaved track at a test session in early May, and was eager to continue the momentum from good results in Laguna Seca.

Salvador de Alba represented the team in the #2 Grupo Indi entry, and placed himself on the seventh row of the grid following Saturday’s qualifying run.

At the start of the race on Sunday, margins were small as de Alba looked to move forward through the traffic. He had a close-up view of a tussle between Jordan Missig and Bryce Aron in the first corner, and watched as both drivers slid off into the gravel trap. de Alba deftly avoided the spinning cars and was happy to move up a couple spots into 11th.

The AMR safety crew took a few laps to return the stricken cars to the track, then it was back to action again. As soon as the green flag waved on lap four, de Alba began hounding Christian Bogle for 10th. He made a few lunges for the position, then completed the pass on the following lap in a clean side-by-side battle through Turn 5.

On the next lap, Bogle battled back and Yuven Sundaramoorthy joined the fight as well. Sundaramoorthy swung wide to get a better line through the next corner, but he did not realize that de Alba was still alongside. He collided with de Alba’s car, breaking his front wing and cutting his left front tire. Sundaramoorthy was given a penalty for the collision, but the damage was already done.

de Alba limped around the course and brought his car to the attention of the Andretti Cape crew. The crew made quick work of the tire and wing change, but de Alba was already a lap down by time he resumed racing. With no further cautions to help bunch up the field, de Alba ended the race in a disappointing 16th. He did set the third fastest lap of the race, however, showing the pace he had behind the wheel.

Despite the result, de Alba climbed from ninth to eighth in the overall points standings. He sits among a tight group of young drivers with five races left in the 2024 INDY NXT by Firestone season.

Next weekend the team will regroup at Iowa Speedway for the first oval round of the season around the 7/8-mile bullring.

Salvador de Alba

“It was not the race we wanted to have. We knew the pace was going to be better for the race, and it was. We were battling for mid-pack, and we just got damage on our front nose. Got kicked out, flat tire, nose change, and we had nowhere to go one lap down. Tough one to swallow.

“Now we’re going to the ovals. We’re pretty excited, change the page and mind forward for the next weekend.”