Enzo Fittipaldi completed a flawless weekend at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, leading every lap for the second straight race to sweep the INDY NXT by Firestone doubleheader.
Fittipaldi crossed the finish line 12.7469 seconds ahead of HMD Motorsports teammate Jack Beeton to earn his fourth career series victory and second in as many days. Fittipaldi's victory margin was the second largest in series history at Mid-Ohio, trailing only Jack Harvey's 17.3403-second win in Race 1 of the 2014 doubleheader.
Driving the No. 67 HMD Motorsports entry, Fittipaldi was untouchable all weekend. The grandson of two-time Formula One World Champion, two-time Indianapolis 500 winner and 1989 INDYCAR SERIES champion Emerson Fittipaldi topped Friday's practice, earned both poles, including a track-record lap Saturday, led all 65 laps across the two races and also posted the fastest lap in each event.
"I'm just so happy," Fittipaldi said. "What a weekend, absolute domination from all of HMD. It's crazy. First practice, double pole and double victories, so it can't get any better than this."
SEE: Race 2 Results
Beeton finished a career-best second in the No. 45 HMD Motorsports entry, improving on Saturday’s third-place finish. Nikita Johnson finished third in the No. 21 Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR entry, preventing HMD Motorsports from sweeping the podium for a second consecutive day.
After HMD Motorsports claimed the top four finishing positions Saturday, Johnson charged from fifth on the grid to third after finishing seventh in Race 1.
JM Correa climbed from ninth to finish fourth in the No. 68 Cusick Morgan Motorsports entry, while Tymek Kucharczyk completed the top five in the No. 71 HMD Motorsports car in the caution-free race. Correa now has three top-seven finishes in the last four races, with the lone exception coming after contact with the Turn 12 tire barrier on Lap 21 of Saturday's race.
Beeton moved into second on Lap 2 after Alessandro de Tullio attempted to pass Fittipaldi around the outside of Turn 4. De Tullio ran off course at corner exit, rejoined in eighth and recovered to sixth before slipping back to eighth at the finish.
Fittipaldi became the sixth driver to sweep an INDY NXT weekend at Mid-Ohio, joining Jack Harvey (2014), Santiago Urrutia (2016), Pato O'Ward (2018), Oliver Askew (2019) and Kyle Kirkwood (2021).
The dominant performance also vaulted Fittipaldi from third in the championship standings, 27 points behind entering the weekend, to a 17-point lead over Kucharczyk. Johnson sits third, 20 points behind.
"Just all race managing the tires," Fittipaldi said. "I'm always good at long-distance races and managing tires. It's kind of my specialty. I use my tools to my advantage, so a lot of work with the brake bias and the bars every lap, every corner, just keeping the car where I wanted it to be.
"Obviously the car was very fast today. I think it was a combination of many things, and our pace was rapid. I did a 1:09.9 (lap), which was only about five-tenths off my qualifying lap yesterday. I don't know how many miles were on the tires, so I was quite happy with that."
The series returns Sunday, July 19 at Nashville Superspeedway. Coverage begins at 1 p.m. ET on FS1, FOX One and INDYCAR Radio powered by OnlyBulls.
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