Persistent Rain Postpones IndyCar Qualifying for Sonsio GP

Enzo Fittipaldi Wins Indy NXT

Fittipaldi and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway just pair well.

And on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course Friday in the Indy NXT by Firestone event, Enzo Fittipaldi carved a piece of his own history into Indianapolis racing lore.

In the No. 67 HMD Motorsports entry, the 24-year-old dogged 2025 winner Lochie Hughes as intensely as the rain rolled in and continued to beat down. Finally he slipped past the Andretti Global racer on Turn 9 of Lap 25 with five and a half minutes remaining in the timed race. Then Fittipaldi benefitted with a caution for Lap 28 for Bryce Aron’s stopped No. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing entry in Turn 6—with less than two minutes to go.

In the pouring rain and under caution, Fittipaldi crossed the iconic yard of bricks that has meant so much to his grandfather, who won the Indianapolis 500 in 1989 and 1993, and to his cousin Christian Fittipaldi, a former IndyCar driver who combined with Joao Barbosa in 2014 to score a victory in the Brickyard Grand Prix sports-car race on this same winding course.

Enzo Fittipaldo.Indianapolis Motor Speedway

“My family has a very successful history here in Indianapolis and the Indy 500. This legendary track, to get my first race win here in Indy NXT is very special. I’m just so happy and so stoked,” Enzo Fittipldi said. “I wouldn’t have been able to do this without my whole team supporting me. They did a great job. Honestly, that was probably one of the best drives of my career.

“I just can’t thank my team enough. We had a tricky qualifying. We knew we had the pace. Just so happy with the race today. We were flying there in the dry and in the wet. We started P10 and won the race. I didn’t expect this but knew the win was coming,” he said after becoming the fourth first-time winner in five races this season (along with points leader Nikita Johnson, Max Taylor, and Alessandro de Tullio).

His pivotal pass on Hughes, who led the opening 12 laps before the rainstorm arrived, was one of a race-record 284 on-track overtakes.

Fittipaldi improved from fourth place in the standings to second, 23 points behind Johnson, of Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR, who finished in third-place.

The field was red-flagged to allow teams to switch to wet Firestone Firehawk tires and make adjustments. This IndyCar development series does not include scheduled pit stops.