INDYCAR NXT: Frost secures win in season-opener at St. Petersburg

HMD Motorsport’s Danial Frost took the first win of 2023 after a caution-filled season-opener provided him with the race lead of the St. Petersburg race, on the penultimate lap.

It was a good start from the pole sitter who got a good launch as the green flag fell to start the first race in St. Petersburg. Enaam Ahmed, Cape Motorsports, and Reece Gold, Juncos Hollinger Racing, soon made contact on the opening skirmish which saw the former’s suffer front wing damage.

As a result of the contact, caution was shown to neutralise the race. At the end of the first lap, under caution, both Ahmed and Gold peeled into the pit lane for repairs. Gold was able to continue but Ahmed was forced to retire from the race.

The race restarted on lap four but was soon neutralised once again as #98 of Jagger Jones, Cape Motorsports, found himself in the barrier as the American struggled to get the car slowed down in time. Jones was soon joined by Jamie Chadwick, Andretti Autosports, who rear-ended the Cape Motorsports driver.

Fortunately, the British rookie was able to continue on with a damaged nose-cone. Chadwick took up her position at the back of the pack before she returned to the pit lane, a couple of laps later to keep her on the lead lap.

At the end of lap seven, Andretti Autosport’s Louis Foster took the back to green-flag conditions. The race lead quickly changed hands into the first corners. Foster and Christian Rasmussen, HMD Motorsports, battled fiercely into turn one. Abel Motorsports’ Jacob Abel made use of Rasmussen and Foster’s wide line on the corner exit and the American snatched the race lead.

At the end of lap 21, the top three remained unchanged as the race approached the halfway mark. Abel remained out in front ahead of both Foster and Rasmussen, in second and third respectively.

Whereas at the back of the field, Chadwick sat in 17th place, 50s behind the leader after she pitted for repairs during the last caution.

On lap 24, Andretti Autosport’s James Roe was seen trundling around the St. Petersburg street circuit with a loss of power. The lack of power allowed Chadwick to overtake and move up to P16. It wasn’t long before Roe was lapped by the race leader Abel.

Another caution was issued, on lap 28, after Josh Pierson (HMD Motorsports) outbroke himself and found himself in the tyre barrier at turn 10.

On lap 31, Abel launched off the final corner and blasted down into the first corner unchallenged. However, Frost slipped out into the opening corners and lost positions to Rasmussen and HMD Motorsports’ Nolan Siegel. On the exit of turn three, Foster slid onto the marbles and collected the barrier with his rear-left tyre.

As a result of the contact, the Andretti driver suffered suspension damage and was forced to return to the pit lane.

A caution was soon brought back out, on lap 32, as Chadwick found herself back inside the tyre barrier at turn four. Fortunately, the Briton was able to pull her Andretti out of the barrier and return to the pit lane.

When the female Andretti driver entered the pits, the team swapped over her damaged nose cone, and Chadwick left the pit lane fitted with a blue nose on the DHL liveried Andretti.

Abel once again led the pack to green flag conditions but the American driver was soon demoted down to P3 after he lost rear-tyre traction on the corner exit. The slide forced himself and Rasmussen wide which allowed Siegel and HMD Motorsport’s Danial Frost to climb up to first and second respectively.

However, the race was neutralised once again on lap 35 after three cars parked up beside the tyre barrier at turn four that consisted of Josh Green (HMD Motorsports), Matteo Nannini (Juncos Hollinger Racing) and Kyffin Simpson (HMD Motorsports).

After the race exchanged from a lap count to a timed race, Siegel barrelled down towards turn one and maintained in the lead. But, down in turn two, Siegel ran wide which allowed Frost to steal the race lead away from his teammate on the penultimate lap.

With a substantial gap between himself and Siegel, on the final lap, Frost managed to cruise to the chequered flag to secure his first win of the season ahead of Siegel and Abel.

Podium:

1. Danial Frost, HMD Motorsports
2. Nolan Siegel, HMD Motorsports
3. Jacob Abel, Abel Motorsports

That’s it for the article: INDYCAR NXT: Frost secures win in season-opener at St. Petersburg!

What do you think of Danial Frost’s win? Let us know in the comments!

Kamron Kent

Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.

I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

Kamron Kent

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.