Photo credit: Karl Zemlin | Penske Entertainment

Lochie Hughes‘s racing career has been leveled with challenges, including a two-year pause he had to put on his time spent racing in a car as the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

His subsequent move and steady rise through the ranks of American open-wheel racing hit a dramatic crescendo Friday evening when the 23-year old won underneath a setting Indianapolis sun to secure his first career win in Indy NXT for Andretti.

Hughes started on pole position after securing the fastest time by mere hundredths over ABEL’s Callum Hedge in group 1. The second group saw slower times so the fastest driver there, Hughes’s teammate Dennis Hauger, started second on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Hauger, who has dominated the season so far, winning every race and securing every pole up until the series has reached Indianapolis, took the escape road on the opening corner of the race’s first lap to avoid being in an incident, falling to the rear of the field.

While Hauger made up over a dozen positions, he could only make it up to eighth by the end of the 35-lap race. Despite this, Hauger maintained a narrow points lead.

The race was also a strong run for ABEL Motorsports, with both Myles Rowe (3rd) and Hedge (5th) hanging out in the top five.

The race’s two cautions were caused by incidents on opposite ends of the front straight. Niels Koolen and Juan Manuel Correa brought out a caution just before the halfway point of the race when they made contact in turn 1. Heading out of the final corner in the latter stages of the race, James Roe made contact with the wall to bring out the second caution.

The second race from Indianapolis will be at 1 p.m. tomorrow.

Quotes and full results coming soon.