INDY NXT SERIES: GRAND PRIX AT MID-OHIO RACE 1

July 4, 2026

Jack Beeton

Enzo Fittipaldi

Tymek Kucharczyk

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Wrapping up today's INDY NXT by Firestone at Mid-Ohio, race No. 1 this weekend, won by Enzo Fittipaldi, who led all 35 laps in the No. 67 HMD Motorsports car. His third win of the season, sixth podium. Enzo also moves up to second in the points standings here in 2026.

Tymek Kucharczyk in the 71 HMD Motorsports machine. Second straight runner-up finish for Tymek. Seventh podium of the season. Now takes over the points lead here in round No. 11, I believe it is.

Jack Beeton in the 45 HMD Motorsports car. Best finish of the season, as well. First career podium. You add in Salvador de Alba, it's a 1, 2, 3, 4 for HMD Motorsports here today.

Enzo, we'll start with you. Congratulations. Restarts I'm sure were no fun. Tell us about your day and another win here.

ENZO FITTIPALDI: It was a great race. We had very strong pace. Yeah, it was quite -- I'm not going to say quite easy to stay out in front, but I think it was very -- like a smooth ride the whole race. The car was really quick all race. We had good pace, and the restarts were all really good.

So, yeah, I feel like I managed really well the push-to-pass. I didn't really feel like I needed to use it at all throughout the whole race, which is a good sign. I mean, it shows that our pace is just very strong.

Yeah, it's been a really good weekend so far. Fastest in practice. Double pole and now a win. I hope to continue the momentum on to tomorrow.

THE MODERATOR: What did you learn from today that you can apply to tomorrow?

ENZO FITTIPALDI: Yeah, I think there's a few things that we learned today. I think one of the biggest ones is that it's pretty hard to overtake here.

But, yeah, I think it's important I think maximizing the restarts when there is safety cars and stuff and using the push-to-pass wisely for tomorrow's race, as well.

THE MODERATOR: You got a ton there at the end. It didn't seem like there was a lot of action, but there was still 133 on-track passes, which is an all-time record here for INDY NXT here at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Tymek, for you, congratulations taking over the points lead. Another race tomorrow. Just your thoughts on today's race, first of all.

TYMEK KUCHARCZYK: Yeah, decent race, decent comeback, again. The restart was crucial for me. My ideas of the outside line in 2 and 4. Other than that, just like Enzo, I had pretty good pace, and I was just managing my tires.

I think last couple of laps we were switching with the fastest lap, so that was a bit fun using push-to-pass just to be the quickest one. It was a cool race, and good pace all around.

The team has done a mega job 1, 2, 3, 4 for the team. I don't know if that's ever happened before, but a historical day for us. Super proud to be part of that.

THE MODERATOR: Were they telling you on the radio who had the fastest lap?

TYMEK KUCHARCZYK: I just assumed it was me for most (laughing).

ENZO FITTIPALDI: I think I got fastest lap, right?

THE MODERATOR: Correct, yes, at the end.

TYMEK KUCHARCZYK: On the last lap, yeah. The lap before the last, was I?

THE MODERATOR: Was that you?

TYMEK KUCHARCZYK: I think so, yeah.

ENZO FITTIPALDI: What time did you do? 10.6 or 10.7?

TYMEK KUCHARCZYK: I think 6.

ENZO FITTIPALDI: We'll double-check (laughing).

THE MODERATOR: We'll go back. We'll look at the records.

TYMEK KUCHARCZYK: No, that's fine. Wait, what was the question?

THE MODERATOR: I don't know. I've lost track. It was a great race for you. Congratulations.

Jack, congratulations for you. As mentioned, best finish of the season. First career podium as well here in INDY NXT. Obviously a very big day for the team. Just talk about your day today.

JACK BEETON: Yeah, it's definitely been a hard start to the season. Harder than we would have liked. A few mistakes. We've had potential the whole year. We've know known that, and now finally we're starting to deliver.

Last weekend in Road America was a big step forward finishing fourth and sixth, and the sixth, I was last at one point in the race. So the pace has been great recently.

Yeah, today put it all together. Qualified third for both races. Could have been pole. It was close. Made a mistake on my best lap, but in the end, started the race -- yeah, started third. Got to second on the start with nice overtake on Salvador and was managing just behind Enzo. Obviously it's really difficult to overtake around this track, and I knew that. Was just managing the tires. Obviously it's super, super hot, and I knew that would be a big factor today.

Then Tymek with a mega restart. I got stuck behind Enzo in T4, and Tymek went sailing around the outside.

Back into third and just stayed there for the rest of the race, managed. I knew Salvador wasn't going to be overtake, and I honestly I knew it would be hard to overtake Tymek, as well. I wasn't really focusing on trying to overtake.

Hopefully if there was another restart at the end, I might have had the pace to re-overtake, but it didn't happen. Yeah, super happy to walk away with P3. Big day for the team. Thank you to everyone who made it possible, and hopefully we'll do even better tomorrow.

THE MODERATOR: Good to see you finish up front today. Congratulations. We'll open it up for questions.

Q. Enzo, you talked about it being difficult to overtake here. What do you feel like makes it difficult to make passes at this track?

ENZO FITTIPALDI: I think -- I don't know. For me, it wasn't really an issue because I think I started on first and then just stayed there the whole race. Yeah, I just think from looking from previous years and stuff, it just looks like more difficult to overtake than, like, Road America or other tracks that we were at, like Arlington.

I think it's just a bit more difficult. It's a bit more tighter of a track. The straights aren't as long and quite a lot of high-speed corners one after the other, so you get quite a lot of aero wash, which makes it even more difficult.

So, yeah, I think it is difficult, but I think on restarts you can really, really capitalize a lot here.

Q. Just for all of you, you're all obviously trying to make the next jump while also being teammates for the team being. How do you kind of balance that relationship and competitiveness that you have?

TYMEK KUCHARCZYK: Until we don't crash, we're all good.

ENZO FITTIPALDI: Yeah, I think until, yeah. In the end, we are teammates, but I know that when we're fighting there, we are going to fight to the limit, you know. We are going to fight like at the max every time.

Obviously as teammates, maybe we have a little bit more respect than to another team. But at the end, you know, it's racing.

JACK BEETON: We're friends off track, and on the track we're all racing for ourselves, right? Obviously we all have massive respect for each other, and you can see that, the racing today between all of us was really clean. Yeah, it's a really positive environment in HMD always.

Q. Enzo, congratulations. Last night we had a very, very heavy rainshowers here. Does the track change in the grip level? Did you feel something different compared to yesterday? A question to teammate, Enzo just said earlier what you learned and overtaking here is quite difficult. You proved a difference. What's your secret way in how you can overtake?

ENZO FITTIPALDI: The track was pretty fast this morning. I mean, I was able to set the track record, so I don't think the rain affected much with the grip, because there was very heavy rain yesterday. We were actually going into the quallie the day saying about the rain that maybe the track changes a bit, but the track was very fast this morning.

Yeah, I don't think it was a big factor.

TYMEK KUCHARCZYK: Well, I think what Enzo is saying is true. It's a difficult track to overtake, and you just have to manage your situation.

I got put in front of the moment where I could take an advantage of mistake of other drivers and use the higher lines, the outside lane, but you know, in a race space where the tires are up to the temperature and everyone is up to the speed, it's just so hard fall around this place.

The track is amazing in its way. I think for a quallie lap is one of the best places we have throughout the calendar, but for racing it's just a bit more tough.

So, yeah, the restart was crucial because I've seen people struggling a bit with the tires. They were sliding a bit. The rubber was coming off. I just knew, okay, everyone will be a bit cautious. I put my tires into a bit better position. I made sure my run out of T1 was really good and then, yeah, just worked the high line.

Q. Enzo and Tymek, to continue on the conversation about getting the fastest lap there, y'all exchanged it quite a bit in the last five laps. Do y'all kind of talk about that after the race and kind of hold it between y'all when y'all get in a battle like that?

ENZO FITTIPALDI: I think it was just, yeah, the trying. I mean, it's always fun to get a fastest lap. It's nice after a race to know that you did the best lap. In INDY NXT we don't get points for fastest lap.

Q. Should y'all get points?

ENZO FITTIPALDI: Yeah, that would be nice.

THE MODERATOR: Says the guy that just went fastest in a race, so yeah, and is trying to win the championship.

TYMEK KUCHARCZYK: I think it was just a fun way of, you know, showing, okay, if I want to, I can be quicker. Then I see Enzo pulling away a little bit. So I was, like, okay, next lap I need to push a bit harder.

No, it was just, yeah -- well, I was kind of bored, to be fair, at that point. I was just like, okay, let's push it. Why not? It's, like, five laps left. We had over 30 seconds of push-to-pass. Tires were in a good condition. So like, let's full push.

JACK BEETON: I let them have their fun at the front.

TYMEK KUCHARCZYK: You were out of the party, sorry.

THE MODERATOR: Jack, you'll get there. Don't worry about it.

Q. For you, Jack, the start of the race is important because you had to make a pass on teammate Salvador. Getting your first podium, bit moment for you, but that moment speaks volumes to the result you got today.

JACK BEETON: Yeah, it definitely showed this season we've been able to overtake. There's been plenty of races where I've been last on track and had to come through.

Luckily today my overtakes were actually for the positions at the front. That move was super crucial. If I didn't pass de Alba, I would have finished fourth because that's where he finished.

No, it was a good overtake, but just from there controlled it. Obviously it's super hard to overtake, as we've been talking about. Tymek, as he said, when they make a mistake or you see an opportunity, you've got to take it.

THE MODERATOR: We have race 2 tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. Eastern in the United States, available live on FS1. We'll see you back here tomorrow.