Indy NXT expansion bringing early payoffs for ECR

Ed Carpenter and new partner Ted Gelov hoped their expansion into the Indy NXT series with the Cape brothers would be a success, but few would have predicted the Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR program would be leading the championship at the halfway point with a rookie driver.

The union between ECR and Cape, which came after years of alignment with Andretti Global for the Capes, has been powerful from the outset, as Floridian teenager Nikita Johnson took the first win of the new season and added another victory along with two other podiums to hold a small lead over Formula 2 veteran Enzo Fittipaldi of HMD Motorsports.

Whether it’s HMD, or the reigning NXT champions at Andretti, or the other big teams, moving to the head of the line in their first year together has been thoroughly impressive, and with the new ladder built down to the start of the USF Championships with the Jay Howard Driver Development team, the ‘EC’ in ECR is loving the pathway they’ve created.

“That's exceeded my expectations,” Carpenter told RACER. “We put a program together all the way through the Road To Indy between Jay Howard's team and the Capes. It was a lot of work in the off-season to put all that together. I think Dominic and Nicholas (Cape) were a little anxious.

"On one hand, they wanted to get back to doing more of their own thing. On the other hand, they had a good experience with teaming with the Andretti guys, but I think who they are and how they operate is similar in a lot of ways to how we've operated as a team. They’ve done a done a great job, Nikita has been really strong and consistent, and he’s showing a lot of maturity for as young as he is.”

The 18-year-old has been a revelation in NXT, but only for those who were unaware of his 14 wins and 34 podiums across USF Juniors, USF2000, and USF Pro 2000. Teammate Matteo Nannini hasn’t been as fortunate and holds 15th in the NXT standings, but has Johnson as a beacon for what’s possible in the Cape/ECR partnership.

“Nikita’s clearly has taken a liking to the NXT car, and beyond that, what I've noticed watching him is just the racecraft, for as young as he is, is really high,” Carpenter said. “There's performances where he's been dominant and had the fastest car, a la St. Pete. And then there's other events where he just runs really smart.

"Even Gateway, I thought he drove a really nice race. He lost a couple spots on the last restart just by kind of getting checked up at the wrong time, but even that race, where it was probably his worst start of the season, he'd worked his way up into the top five and was just being really smart and savvy.

"To see maturity and consistency, and there's quite a bit of experienced guys in that series this year balancing out the rookies… And I view him as a true rookie. Enzo [Fittipaldi] has got a lot of other experience, but Nikita’s really been the most consistent and savvy rookie, which is why he's leading the points.”