A tale of two fortunes for Cape Motorsports at the Brickyard
Porto scores a top 10 finish in his INDY NXT debut while Jones retires
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (August 15, 2023) – It was a tale of different fortunes for the Cape Motorsports team in the INDY NXT by Firestone Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway last weekend, as Kiko Porto scored a top-10 finish in his series debut while Jagger Jones’ bad luck continued, with an engine failure ending his day early.
Porto, currently in second position in the USF Pro 2000 series, made his INDY NXT debut in the single-day event, with practice, qualifying and the 35-lap race all in one day ahead of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES’ Gallagher Grand Prix. The 19-year-old Brazilian impressed from the outset, earning a ninth-place finish.
But for Jones, following on the heels of a DNF in the Nashville race due to what was initially diagnosed to be a faulty throttle sensor, the problem followed him to Indianapolis – the part had been replaced, but series engine partner AER diagnosed the problem as a wastegate issue during the first practice session. The wastegate and ECU were changed, and the car seemed to run fine in qualifying. But after a good start from Jones, the motor finally expired at the midway point of the race.
“First off, Kiko did an amazing job to get up to speed so quickly,” said Nicholas and Dominic Cape. “He is a pleasure to work with and his attitude to learn was fantastic – we look forward to Laguna Seca to have him back in the car. For Jagger it was bitterly disappointing. At Nashville, all the symptoms pointed towards the sensor failure, so without being able to drive the car after that, we wouldn’t know for sure until practice at IMS. On the initial warm up it was fine, so it was disappointing for us to have the same problem in practice. We changed the ECU, then the wastegate, which seemed to have fixed it. In qualifying, Jagger was happy with the car, but it just felt slow, and with only an hour or two before the race the AER guys looked for answers. After much discussion, they couldn’t find anything – all parameters looked fine. Then unfortunately, the engine expired in the race. Motor racing can be cruel, and while we are blessed with unbelievable reliability these days, sometimes, unfortunately, engines fail.”
Porto was fast straight out of the box on Friday morning, posting top seven times after only a few laps in the car. Midway through the session, after adjustments on pit lane, Porto was the second driver to break the 1:16 mark, pacing at 1:15.6281 to temporarily place the car P2. But teammate Jones experienced the opposite end of the spectrum, with an issue in the engine limiting him to only 10 laps. With the compressed schedule, the team had just over two hours to make adjustments.
In the afternoon’s qualifying session, Porto worked to find grip, fighting oversteer that caused the rear tires to lock up, while Jones focused on catching up in the learning curve after the missed practice time in the morning. At the checkered flag, Porto had qualified 13th with Jones 18th.
The race took the green flag late in the afternoon, immediately after INDYCAR final practice. Both drivers looked to make early moves, with Jones part of a four-wide moment going into turn one and Porto glued to Victor Franzoni ahead. By lap two, Porto grabbed P12, with Jones up to 16th as the field settled in.
Porto, consistently pacing faster than the three cars ahead, tried to use the draft down the front straight to make a move as Jones quietly moved up the field, taking P15 on lap nine, and P14 on lap 11 – with only Ernie Francis, Jr. between himself and his teammate.
But on lap 16, Jones slowed through turn seven and brought the No. 98 to pit lane, with AER engineers immediately surrounding the car.
Meanwhile, Porto, running 11th, waited patiently for an opportunity to make a move and got one with three laps to go. Jamie Chadwick, running 10th, passed Nolan Siegel but was not able to hold the line, sliding off track in turn 12. Porto pounced, deftly sliding around the pair to capture ninth place. He held his position to the checkered flag, with Jones ending up 18th.
Next up for Cape Motorsports will be the INDY NXT by Firestone Outfront Showdown on the oval at World Wide Technology Raceway, September 1 – 3. Practice and qualifying sessions will be broadcast on INDYCAR LIVE and INDYCAR Radio, with the race live on Peacock.
QUOTEBOARD
JAGGER JONES – No. 98 Total Sim/Mecum Auctions Dallara
Start – 18th / Finish – 18th
“It took a while to diagnose the issue I had in practice, so I didn’t have a proper run before qualifying. I feel as though I did a good job to get close to the pace but just didn’t have the laps. I had a good start in the race, making forward progress, but the engine just didn’t feel right – and on lap __, I had trouble getting into sixth gear, then started losing power, with flames coming out of the exhaust. I know they’re working to figure it all out so hopefully we can put this behind us before Gateway.
“I enjoyed working with Kiko, he did a good job with limited time on track. I was able to watch practice while I was waiting to get car fixed and I was impressed with how quickly he got up to speed – the cars clearly have pace.”
KIKO PORTO – No. 47 Banco Daycoval Dallara
Start – 13th / Finish – 9th
“That was definitely the toughest experience I’ve had in a race car, but it was also one of the most amazing. I’m so happy. I have to say, it was really tough, coming from the USF Pro 2000 car. Everything is so different in this car, especially the driving style. And the race is longer, so you really feel the tire degradation – and the car changes completely during the race. You have to keep your mind fresh – there are a lot of things happening. You need to defend, you have to battle, so the only thing you can do to adapt is keep your mind fresh.
(On the move into ninth) “I saw the guys suffering like I was, both physically and with the tire degradation, so I just tried to stay calm, hit my marks, and wait for a mistake, and I would be able to get by. It was a fun race!”