PREMA Racing executed a clean race under the lights at World Wide Technology Raceway which saw the team secure its first top ten finish with rookie Robert Shwartzman. The PREMA Racing duo showed good pace throughout the evening, adding to the team’s oval experience, with Ilott leading for a short while in the final stages of the race.
Ilott and Shwartzman started the 260-lap race from 16th and 24th respectively. The British driver didn’t have the best start, dropping to 19th, but quickly made his way back to 17th. Meanwhile team-mate Shwartzman made up three positions in the opening laps ahead of the first caution period on lap 4.
Racing resumed on lap 10, and Ilott immediately made a move on Christian Lundgaard for 16th, while Shwartzman lost a position to fellow rookie Louis Foster. Both began to settle into the race ahead of the first pit stop window.
Lap 47 saw the second caution of the race, and once the pit lane opened on lap 50, both drivers made their first stops, with Ilott emerging in 14th and Shwartzman in 21st.
A second pit stop came for Shwartzman on lap 104, with Ilott following a lap later. The Israeli driver came back onto track as the lead PREMA Racing driver, and the team-mates began running in succession in 18th and 19th.
The race was neutralised again on lap 130, the halfway mark, and a lengthy clean up and barrier repair on the start / finish straight began. The extended caution period allowed both drivers to make their third stop under the yellow on lap 146 where Ilott rejoined in 16th and Shwartzman in 18th.
After the race went green again on lap 150, the pair continued to circulate in the same positions and as other drivers began to make their next pit stop, they broke into the top ten before both pitting again on lap 194.
As they rejoined, a fourth caution period was called with Shwartzman running in 15th and Ilott in 19th. The team gambled and pitted Ilott again under the yellow on lap 204 to top up with fuel, and as the race went green again three laps later, the British driver was able to push and move himself into 13th while his team-mate remained 15th.
With 30 laps to go, both had made their way back into the top ten. Shwartzman made his final stop on lap 246 and came back out on track in 12th. At the same time, Ilott took the lead of the race, battling hard with Felix Rosenqvist into the final ten laps, but ultimately had to make a sixth stop for fuel with four laps to go, dropping down the order.
At the chequered flag, Shwartzman finished tenth, the team’s best finish of the season so far, while Ilott crossed the line in 18th, with the team’s earlier fuel gamble not playing out in their favour.
As the NTT INDYCAR SERIES 2025 season continues, PREMA Racing heads to the scenic Road America in Wisconsin on June 20-22.
#83 - Robert Shwartzman
“I’m really happy that we’ve finished the first short oval with our best result of the season so far, a top ten. Starting from 24th today, I tried to get more confidence with the car and by the final stint I felt like I had the car under control, and it felt really fast. A big thank you to the team, they’ve done an amazing job and completed some good pit stops, so shout out to them. Chevy also did an amazing job with the engine, it was flying, we had so much power which helped me get out the corners and overtake some guys like Alex. We need to keep this rhythm into Road America next week as we’ve shown now that we can get top ten results.”
#90 - Callum Ilott
“Today’s result is hard to take in, especially when we were leading with just a handful of laps to go. The car felt really good all race, our pace was strong, and we made our pit stops at the right time. I had hoped we could have made it to the end, but when the fuel started getting tight in the final ten laps, we had no choice but to make the call to pit from the lead. It’s tough, but that’s racing sometimes. We’ll look to come back stronger at Road America next week.”