Race Report: Java House Grand Prix of Arlington

ARLINGTON, Texas (March 15, 2026)-- Despite high winds triggering an hour earlier start, the Java House Grand Prix of Arlington went off without a hitch in front of packed grandstands and suites as the inaugural event was deemed a huge success.

Santino Ferrucci and Caio Collet enjoyed their best finishes on a temporary street course to date this season.Collet was the top starting and top finishing rookie in this race.

Collet, who started 16th, spent nearly the entire race in the top half of the grid as he got off to a great start by improving his position by three spots on the first lap of the 70-lap race to tuck in behind Ferrucci.

Collet's No. 4 Combitrans Amazonia Chevrolet started the race on the red rimmed alternate compound tire and began losing grip as the softer compound wore and shifted the car's balance. He pitted early in the fuel window (on lap10) and took the primary tires for the next stint. Dropping from 13th to 19th, he climbed back to 10th by the time of his second stop--this time for alternate compound tires again.

The Combitrans crew at work.

He was back up to 12th within 10 laps. He was running 13th when he made his final stop on lap 49 and switched back to the primary tires for the final stint. In 10 laps he set his fastest lap of the race. He finished 13th but was credited with 12th when Felix Rosenqvist was penalized for jumping the restart with one lap to go.

"Good race," said Collet afterwards. "I think we suffered a bit on the first stint with the balance on the red tires, and I think if we could have gone three, four laps more, I think we could have finished in the top 10. But anyway, I think it was a good race, good strategy. We were really quick on the black tires. Struggled a little bit with the reds, but overall, a really positive weekend.

Combitrans Amazonia owner Marcelo Camargo listens as Caio Collet goes over the race.

"I think we definitely improved quite a bit, and we were really competitive all weekend long, like top 10 and top 12," the 23-year-old Brazilian continued. "So yeah, really happy and we'll just keep moving forward from there, and good progress from the previous races. Big thanks to Combitrans, AJ Foyt Racing, Chevrolet and everyone that supported us this weekend, and we'll keep pushing."

Starting 12th in the No. 14 Homes For Our Troops Chevrolet, Ferrucci quickly moved into 11th at the start when Marcus Armstrong had to pit due to a cut tire. Starting on the primary tire, Ferrucci did not pit until lap 20, when he took on the alternate compound tire. He dropped to 15th as cars were split up in their fuel strategies but once played out, he was up to 10th.

After the final stop on lap 52, he began having brake if issues which led to his ending up in the Turn 10 run-off area. He kept the engine running and gunned it until he was pointed in the right direction to rejoin the race.  He lost about five spots but as it turned out, only four because he was credited with 17th with the Rosenqvist penalty.

The 14 crew had solid pitstops.

"Overall just a really long day,” the veteran driver said. "I thought we had good enough speed to be inside the top 10. But I think even after my mistake and everything that had happened with that adversity, we still would have just been on the outside looking in. We're just missing that little bit of pace, lap after lap together as a whole, to be there. Started to struggle with the brakes on the last stint for some reason, and it's kind of what caused us to go off and have that mistake. So just a bummer. Really tough day, tough break for us in Arlington, but we'll see if we can't get it sorted for Barber."

Santino posed with the Veterans who came out for the race today as guests of Homes For Our Troops.

Team President Larry Foyt agreed with his driver, saying, "A tough finish for the Homes For Our Troops Chevy today. I think we had a decent strategy and a decent car, probably not good enough to fight for the top eight, but definitely I think we were good enough to be around the top 10. Santino had some braking issues and locked up there, and that was too bad. He did a good job to recover, but we lost some spots, but that's racing.  

"It was a tough race, but also I’m really impressed with Caio," Foyt continued. "He did a great job fighting with a lot of front runners and I think he just keeps learning more every week. So we're really excited about his potential, and his progress. Both crews did a good job, and so did our engineers. We just have to take that next step to consistently fight in the top 10. We're missing something for that, everyone's working hard, and we'll get there."

Kyle Kirkwood won the race after a close battle with Alex Palou who finished second. Rounding out the top five were: Will Power, pole winner Marcus Ericsson and Pato O'Ward.

In the INDY NXT by Firestone race, pole winner Alessandro De Tullio was taken out in the first corner of the first lap when HMD driver, Tymek Kucharczyk, locked up at the corner and De Tullio turned in, and they made contact and De Tullio went on into the runoff. This sent De Tullio to the back of the field, with another crash on-track happening at the same time. There were no calls made from the stewards on De Tullio’s position, so he climbed from the back of the field up to P11 in the end. Nicholas Monteiro was climbing from P21 and lost control on his final lap and he hit the wall on the last lap. He escaped without injury.

Action returns to the NTT INDYCAR Series and INDY NXT by Firestone in two weeks. FOX will broadcast the Children' s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday, March 29th. There will be a doubleheader for the INDY NXT drivers with Race 1 on Saturday starting at 1 p.m. ET and Race 2 on Sunday starting at 11 a.m. ET. Both races will be on FS1.

The sports complex -- Globe Life Field in foreground and AT&T Stadium in the background--that served as part of the circuit for the Grand Prix of Arlington.