Ireland's James Roe makes Indy NXT podium return at Iowa Speedway

Irish driver James Roe earned his second podium finish of the Indy NXT season with a runner-up finish at Iowa Speedway on Saturday.

The Naas, Co Kildare native enjoyed a strong showing in qualifying on Friday at the start of the season's 10th round, in a series which holds the status of final rung of the ladder below US open-wheel racing's top-tier IndyCar series.

Roe set the fastest lap of the session for the first time at Indy NXT level and placed his Topcon Andretti Global car on pole for Saturday's race.

The 25-year-old converted that grid placing into second place, leading all but six of the 55 laps, but ultimately finishing behind Andretti team-mate and championship leader Louis Foster of Great Britain.

Fellow Irish driver Jonathan Browne finished ninth and is 11th in the Indy NXT standings in what is the Dubliner's rookie season.

For Roe, it's a second podium finish of 2024 with his first coming at the Grand Prix of Alabama in April and he has now stood on the podium three times since graduating to Indy NXT in the 2022 season.

"Every driver wants to get on the top step," he said of his race performance which moves him up to seventh in the championship standings.

"However, it's fantastic to get the pole this weekend and a podium finish. We were a little boxed in with what I could do with adjustments in the car, but that's racing. Overall, we had a great car and it was just a dominant weekend for the Andretti team."

Roe's podium finish ends a difficult period since a fifth place finish at race one in Laguna Seca in June.

He raced in Iowa this weekend with a broken scaphoid bone in his right hand sustained while racing at the Detroit Grand Prix early last month.