Veteran race engineer Jeff Braun knows a thing or two about young driving talent. His son Colin, a standout star since he was a teenager, has been a race winner and pace-setter for most of his life, and with the chance to work with the 18-year-old American Nolan Siegel in IMSA’s WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the elder Braun sees similar traits in the baby-faced kid from California.
“Nolan’s so good at such a young age,” Braun said after Siegel helped the LMP2 team he works with finish fifth in March at the 12 Hours of Sebring. “He’s one of the most complete young drivers I’ve come across.”
Braun’s words have been prophetic during the opening stages of Siegel’s rookie Indy NXT by Firestone campaign with the HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing team. After taking a pair of seconds and a win at the latest race from the opening five rounds, Siegel’s holding second in the championship entering Road America and needs only three points to displace Andretti Autosport’s Christian Rasmussen as the NXT leader.
Getting his start on the USF Championships by Cooper Tires in 2019, Siegel amassed three seasons of USF2000 and claimed fourth in the USF Pro 2000 championship last year while adding in some IMSA endurance racing in the LMP3 class at the Rolex 24 At Daytona and six more hours at Watkins Glen in the same class.
Altogether, the teen who turned up this year in LMP2 with Braun and in NXT with HMD is indeed a rookie but has been performing like a veteran.
“It’s been a super strong rookie year — we didn’t know what to expect going into the season, but we were hoping to be strong,” Siegel told RACER. “But we’ve been on almost every podium, and to be fighting for wins every weekend is a dream come true, honestly. The team is super excited about it, so we’re hoping to continue that streak.”
Just as IndyCar title contender Pato O’Ward did when he spent a year racing prototypes in IMSA, Siegel credits the extra mileage and intra-team experience he’s gained in those 24-, 12-, and six-hour races for accelerating his learning curve.
“The IMSA racing that I’ve done has helped me a ton as a driver,” he said. “And not just the extra time in the car, but the people that you meet, like Jeff and Colin Braun, have been super for me. All the engineers that I’ve worked with have helped me so much along the way. So just getting that experience from so many great guys on that side of the racing world transfers over to this as well. I would absolutely credit a lot of success we’re having to the time I’ve had in IMSA with 70 cars on track, or whatever it is, and so much chaos all the time.”
It’s the multi-class racing, with differing closing speeds and the mix of pro and pro-am drivers to deal with, which Siegel credits with putting him on the developmental fast track.
“You have to be super comfortable running around those different cars and a lot of different experience levels in the driving,” he noted. “Just becoming accustomed to situations as hectic as that makes this [in NXT] feel like a little bit less of a step, because there’s so much going on in an IMSA race and so much to think about on that side that it makes me a lot more relaxed when I come to this side. Everything’s a little bit slower and calmer. Obviously, it’s still intense, but you’re not constantly in a fight in every turn and every braking zone like you are in IMSA.”
It’s too early in the NXT season to say where Siegel will end up in the standings, but if he remains on his current path, graduating to IndyCar in 2024 could be on the cards.
“Coming into the season as a rookie, it’s hard to tell where you’re going to be,” he said. “I don’t think that anyone was expecting IndyCar talks this year, but with the way it’s been going, it’s become more of a reality and I would absolutely love to do that. That’s been my dream. If that opportunity arises, I would absolutely love to go to IndyCar, but I’m not gonna get ahead of myself.”