Indy NXT Star Rowe Wanted “Something New” in GT4 Debut

After a challenging year in Indy NXT by Firestone, Myles Rowe is making his sports car debut at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in the Pro-Am class of the Pirelli GT4 America in the No. 098 Rotek Racing Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport.

An effort by NXG Youth Motorsports, which has been one of Rowe’s primary backers, led to the opportunity to sample sports car racing during the Indianapolis 8 Hour weekend.

Force Indy team principal Rodney Reid founded NXG Youth to give underrepresented youth in motorsports a look behind the scenes at the sport through karting.

“The whole effort is to just get in something new, a little bit different to what I’ve been doing and get some experience, most of all have fun,” Rowe told Sportscar365.

“Especially after a tough year we had in Indy NXT, just battling all the adversity that came our way and get back to enjoying the race, enjoying racing and trying something different.”

Rowe started the year with two top fives and six top-ten finishes in the first seven races of his Indy NXT season, but ended the campaign with six finishes of 14th or worse in the final seven races.

After the Indy NXT season ended in September, Rowe said he wanted to see what things were like in sports car racing and see how different it is compared to open wheel racing.

The 2023 USF Pro 2000 champion has had to get used to driving an entirely different kind of vehicle and learning how different sports car racing is compared to junior level formula car racing in a hurry.

Unlike Indy NXT where the cars are the same except for small fine tunings for each driver’s particular style, Rowe now has to contend with his opponents having different drivetrain layouts compared to his own and their vehicle’s various strengths and weaknesses compared to his Porsche.

He said his head is constantly on a swivel observing everything.

“When I got out of my first session, I realized how important it was to always be in your mirror, especially not being one of the fastest classes on the track,” Rowe said.

“You’ve got to make sure someone’s not coming up on you. Even if they’re the same kind of class or category, you’ve got to make sure they’re not faster in the corner and they’re going to be up on you on exit.

“If they’re not as fast in the corner, you’ve got to be checking your mirrors into the brake zone, make sure whatever turbo they have or whatever didn’t catch you down the straightaway.

“You have to be a lot more attentive towards the infinite possibilities of cars being around you and you’ve just got to try to keep yourself safe out there.”

Rowe also said that he wants to race LMP2 and GT cars in IMSA and other sports car series when it isn’t conflicting with his Indy NXT commitments.

“I’d love to do WEC, that’d be awesome,” Rowe said. “I really want to branch out and do stuff like that.

“It’s just about financials and who wants to partner with me as a driver and things like that. And also timing. That’s every, in every sport. But yeah, I mean, I want to drive anything and everything I can, for sure.”

Rowe’s No. 098 Porsche will start ninth in the first GT4 America race on Saturday morning.