Foster takes double Detroit pole with damaged suspension

Photo: Penske Entertainment / Chris Owens

Louis Foster took pole position for both Indy Nxt races on the streets of Detroit despite damaging his rear suspension in the second qualifying session. 

Qualifying was split into two sessions lasting 15 minutes (or eight minutes of green flag action, whichever came first) to determine the grids for races one and two on the revived former Formula 1 circuit. 

Foster topped the order in the first qualifying session early on, setting a 1m09.2096s benchmark. The Andretti Autosport driver then spent the remainder of Q1 improving on his time. He ended the session with a personal best of 1m06.9468s, and was the only driver to lap sub-1m07s to end qualifying 0.6458 seconds clear of team-mate Hunter McElrea in second place.

Such was Foster’s advantage that the same gap existed between third and 14th place, with championship leader Christian Rasmussen 1.1447s off the pace in sixth place behind Matteo Nannini and Reece Gold. But Nannini then had his two fastest laps deleted after qualifying, dropping him to 16th.

Foster then faced the challenge of backing up that pole position time in Q2.  

This time it was free practice pacesetter Nolan Siegel was fastest early on before McElrea jumped up to take provisional pole position.  

Foster was running third when he tapped a wall on a flying lap, bending his rear suspension. Despite the damage, he was able to improve his pace in the closing minutes of the session, setting a 1m06.8374s. He was again the only driver to lap sub-1m07s. 

Many drivers took visits to the escape road at turn one during practice, but there was almost no repeat in qualifying. It wasn’t until towards the end of Q2 that anybody took to the run-off area. Matteo Nannini ran off at turn one, bringing out the local yellow flags as drivers tried to complete their final laps. He was able to get going again, but came to a stop on track. 

In was Rasmussen who came closest to beating Foster in Q2. He was 0.1906s off Foster’s pace, and less than 0.03s ahead of Siegel in third. 

McElrea could only manage fourth, only for his fastest lap to be deleted and to drop behind Gold to fifth. Toby Sowery in sixth also lost his fastest time, dropping him to 13th, and Danial Frost did not get to benefit from seventh as he suffered the same fate and ended up qualifying eighth

Qualifying results