Bogle fastest in humid Indy Nxt practice on Gateway oval

Photo: James Black

HMD Motorsports’ Christian Bogle was fastest in a humid Indy Nxt free practice session on the Gateway oval.

Drivers had 45 minutes on track, and initially the bottom line was where to be with no grip up high around a circuit which has one higher ane one slower speed corner.

Andretti Global’s James Roe Jr was first to the top, then Andretti Cape’s Salvador de Alba, and once the second laps began HMD’s Josh Pierson then went fastest with a 32.3415s lap.

His team-mate Caio Collet smashed that benchmark with a 30.4539s, and it was Callum Hedge – another HMD driver – who was the first to lap sub-30s. He improved multiple times to keep himself on top, and his 28.7402s effort was eventually beaten when most drivers returned to the pits and Andretti’s points leader Louis Foster made use of clear air as he headed out and set a 28.5326s five minutes in.

He then set a 28.4244s, which was beaten by a 28.3858s from de Alba. Foster responded by beating that by 0.0014 seconds, as title rival Jacob Abel and HMD’s Reece Gold almost had a moment together on track as Abel began his first run.

Foster found more pace, setting a 28.3016s as low wind levels and high humidity did little to improve the track’s grip levels despite the number of laps being put down by the Indy Nxt field.

Hedge returned to the top three 12 minutes in, and after 20 minutes Foster found another improvement to 28.1416s as he was one of the first back on track for a second run.

Almost everyone else improved once they returned to track, and Collet lowered the pace to 28.1069s while team-mate Rowe moved into second with a 28.1281s lap.

With 20 minutes to go, Collet was knocked off top spot by a 28.0993s from Andretti Global’s Jamie Chadwick and that stood as the benchmark for 10 minutes before de Alba beat her by just 0.0075s.

In the final four minutes a busy track led to more improvements, and Roe went fastest with a 28.0322s. Rowe returned to second a minute later, after Roe had set the day’s first sub-28s lap.

With 110s left on the clock there was another change at the top, as Bogle set a 27.9674s that would go unbeaten and made him the fastest by 0.026s.

Rowe, de Alba and Chadwick were third, fourth and fifth, with Collet, Foster and Yuven Sundaramoorthy also within 0.2s of first place. Abel ended practice an underwhelming 10th.

Free practice results