Hauger controls Indy Nxt FP1 as Monteiro debuts and d’Orlando returns

Photo: Chris Owens

Andretti Global’s Dennis Hauger set the pace in Indy Nxt’s first practice session at Portland on Friday afternoon.

The championship leader’s final lap was his fastest, setting a 1m02.8638s to go almost two thirds of a second clear of the rest of the field.

This weekend’s 19-car entry list is completed by debutant Nicholas Monteiro at HMD Motorsports and series returnee Michael d’Orlando at Andretti Cape.

Formula Regional Oceania podium-finisher Monteiro is a third-year USF Pro 2000 driver and is currently eighth in the standings there, but the 20-year-old Brazilian is missing its races at Portland to enter Indy Nxt.

D’Orlando brings Andretti Cape’s line-up back up to two cars for the last three rounds of 2025. The 23-year-old had the budget to do seven races in 2024 with the team, taking a best finish of fourth, and before that was 2022 USF2000 champion and fourth in USFP2000 in 2023.

Hauger was quickest early on in the 45-minute FP1, with title rival Caio Collet knocking him off top spot. The HMD driver remained there for much of the first half of FP1 before Hauger moved back ahead.

D’Orlando briefly jumped up to first place late on, but laptimes quickly tumbled as drivers put on fresh tyres in the final 10 minutes. Andretti Global’s Lochie Hughes and Abel Motorsports’ Callum Hedge both lowered the pace, but Hauger was back on top by the time the chequered flag fell.

Hughes set his personal best as he took the chequered flag to reduce Hauger’s gap at the top, only for him to improve moments later to end the day quickest by 0.6365 seconds.

It was a relatively clean session which ran green throughout. Hedge had a wide moment early on, running through the dirt at turn four before returning to the track. He continued without issue and ended FP1 in fourth, just behind HMD’s Josh Pierson whose penultimate lap put him third.

Andretti Global’s James Roe Jr also had a wide moment in the latter stages but managed to avoid hitting any barriers.

D’Orlando was fifth fastest on his return, 0.7816s off Hauger’s pace but only 0.1451s shy of second place, with Collet and Abel with Force Indy’s Myles Rowe in sixth and seventh.

Salvador de Alba in eighth was the last driver within a second of his team-mate Hauger.

Free practice results