Collet pips Hauger to third successive Indy Nxt pole at Portland

Photo: James Black

Caio Collet snatched Indy Nxt pole position at Portland with his final lap in qualifying, denying title rival Dennis Hauger.

As at previous events this season, the field was split into two groups and Abel Motorsports with Force Indy’s Myles Rowe was fastest in the first. He therefore held onto the fastest lap and provisional pole until Collet’s last lap, when the HMD Motorsports driver went faster by 0.216 seconds.

It was a troubled qualifying session for Collet. Before any of the drivers could set a representative laptime in group two, Abel Motorsports with Miller Vinatieri Motorsports’ Jack William Miller brought out red flags.

The field had been battling for track position as they exited the pits and Miller went side-by-side with HMD’s Josh Pierson at one point. The pair were single-file again when Miller lost control of his car at turn eight, possibly with damage to his front-right tyre. He went straight on and hit the barriers, bringing the session to a stop.

When running resumed just six minutes remained. Andretti Global’s Hauger jumped to the top of the times ahead of Collet, but he soon responded with another flying lap.

Collet briefly occupied first place before being handed a drive-through penalty that may have only lasted for a few moments but compromised two laps as a result. By the time he returned to setting a flying lap, Hauger was leading the way again but still had not beaten Rowe’s group one benchmark.

As he took the chequered flag, Collet improved to 1m03.3595s to beat Hauger and Rowe. Although Hauger also improved on his final lap to better Rowe, he was 0.0557s slower than Collet and so will line up third for Sunday’s race.

Group one was less dramatic. Abel Motorsports’ Callum Hedge topped the times early on before being surpassed by Rowe.

He put in multiple flying laps, gradually dropping the benchmark to 1m03.5755s that ended up earning him second on the grid.

Hedge was just 0.043s slower than Rowe in group one, putting him alongside Hauger on row two, and Chip Ganassi Racing’s Bryce Aron qualified fifth after jumping up the order on his penultimate lap in group two to sit 0.4689s behind Collet and third in the group.

Andretti’s Salvador de Alba was third fastest in group one, 0.2731s off Rowe, and he starts the race from sixth.

HMD’s Nicholas Monteiro qualified 15th for his Indy Nxt debut, having been 1.5953s off the pace and eighth fastest in group two, while Andretti Cape’s returnee Michael d’Orlando bounced back from his practice crash to be eighth in group one and only 0.5041s off Rowe’s benchmark.

Qualifying results