Foster fastest again in Indy Nxt’s second Detroit practice session

Photo: James Black

Andretti Global’s Louis Foster was fastest in Indy Nxt’s second practice session in Detroit, which took place on Saturday morning.

He started off with a 1m15.9960s, leading team-mate James Roe Jr by 0.53 seconds, and improved to 1m10.9722s, 1m10.3484s and then 1m08.3841s on his next three laps. At one point he was 2.6s clear of Roe, who reduced the gap to 0.7527s before Foster broke the 1m10s barrier.

Abel Motorsports’ Jacob Abel then became his closest rival, 1.3534s behind, with Andretti Cape’s Michael d’Orlando a further 0.0126s back.

D’Orlando’s next lap put him second, going 0.5186s slower than Foster, with Abel improving to be 0.6437s off the top.

Roe then took third place with his fifth lap, getting within 0.6s of Foster, who proceeded to then lower the pace to 1m07.1807s. Lots of other drivers improved, and Andretti Cape’s Salvador de Alba emerged in second place with a laptime 1.1131s slower than Foster’s. Abel dropped down the order then pitted due to damaging a toe link.

HMD Motorsports’ Callum Hedge and Andretti Global’s Jamie Chadwick demoted d’Orlando to seventh nine minutes in, then Chadwick and de Alba got within a second of Foster on their next laps. D’Orlando and Collet did even better, lapping 0.4049s and 0.7519s off the pace, and Collet improved again to be just 0.1864s away from first place.

Hedge went fourth fastest, dropped to fifth then rose to third with a lap 0.2483s slower than Foster’s benchmark. His team-mate Nolan Siegel went 0.0418s faster than him 14 minutes in, Roe improved in fifth, then there was drama. Foster pitted for some camber and wing adjustments, and Collet went fastest with a 1m07.1298s as red flags waved due to de Alba going off at turn one.

Green flags reappeared as FP2 reached the 20-minute mark, and four minutes later there was a change of position near the top as d’Orlando went fourth fastest, 0.2745s off the new pace. But Foster had more in hand, bettering Collet by 0.6359s. Roe managed to get within 0.0282s of Collet, and with 15 minutes left of the 45-minute session Andretti Global’s Bryce Aron rose to fourth.

FP2 ended for HMD’s Reece Gold shortly after due to an overheating car, then Collet snatched back top spot by 0.119s with a 1m06.3749s as Abel and d’Orlando improved in fifth and sixth. Abel gained another spot with a lap that put him 0.417s behind Collet, but then Siegel demoted him as he got within 0.1765s of the pace.

Abel reponded by going second fastest, 0.0906s off the top, only for Siegel to lower the pace by 0.3745s before red flags waved due to HMD’s Myles Rowe damaging his rear-left suspension exiting turn two.

FP2 restarted with four minutes left, and at the end Foster set a 1m05.7200s to return to the top. D’Orlando and Collet improved to third and fourth, and after the chequered flag Abel went fifth fastest.

Leaving it very late to go second fastest was Roe, who was 0.1993s slower than Foster, and Abel was moved up to fourth when d’Orlando and Collet’s fastest laps were deleted.

Free practice 2 results