Foster leads Collet in Portland Indy Nxt practice

Photo: James Black

Louis Foster led Indy Nxt practice at Portland International Raceway ahead of Caio Collet.

Championship leader Foster managed a time of 1m02.9311s, the only driver to lap under 1m03s during the 50-minute session.

Lap times tumbled throughout the first half of practice, with multiple drivers swapping positions at the top of the timings. Foster set the pace, but had to compete with Bryce Aron and Collet for the top spot.

Collet was the first driver to go quicker than 1m04s, but Foster soon improved on his time, before a lull in lap time improvements.

Shortly before the mid-point of the session, an off for Callum Hedge brought out the red flags. The HMD Motorsports-run car was quickly cleared, and running resumed with 19 minutes left on the clock.

The session was red-flagged again in the final six minutes of running when Christian Brooks lost control of his car at the exit of turn 12. He overcorrected the mistake and hit the wall, significantly damaging his car. 

There were few improvements until the closing stages of the session, when drivers who had been at the tail end of the top 10 jumped up the order.

Josh Pierson was briefly second-quickest before a late improvement put Collet P2, 0.3366s behind Foster. The championship contender comes into the weekend with a six place grid penalty for causing a collision at Gateway. 

Jamie Chadwick also improved late on to go fourth ahead of Christian Bogle and Jacob Abel.

Reece Gold took seventh ahead of Salvador de Alba, Jonathan Browne, and Christian Brooks.

Free practice results