Gold quickest in Indy Nxt FP2 at Road America as Porto replaces Siegel

Photo: Justin Walsh

Reece Gold set the pace in Indy Nxt’s second practice session at Road America, as Kiko Porto replaced Nolan Siegel in HMD Motorsports’ line-up.

Rain midway through the session sent the field into the pits, but most were able to get back out and improve their pace after despite the wet track.

Gold’s 1m50.5846s benchmark was over a second quicker than Louis Foster’s FP1-topping laptime and 0.0858s faster than what the Andretti Global driver achieved in FP2.

Foster set the pace early on before being knocked off top spot by Caio Collet. When the rain arrived it was still Collet on top, as drivers started to spin on a slippy track. Miller Vinatieri Racing’s Jack William Miller and HMD’s Myles Rowe were among those to lose grip, but all managed to make it back to the pits without issue.

After a brief stay in the pits, most of the field headed back out with 18 minutes left on the clock. Laptimes were soon tumbling again. Gold jumped up to first and stayed there, while second place changed hands multiple times. 

At the chequered flag it was Foster who held the position, ahead of team-mate James Roe Jr and Abel Motorsports’ Jacob Abel.

Red flags waved early in FP2 following an incident for Callum Hedge. The HMD driver had been second fastest before he ran wide and hit the wall at the final corner. The incident damaged the rear of his car and he did not rejoin the session once his car was retrieved from the gravel. However he avoided dropping to last place despite his inactivity, as Miller was unable to improve after his own gravel excursion.

Collet was able to improve his pace after the mid-session pause, but was only seventh quickest behind Andretti Cape’s Michael d’Orlando.

In 18th place was Porto, who got called up at the last minute to replace Siegel due to the latter’s own call-up to race for Juncos Hollinger Racing in IndyCar this weekend.

Porto did three Indy Nxt races last year, with a best finish of ninth. The 20-year-old Brazilian is the 2021 USF2000 champion and the 2023 USF Pro 2000 runner-up.

Free practice 2 results