Hauger denies Collet pole for Indy Nxt at Road America

Photo: Travis Hinkle

Dennis Hauger denied Caio Collet the Indy Nxt pole position at Road America by just two tenths of a second.

Hauger set the pace in the first qualifying group, topping the order early on with a time that wouldn’t be beaten. After the first run of laps in the group, there were few improvements, and Hauger’s 1m52.3301s was unchallenged through the second half of the session.

Collet also spent his qualifying session top of the order in group two. The HMD Motorsport driver managed two laps at 1m52.54s, improving by just two thousands of a second with his second flying lap. But Collet couldn’t find any further time and had to settle for second on the grid.

The red flags were thrown in the final five minutes of qualifying after Salvador de Alba crashed at Turn 12. He made contact with the tyre barriers and was taken out of the session. Running resumed with about two minutes remaining, but nobody else in the session could find improvements.

Lochie Hughes, second to Collet in the second qualifying session, was the only other driver to lap quicker than 1m53s. Josh Pierson, who was the closest driver to Hauger in group one, managed a 1m53.0195s compared to Hughes’ 1m52.9548s, but will start third on the grid for the race.

Jack William Miller took third in the first group and will line up fifth ahead of Myles Rowe and Callum Hedge.

De Alba was fourth quickest in his group before bringing out the red flags, putting him eighth while Jordan Missig and Bryce Aron complete the top 10.

Qualifying results