Hauger remains ahead on bumpy Detroit streets in Indy Nxt FP2

Photo: Joe Skibinski

Andretti Global’s Dennis Hauger remained the driver to beat in Indy Nxt’s second practice session in Detroit on Saturday.

After three minutes of action there were red flags as Jack William Miller crashed into Tommy Smith, which meant Miller was held in the pits for 10 minutes once the 45-minute session restarted.

Salvador de Alba led the way, having set a 1m21.2432s. Laptimes rapidly reduced following the restart, with HMD Motorsports’ Caio Collet setting a 1m14.2739s on his fourth lap to lead Abel Motorsports’ Callum Hedge and Andretti’s Lochie Hughes.

Collet improved to 1m12.8838s as rain drops appeared, and Abel with Force Indy’s Myles Rowe then lowered the pace to 1m11.5397s. As with most drivers, he followed up a push lap by going down the turn eight run-off.

A minute later, Rowe was demoted to fourth as Collet set a 1m10.1552s and Hughes also lapped sub-1m11s.

Hauger and team-mate de Alba were the first to break the 1m10s barrier, with Hauger going two thirds of a second clear, only for Hughes to then post a 1m08.7229s.

Collet beat him before the 15-minute mark, setting a 1m08.1874s, and de Alba improved to 1m09.1498s in third.

HMD’s Josh Pierson soon joined the top five, and two laps later Hauger lowered the pace to 1m07.9055s but when Collet crossed the timing line he moved back ahead by 0.3 seconds and de Alba found almost a second to improve again.

Hughes got within 0.2187s of Hauger, before he grew his gap with a 1m07.2229s lap and a 1m06.6364s on the one after that.

Collet then returned to being his closest rival, setting a 1m07.0391s which Hughes later pipped by 0.0001s.

Top spot changed hands once more with 21 minutes to go, as Collet recorded a 1m06.518s. There was no response as Andretti’s drivers pitted.

It was not until the final eight minutes that there was another change near the top, as Smith went from outside the top 15 to fourth place with a 1m07.1314s and Pierson improved to 1m07.1912s in fifth.

A minute later de Alba got within 0.0974s of Collet, and Hauger was setting sub-1m07s laps but not improving.

HMD’s part-timer Max Taylor jumped from seventh to first with six minutes to go, lowering the pace to 1m06.3061s. Hughes, who was outside of the top 10, returned to fifth before traffic compromised many drivers’ laps.

Collet managed to avoid it, setting a 1m06.0388s with four minutes to go before going off at turn eight. Andretti Cape’s Ricardo Escotto became the sixth driver to lap sub-1m07s shortly after, then Hauger moved back ahead by 0.158s.

Hughes made another improvement to fourth, setting a 1m06.3755s, and nobody had a chance to respond to Hauger as Abel’s Jordan Missig spun at turn seven and brought out red flags.

There was enough time for a restart and all but Missig and HMD’s Juan Manuel Correa headed back out. Traffic compromised all bar Rowe, who improved in 15th, while Escotto crashed at turn seven as the session concluded.

Free practice results