Hauger tops the times, d’Orlando brings out red flags in Indy Nxt FP2

Photo: James Black

Andretti Global’s Dennis Hauger was fastest in Indy Nxt’s second practice session at Portland on Saturday.

Practice ended 10 minutes early after Andretti Cape’s returning driver Michael d’Orlando brought out red flags. Having just set a lap that put him in sixth place, he went off at turn 10 and hit the tyre barriers hard. He was able to get out of his car unassisted, and there was no restart after the red flags had waved.

Hauger spent the entire session at the top of the order. He could not match the laptime set to lead the way in FP1, his best effort of 1m03.2252s being 0.3614 seconds slower than what he achieved on Friday.

Second place changed hands multiple times. HMD Motorsports’ Caio Collet held the position early on, then was bettered by Chip Ganassi Racing’s Bryce Aron. Just before the stopped, Abel Motorsport’s Callum Hedge jumped up the order to be Hauger’s closest rival and was 0.1152s off his pace.

Aron improved with his final lap but remained third fastest, ahead of Abel Motorsports with Force Indy’s Myles Rowe and Collet.

Missing at the top of the order was Salvador de Alba. The Andretti Global driver spent 10 minutes in the pits midway through the session as his team tried to deal with a braking issue. He was able to get back out on track and completed a total of 20 laps, the same number as Hauger. However, he was far slower than his team-mate as he ended FP2 in 18th place and 1.6s off the pace.

Jack William Miller (Abel with Miller Vinatieri Motorsports) was seventh fastest, just ahead of Jordan Missing (Abel).

HMD’s debuting Nicholas Monteiro was the last driver within a second of Hauger in 11th place.

Free practice results