Hauger towers above opposition in Indy Nxt’s Detroit qualifying

Photo: Joe Skibinski

Dennis Hauger claimed his third pole of the Indy Nxt season in downtown Detroit, topping his qualifying group by almost a second.

The championship leader was in the second group on track, and beat the 1m05.0516s benchmark set by Andretti Global team-mate Lochie Hughes in the first group by just 0.062s.

After the first flying laps, Hauger was top of the order in group two ahead of team-mate Salvador de Alba and Abel Motorsports with Force Indy’s Myles Rowe. 

A second incident of the weekend for Andretti’s James Roe Jr then brought out session-halting red flags, with less than eight minutes left, as he lost the back end of his car and clipped a wall, leaving him with significant damage to the right side of his car.

When qualifying resumed, drivers needed to get as many laps in as possible and times tumbled. Second position in the group changed hands multiple times, while Hauger improved late on to topple Hughes from pole position.

Hauger’s best effort, a 1m04.9896s, was 0.9658s quicker than anyone else could manage in his group and it was a late lap from HMD Motorsports’ part-timer Max Taylor that earned him third on the grid. He took the position by just 0.0218s, pipping Andretti’s Salvador de Alba, and will share row two of the grid with HMD’s Caio Collet.

Throughout the first qualifying group, Hughes and Collet traded first place with every lap completed. The fastest lap was incrementally reduced and at the very end Hughes crossed the line with a rapid 1m05.0516s.

Collet improved too, but was 0.5733s off Hughes’ pace. Abel Motorsports’ Callum Hedge was another 0.5066s back in third, meaning he will start sixth on the grid.

Rowe, HMD’s Josh Pierson and Juan Manuel Correa, and Abel Motorsports with Miller Vinatieri Motorsports’ Jack William Miller will round out the top 10.

Qualifying results