Hughes ends Hauger’s undefeated run with Indy Nxt pole

Photo: Amber Pietz

Lochie Hughes ended Dennis Hauger’s undefeated Indy Nxt run with a pair of pole positions on the Indianapolis road course.

Hughes topped the order on both fastest and second fastest times in qualifying, narrowly beating Callum Hedge.

Hauger topped the second qualifying session, but couldn’t get close to Hughes’ fastest time and had to settle for second on the grid for both races.

Hughes set the pace early in the first qualifying session, immediately going below the 1m15s mark. He quickly improved with a time of 1m14.7840s, with Hedge also improving to go within 0.0006s of Hughes. After the first handful of laps, nobody in the first group found improvements and the order was settled.

Myles Rowe was third quickest in the group, 0.4457s off the pace set by Hughes, with James Roe close behind. The top four remained unchanged on the second fastest lap board, while Niels Koolen was fifth quickest.

The second session started slower. Hauger, who had topped every session in 2025 up until this point, set the pace but was more than 0.7s slower than the time set by Hughes. 

Unlike in the first group, Hauger and the others in his session continued to find improvements throughout qualifying. Hauger gradually improved but ended qualifying with a time of 1m15.0089s. Neither his fastest nor his second fastest time was quicker than Hughes.

Salvador de Alba was second quickest, 0.1097s back, ahead of Caio Collet. However, Collet’s second fastest time was the quicker of the two, putting him ahead for the second race of the weekend.

Nolan Allaer was fourth quickest in the session ahead of Josh Pierson.

Qualifying results