Rasmussen fastest in final Indy Nxt practice of 2023

Photo: Travis Hinkle

Christian Rasmussen led the way in practice for the final round of the 2023 Indy Nxt season at Laguna Seca. 

The HMD Motorsports driver ended a disrupted session 0.0298 seconds ahead of Andretti Autosport’s Hunter McElrea, after the pair had swapped places at the top several times.

It was McElrea who was in first place when the first red flag period occurred 15 minutes into the 50-minute session as Nolan Siegel ran into the gravel at turn six.  

The fastest lap soon swapped hands after the track turned green, but it was McElrea who was fastest again when the session was stopped again. This time Ernie Francis Jr had spun out at the exit of turn three, a corner that had already almost caught out Reece Gold. 

By this point, the fastest lap had been lowered to 1m13.1849s but McElrea would dip below the 1m13s mark when action resumed.

The track gripped up and laptimes fell on the repaved track, with Rasmussen’s session-topping effort being a 1m12.3656s.

Victor Franzoni briefly went second quickest late in practice, but would be knocked back to fifth after a flurry of late flying laps. Kyffin Simpson slotted into third ahead of Gold. 

Matthew Brabham was sixth  fastestahead of Danial Frost, who span into the gravel shortly before the chequered flag but managed to get going again without assistance. 

Louis Foster, Jamie Chadwick and the returning Francesco Pizzi completed the top 10. 

Free practice results