Photo: Karl Zemlin

The schedule for this weekend’s Indy Nxt round at the Gateway oval has been revised due to ongoing rain at the circuit this morning.

Free practice has been pushed back from midday to a 2:15pm start time on Saturday, and qualifying will now begin at 6pm rather than 3:30pm.

Despite the banking of Gateway helping drainage of the circuit, wet-weather running on ovals is rarely attempted with single-seater cars and although Indy Nxt’s sessions have been moved to anticipated drier periods they will be at risk of being moved again since IndyCar’s track action this weekend needs to take priority.

Ahead of the round getting underway, Indy Nxt also announced it had issued penalties to Andretti Global driver James Roe Jr.

Last time out in Detroit, Roe went a lap down in the race and following caution periods “was ordered and twice failed to take the final lap restart at the rear of the field alongside other lapped cars”. While ignoring those calls, he also blocked Abel Motorsports with Miller Vinatieri Motorsports driver Jack William Miller when he was trying to lap him.

Roe has now been placed on probation for this weekend and the next two rounds at Road America Mid-Ohio, and will not be allowed to participate in qualifying at Gateway. He will therefore start from last place, on a set of tyres he will use in practice.

The 26-year-old Irishman is in his fourth Indy Nxt campaign and is currently 16th in the standings with a best finish of 10th. He is in his third year with Andretti, having come seventh and sixth in the last two seasons.

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Photo: Aaron Skillman

Juan Manuel Correa told media the full story of how his surprise move to Indy Nxt materialised after claiming his maiden podium in Detroit.

The 25-year-old American-Ecuadorian, who raced in Formula 2 in 2019 and then from 2022 to ’24, was in attendance at Indy Nxt’s round at Barber Motorsports Park a month ago where he met HMD Motorsports boss Mike Maurini.

A week later Correa was racing for him at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He qualified 20th on debut and left with a non-finish and a 14th place, and on his second outing in Detroit last weekend Correa qualified ninth and made his way through a chaotic race to finish third.

“I’ve been doing a bit of coaching [in USF Juniors] on the side because I love being at the racetrack, and it’s fun for me,” Correa explained.

“I was literally going to the bathroom with my scooter [at Barber]. I crossed Mike Maurini, and Mike and I go back a long way. Karting days here in the US. And he’s like:

‘Hey, what are you doing here?’
‘Not much.’
‘You wanna drive Indy Nxt?’
‘Yeah, let’s do it.’

“And it was within 24 hours that we had signed a contract, I did my medicals and I was on my way to Indy for the GP. Pretty random coincidence, but I’m so, so happy to be here. I’m enjoying every second of it. I love driving, whatever car it is, and this is a great series, it’s fun, and very lucky to have had this opportunity.”

Correa was “definitely not” expecting to make the podium three races in, particularly on a circuit “nothing like we have over there [in Europe] in terms of bumpiness”.

“Indy Nxt, it was not my plan. 28 days ago I was not going to be here. I was going to be coaching throughout the season and trying to find a drive next year somewhere.”

While “it hasn’t been that difficult” adapting to Indy Nxt, his lack of preparation has proven restrictive.

“So far, I’ve just been finding the right window with the car, and that’s the main limitation for me right now. It’s not a matter of confidence, it’s just this is a car that likes to be in a different window to be fast compared to the F2 or the Formula 3. And unfortunately I haven’t had any testing time to really explore that yet. So right now I’m kind of going off what Caio [Collet, his team-mate] likes to drive, and trying to adapt to that.

“Hopefully with a little bit more time, I can start building something that suits me a little better. But at the moment I feel pretty good with the car, and I think we’ll be pretty competitive for the rest of the year, and I’m looking forward to that.”

Being in Indy Nxt has now made IndyCar “the ultimate goal” for Correa, and while he is “looking forward” to his oval debut at Gateway in a fortnight, he’s also “a little scared”.

The post How Correa went from ‘Indy Nxt was not my plan’ to podium in a month appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Joe Skibinski

Dennis Hauger won the Indy Nxt race in Detroit after a lap one incident took multiple drivers out of contention.

Accidents bookended the race, as a caution period in the final laps led to a one lap dash to the flag.

Hauger, who had a lead of 13 seconds before the pace car was brought out, held off Caio Collet to claim his fourth win of the season.

Contact between Callum Hedge and Myles Rowe triggered a multi-car incident at turn four on the opening lap. Rowe was sent into a spin and collected other cars who had nowhere to go on the tight street circuit. Max Taylor, who was swamped at the start, was caught up in the incident, along with Jordan Missig and Tommy Smith. 

The incident prompted a red flag after just one lap while cars were cleared. 

When the race restarted, Rowe, Smith, Liam Sceates, Nolan Allaer, Hailie Deegan and Ricardo Escotto remained in the pits. Taylor and Escotto would not make it back out.

Racing resumed with Hauger ahead of Lochie Hughes and Salvador de Alba. The latter two Andretti cars battled for position, but Hauger wasn’t quite able to shake them in the opening lap. As Hughes and de Alba swapped positions, they made slight contact which caused slight damage to Hughes’ front wing. De Alba then tagged a wall, causing damage to his own front wing.

Hughes and de Alba continued to battle, allowing Hauger to escape at the front of the field and bringing Collet into the fight. De Alba was eventually told to pit as the front wing damage became too significant.

A few laps of battling with Collet later and Hughes’ front wing was also close to breaking away. He came into the pits just after losing second to Collet.

Hauger now had a gap of over 12 seconds to Collet. The gap closed as the pair made their way through extensive backmarker traffic, but Hauger eventually began to pull away again.

He was close to 13 seconds clear of Collet when Missig put his nose into the tyre barriers while attacking Seb Murray. Missig was able to get going again, but not before the pace car hit the track.

That left one lap of green running to the flag. Hauger got a good restart and quickly pulled out of reach of Collet, finishing 1.0460s ahead.

Juan Manuel Correa avoided the drama to climb up to third in just his third start, ahead of Josh Pierson and Hughes, who passed Murray for fifth on the final lap.

Jack William Miller was the first of the lapped cars, finishing seventh. De Alba recovered to finish eighth, ahead of Niels Koolen and Bryce Aron.

Myles Rowe, who was third in the championship going into the race, came in and out of the pits multiple times and eventually had to retire after completing just 10 laps.

Race results (45 laps)

The post Hauger wins Detroit Indy Nxt race bookended by incidents appeared first on Formula Scout.

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

The post Hauger towers above opposition in Indy Nxt’s Detroit qualifying appeared first on Formula Scout.

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

The post Hauger remains ahead on bumpy Detroit streets in Indy Nxt FP2 appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Paul Hurley

Indy Nxt points leader Dennis Hauger led the first practice session of the weekend in Detroit on Friday afternoon.

The Andretti Global driver topped the order with his final lap, knocking HMD Motorsports’ Caio Collet down from first place just moments after he had reached it. The duo were separated by 0.3803 seconds around the city street circuit.

FP1 was significantly impacted by red flags that stopped running twice. The first red flag came out 10 minutes into the scheduled 50-minute run time when Andretti’s James Roe Jr ran into the barriers at turn six.

Collet was atop the times at this point, having completed seven laps, with Andretti’s Salvador de Alba and Andretti Cape’s Seb Murray in second and third.

The track turned green again seven minutes later, but the red flag was almost immediately thrown when HMD’s Liam Sceats ran off at turn four and found the tyre barriers there. His team-mate Max Taylor followed him off but managed to avoid nosing his car into anything and returned to the pits.

Just 20 minutes remained when FP1 restarted again. Laptimes quickly dropped and the order at the top of the field changed rapidly. Andretti’s Lochie Hughes and de Alba traded second place as Collet set a new benchmark time to beat.

He was then knocked off the top spot by HMD’s Juan Manuel Correa, who went just a tenth of a second faster. But Correa would not remain there long. HMD’s Josh Pierson, Hauger and Taylor all swapped fastest laps, and the inexperienced Taylor was the driver to beat as the field began their final laps. 

Collet jumped to the top of the times as he took the chequered flag, only to be bettered by Hauger moments later. Hauger was the only driver to lap sub-1m07s, setting a 1m06.8158s to lead the way by 0.3803s.

Taylor was third fastest on what is his second Indy Nxt outing, ahead of Abel Motorsports with Force Indy’s Myles Rowe and de Alba. Hughes was demoted to sixth at the end.

Away from the sharp end of the field, there were mechanical issues for Abel’s Jordan Missig who spent most of the session in the pits. There were also mistakes that resulted in damage for Correa, HMD’s Tommy Smith and Chip Ganassi Racing’s Niels Koolen, with all losing track time as a further consequence of that.

Free practice results

The post Hauger starts Indy Nxt’s Detroit weekend on top in FP1 appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: James Black

Louis Foster has won Indy Nxt’s last two races to close in on points leader Jacob Abel, but he anticipates Caio Collet will be the driver to beat going forward.

Andretti Global driver Foster sits 25 points behind Abel Motorsports’ Abel after five races, with HMD Motorsports’ Collet a further 47 behind.

Collet led the most laps in the race on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course, but it was Foster who won, then last weekend Foster led home Collet in Detroit.

“I think Caio was the only person who could challenge us for the win today. But Andretti gave me a great car to be able to manage the pace and manage the gap,” said Foster after victory.

“If he got too close I’d push a bit more. If he backed off a bit, then I would back up as well. So I wasn’t too worried about [him].”

Abel finished fifth, and HMD’s Nolan Siegel dropped from second to third in the standings after car issues meant he started the race several laps down.

Foster admitted that “if Caio had gone for something, I would have been more inclined to just let him go” than if it had been main rival Abel behind him attempting an overtake.

“But all saying that, I do believe that Caio is going be the guy to beat for the rest of the year,” he added. “That race, he was very fast. I expect him to be up there a lot more against me, Jacob and Nolan.”

Given the Detroit street circuit has a layout of low-speed corners and lots of bumps, Formula Scout asked Foster how relevant the results were and how applicable lessons learned would be for the rest of the season on higher speed tracks.

“Firstly, what we can take from this race? Some things. We don’t have any more street races this year, so that’s one thing that doesn’t necessarily help. But we’re all at a point now where it doesn’t matter what circuit you’re going to, you’re still looking for the optimum in the car.

“The next track, Road America, is completely opposite to this track in a way. So we just take forward what, the things we’ve learned maybe about the tyres and other stuff, more in-detail stuff that I won’t go into. But, I mean I don’t see any reason why we can’t move this momentum forward into the next round.”

Indy Nxt used to race on Detroit’s very different Belle Isle street circuit, switching last year to the current downtown track.

“It’s quite a difficult track to drive on and very difficult to overtake. But it also gives a lot of good racing, I think,” said Foster.

“I mean you can see the IndyCar race now. And In our race, there was cautions, there was incidents. So it’s very hard to drive and it’s borderline too aggressive, but I think for our cars, as long as you can hustle the bumps, it’s fine.”

The post In-form Foster reckons Collet will become the driver to beat in Indy Nxt appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: IndyCar

Louis Foster took his second Indy Nxt win in a row in a pace car-filled race in Detroit.

The Andretti Global driver was untroubled throughout the race, despite having to manage restarts, and won by 0.3608 seconds due to the race ending behind the pace car following a multi-car incident with three laps remaining.

Foster was one of the few drivers to not have any problems, and he is now second in the championship.

He was already two seconds clear of Caio Collet when the first caution period occurred after an incident on lap four. Collet, who had got into second just before that, was unable to stick with Foster on the restart.

The lead fight played out a similarly way on the next two restarts, with Collet never challenging Foster. But he did manage to remain comfortably ahead of the battle for third.

The cause of the final caution period was James Roe Jr spinning and collecting Nollan Allen, Neils Koolen and Christian Bogle. Koolen was able to get going again and make it to the pits, but the other cars had to be cleared.

Points leader Jacob Abel started on the front row, and struggled for pace in the race’s second half. He lost second to Collet early on, but did a good job of holding off Michael d’Orlando to hold onto third. D’Orlando managed to get alongside and almost took the position, before a spin led to contact with Abel.

While Abel only dropped behind Callum Hedge and Myles Rowe due to the incident, d’Orlando fell to the back of the order.

Rowe snatched third from Hedge just after a full course yellow period, but Hedge regained the position to take his first podium.

Jack William Miller had a troubled race. After battling with Hedge early on, he took a trip up an escape road on lap 14 of 45 and dropped to the back. He tried to make up ground, only to go down an escape road again and cause a caution period.

Two other drivers that started well but ran into trouble were Jamie Chadwick and Yuven Sundaramoorthy, who were battling in the middle of the top 10 when they made slight contact. Chadwick suffered a puncture and had to pit, and Sundaramoorthy battled on with a damaged front wing. 

Reece Gold finished sixth, and the various incidents helped Salvador de Alba come home seventh, having climbed up from the back of the grid along with Rowe.  Josh Pierson, Jonathan Browne and d’Orlando completed the top 10.

Pre-race there was drama for Nolan Siegel, who had an issue with the rear-left of his car that meant he did not join the race until several laps had already taken place. The rate of attrition meant he finished 18th, but dropped to third in the championship standings.

The debuting Ricardo Escotto received a drive-through penalty for blocking, but did not serve it due to his radio not working and so he was disqualified.

Race result (45 laps)

The post Foster gets his second Indy Nxt win in a row in Detroit appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Joe Skibinski

Louis Foster took his first pole position of the Indy Nxt season in Detroit, and will share the front row with championship leader Jacob Abel.

Andretti Global driver Foster was quickest in the second qualifying group, and both groups had their sessions disrupted by red flags.

Group two had been running smoothly until the final minutes. Foster had jumped to the top of the times early on, becoming the first driver in qualifying to complete a sub-1m06s lap around the downtown street circuit. He then improved to 1m05.1079s, a laptime which would earn him pole.

HMD Motorsports’ Myles Rowe jumped up to second place, only to then hit the barriers with the rear of his car at turn one. The incident brought out red flags and ended Rowe’s day. His fastest lap was deleted and he dropped to the bottom of the order.

The session resumed with time for just one flying lap remaining. Only a few were able to improve, and Foster did not go out for a final run. Caio Collet jumped up the order to go second fastest, 0.387s off Foster and a tenth of a second quicker than Andretti Cape’s Michael d’Orlando.

In group one, the fastest lap had changed hands between Abel Motorsports driver Abel and Andretti Global’s James Roe Jr. Abel was on top by less than a tenth of a second when Roe hit the wall at turn one. 

The session was red flagged and turned green again with less than three minutes on the clock. 

As in group two, there was little change after the red flag, though an improvement from Jack William Miller lifted him up to fourth fastest in the group and therefore eighth on the grid.

Abel will start second due to Foster beating his benchmark laptime, with Collet in fourth and Jamie Chadwick in sixth alongside d’Orlando and HMD’s Hedge.

Nolan Siegel starts seventh, with Miller, Yuven Sundaramoorthy and Roe completing the top 10.

Qualifying results

The post Foster flies to his first Indy Nxt pole of 2024 with record Detroit pace appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: James Black

Andretti Global’s Louis Foster was fastest in Indy Nxt’s second practice session in Detroit, which took place on Saturday morning.

He started off with a 1m15.9960s, leading team-mate James Roe Jr by 0.53 seconds, and improved to 1m10.9722s, 1m10.3484s and then 1m08.3841s on his next three laps. At one point he was 2.6s clear of Roe, who reduced the gap to 0.7527s before Foster broke the 1m10s barrier.

Abel Motorsports’ Jacob Abel then became his closest rival, 1.3534s behind, with Andretti Cape’s Michael d’Orlando a further 0.0126s back.

D’Orlando’s next lap put him second, going 0.5186s slower than Foster, with Abel improving to be 0.6437s off the top.

Roe then took third place with his fifth lap, getting within 0.6s of Foster, who proceeded to then lower the pace to 1m07.1807s. Lots of other drivers improved, and Andretti Cape’s Salvador de Alba emerged in second place with a laptime 1.1131s slower than Foster’s. Abel dropped down the order then pitted due to damaging a toe link.

HMD Motorsports’ Callum Hedge and Andretti Global’s Jamie Chadwick demoted d’Orlando to seventh nine minutes in, then Chadwick and de Alba got within a second of Foster on their next laps. D’Orlando and Collet did even better, lapping 0.4049s and 0.7519s off the pace, and Collet improved again to be just 0.1864s away from first place.

Hedge went fourth fastest, dropped to fifth then rose to third with a lap 0.2483s slower than Foster’s benchmark. His team-mate Nolan Siegel went 0.0418s faster than him 14 minutes in, Roe improved in fifth, then there was drama. Foster pitted for some camber and wing adjustments, and Collet went fastest with a 1m07.1298s as red flags waved due to de Alba going off at turn one.

Green flags reappeared as FP2 reached the 20-minute mark, and four minutes later there was a change of position near the top as d’Orlando went fourth fastest, 0.2745s off the new pace. But Foster had more in hand, bettering Collet by 0.6359s. Roe managed to get within 0.0282s of Collet, and with 15 minutes left of the 45-minute session Andretti Global’s Bryce Aron rose to fourth.

FP2 ended for HMD’s Reece Gold shortly after due to an overheating car, then Collet snatched back top spot by 0.119s with a 1m06.3749s as Abel and d’Orlando improved in fifth and sixth. Abel gained another spot with a lap that put him 0.417s behind Collet, but then Siegel demoted him as he got within 0.1765s of the pace.

Abel reponded by going second fastest, 0.0906s off the top, only for Siegel to lower the pace by 0.3745s before red flags waved due to HMD’s Myles Rowe damaging his rear-left suspension exiting turn two.

FP2 restarted with four minutes left, and at the end Foster set a 1m05.7200s to return to the top. D’Orlando and Collet improved to third and fourth, and after the chequered flag Abel went fifth fastest.

Leaving it very late to go second fastest was Roe, who was 0.1993s slower than Foster, and Abel was moved up to fourth when d’Orlando and Collet’s fastest laps were deleted.

Free practice 2 results

The post Foster fastest again in Indy Nxt’s second Detroit practice session appeared first on Formula Scout.