It looks like Dennis Hauger is ready to right the title ship.

Hauger led the opening practice for the INDY NXT by Firestone Grand Prix of Portland on Friday with a top lap of 1 minute, 2.8638 seconds in the No. 28 Nammo car fielded by Andretti Global. That was more than six-tenths of a second quicker than his closest pursuer, teammate Lochie Hughes, whose best lap was 1:03.5003 in the No. 26 McGinley Clinic/USF Pro Championship machine.

SEE: Practice Results

“Good session,” Hauger said. “A few things to work on but a good start to the weekend.”

Rookie Hauger won four of the first five races of the season in the INDYCAR development series and appeared to be on cruise control to the championship. But he has won only one of the last six races, with veteran Caio Collet capturing three of those races and jumping to second in the standings, 42 points behind Hauger.

There are three races left this season, starting with this event at 1 p.m. ET Sunday (FS1, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network) on the 12-turn, 1.964-mile road course.

Portland native Josh Pierson fared well in practice on his home track, ending up third at 1:03.5927 in the No. 14 HMD Motorsports car. Callum Hedge was fourth at 1:03.6196 in the No. 17 Abel Motorsports machine.

Michael d’Orlando was another bright spot during the 45-minute session, ending up fifth at 1:03.6454 in the No. 3 Priority/Rising Stars car of Andretti – Cape Motorsport. This is d’Orlando’s first start in the series since the season finale last September at Nashville Superspeedway.

“It feels great to be back,” d’Orlando said. “There’s been a smile on my face nonstop. Going down the backstraight, I was just laughing. It’s really great to be back. I wish I had the whole season.

“Coming from the couch to what was P1 for a time and ending the session P5, I think we’re in a good place to start the weekend.”

Collet ended up sixth at 1:03.7455 in the No. 76 HMD Motorsports car despite missing part of the session with a broken roll bar.

Up next is pre-qualifying practice at 4:30 p.m. ET Saturday (FS1, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network), followed by qualifying at 8:30 p.m. ET Saturday (FS2, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network).