Dennis Hauger Stays Quick During Shortened Portland Practice
9 HOURS AGO
Dennis Hauger continued his perfect weekend so far at Portland International Raceway on Saturday, leading his second consecutive practice for the INDY NXT by Firestone Grand Prix of Portland.
Championship leader Hauger was quickest at 1 minute, 3.2252 seconds in the No. 28 Nammo car fielded by Andretti Global. He led Friday’s session at 1:02.8638.
SEE: Practice Results
But none of the 19 drivers in the field were able to turn a lap on the 12-turn, 1.964-mile circuit during the last nine minutes, 45 seconds of the session due to a red flag caused when Michael d’Orlando crashed heavily into the tire barrier in Turn 11 in the No. 3 Priority/Rising Stars car fielded by Andretti – Cape Motorsport. D’Orlando was unhurt, but the AMR INDYCAR Safety Team and track crews were unable to repair the damaged barrier before the end of the session.
“It’s been a good weekend so far,” Hauger said. “We’re in a decent window. So far, so good.
“It’s a really cool track. A lot of long corners, and you’ve really got to be patient in just controlling the balance throughout the corners here. It’s a bit of a different track compared to the others this season, but it’s been really enjoyable. Looking forward to qualifying.”
Qualifying starts at 8:30 p.m. ET Saturday (FS2, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network). The 35-lap race begins at 1 p.m. ET Sunday (FS1, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network).
Callum Hedge ended up second in practice at 1:03.3404 in the No. 17 Abel Motorsports car, followed by Bryce Aron at 1:03.4270 in the No. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing machine.
Myles Rowe clocked in fourth at 1:03.4684 in the No. 99 Abel/Force Indy car, with Caio Collet rounding out the top five at 1:03.6535 in the No. 76 HMD Motorsports car.
Hauger leads Collet in the standings for the INDYCAR development series by 42 points with three races remaining. Rookie Hauger won four of the first five races of the season. But he has won only one of the last six races, with veteran Collet capturing three of those races and jumping to second in the standings.