Callum Hedge was seventh fastest in this morning’s Indy NXT practice session at Road America.
The HMD Motorsports driver completed 17 laps of the four-mile, 14-turn circuit, setting a nest time of 1:53.0615 on his 15th tour.
Former Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship competitor Louis Foster was the only competitor to go under the 1:52 barrier with a blistering 1:51.9070.
“The car was good,” Foster said. “We struggled here a bit last year, especially with front (tyre) deg. So, it’s nice to start on the right foot. Made some good changes during that session.
“We’ve still got to do it tomorrow, haven’t we? It’s only practice, so let’s not get too excited.”
Rookie Caio Collet was second fastest, two-tenths behind Foster and three-tenths ahead of championship leader Jacob Abel. James Roe and Andretti Global’s Bryce Aron completed the top five.
Jamie Chadwick’s 1:52.8924 was sixth best, 0.1691 seconds faster than Hedge, who was the third best of 13 rookies in the field.
Nolan Siegel, who is replacing Agustin Canapino at Juncos Hollinger Racing for the IndyCar Grand Prix of Road America in addition to his Indy NXT duties, was tenth quickest.
An incident for Yuven Sundaramoorthy 10 minutes into the session triggered the sole red flag, with the Wisconsin native hitting the Turn 12 tyre barriers. He was unhurt.
Indy NXT qualifying begins at 6.30 am on Sunday NZST, with the race going green at 5.05 am on Monday.
It can be viewed live with a paid subscription on the IndyCar Live website.
Header Image: Penske Entertainment: Chris Owens
