By Steve Wittich

Sunny skies and warm temperatures greeted the 19 INDY NXT by Firestone drivers when their first Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix practice session began at 1:50 pm. The ambient temperature was 86F, and the track temperature was 117.7F.

After three minute delay to address some issues with the track, the green flag flew to start the 50-minute practice. Race control told the teams that they would get the entire session.

The 19 drivers quickly got to work, learning the 1.645-mile, 9-turn, downtown Detroit street circuit.

The first laps at speed were over 80 seconds, but after ten minutes, the drivers had chopped ten seconds off the best lap time.

After 15 minutes of practice, points leader Christian Rasmussen completed only one slow lap. Michael Young from INDYCAR Radio reported that the HMD Motorsports w/Dale Coyne Racing crew had the engine cover off on the No. 6. Young reports that they also had the side pods off and had tried changing the (turbo) wastegate and boost box. The Dane finally got on track with 23 minutes remaining.

With a half-hour remaining, the reigning USF Pro 2000 champion Louis Foster (Andretti Autosport) had the quickest lap time at 68.5591 seconds. He was followed in the top five by Nolan Siegel (HMD Motorsports w/Dale Coyne Racing), Hunter McElrea (Andretti Autosport), Toby Sowery (HMD Motorsports) and Jagger Jones (Cape Motorsports).

Cape Motorsports rookie Enaam Ahmed was the busiest pilot in the first half of the session, completing 18 laps.

After beginning practice on carry-over tires from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, drivers started to put on fresh Firestone INDY NXT rubber.

St. Petersburg winner Frost, with 20 minutes remaining, was the first driver to go under 68 seconds. Siegel, also on new rubber, was the next driver to find the top of the timing screens.

Rasmussen had still only turned three slow laps with ten minutes remaining. With five minutes remaining, he was finally getting up to speed, completing nine laps and getting within 3.3 seconds of his teammate Siegel.

The ambient temperature was up to 88F, and the track temperature had reached 121F.

Frost and Siegel continued to get quicker while Jagger Jones moved into the top five.

After a quick off-track excursion in Turn 1, Siegel lowered the fastest lap on his 31st lap of practice.

As drivers pushed the limits of the new circuit, the run-off areas in Turn 1, Turn 3, Turn 4 and Turn 8 all had visitors. Fortunately, no drivers made contact.

Turn 1, a tight 90-degree left-hand corner, had 13 of the 19 drivers visit the run-off 21 times. McElrea was the most adventurous driver, seeing the run-off in all four corners. However, the Aussie clearly learned where to push the limits, turning the second quickest lap of practice on his 31st of 31 laps.

INDY NXT by Firestone practice results

RANK	CAR NO.	NAME	TEAM	FAST LAP	DIFF.	TOTAL LAPS
1	39	Nolan Siegel	HMD Motorsports	1:07.0420	——	36
2	27	Hunter McElrea	Andretti Autosport	1:07.1825	0.1405	31
3	68	Danial Frost	HMD Motorsports	1:07.2214	0.1794	35
4	21	Kyffin Simpson	HMD Motorsports	1:07.6221	0.5801	31
5	26	Louis Foster	Andretti Autosport	1:07.8422	0.8002	19
6	14	Toby Sowery	HMD Motorsports	1:07.8781	0.8361	30
7	3	Josh Green	HMD Motorsports	1:07.9510	0.9090	34
8	57	Colin Kaminsky	Abel Motorsports	1:08.1042	1.0622	31
9	28	Jamie Chadwick	Andretti Autosport	1:08.2210	1.1790	28
10	98	Jagger Jones	Cape Motorsports	1:08.2721	1.2301	33
11	47	Enaam Ahmed	Cape Motorsports	1:08.2790	1.2370	32
12	7	Christian Bogle	HMD Motorsports	1:08.3285	1.2865	30
13	76	Rasmus Lindh	Juncos Hollinger Racing	1:08.3719	1.3299	35
14	29	James Roe	Andretti Autosport	1:08.4585	1.4165	27
15	99	Ernie Francis Jr.	HMD Motorsports	1:08.6505	1.6085	27
16	51	Jacob Abel	Abel Motorsports	1:08.7165	1.6745	29
17	10	Reece Gold	HMD Motorsports	1:08.7553	1.7133	29
18	75	Matteo Nannini	Juncos Hollinger Racing	1:08.7573	1.7153	27
19	6	Christian Rasmussen	HMD Motorsports	1:10.4095	3.3675	9

The teams and drivers are back in action at 5:30 pm for a pair of qualifying sessions.