By Patrick Stephan

The 19 INDY NXT Dallara’s took to the track at 8:50am with the air at 67F and the track at 85F.

About 15 minutes in to the session we got a red flag for Jagger Jones stopped off the track at Turn 3. Just before that we had a “hey, it’s practice” moment when Rasmus Lindh and Christian Rasmussen nearly had a big one at Turn 12.

Side by side through the braking zone, Rasmussen wound up trying to do his braking in the grass. They survived the corner and returned to the pit area.

Cars off track was the main theme for much of the session, with at least Jones, Chadwick, Rasmussen (other corners), and several of their competitors.

The fastest driver in Detroit (and picking up the race #2 win), was P1 with a lap of 1:49.9430 heading to the final 7 minutes of the session, but was displaced as driver’s starting putting on tires and turning quick laps late to prepare for today’s 12:15pm qualifying session.

Rasmussen would have the top spot briefly but was displaced by Hunter McElrea with just over 5 minutes to go. Louis Foster then took the P1 spot at 1:49.0220, with Siegel himself moving back up to P2.

Foster, Siegel, McElrea, Abel, Rasmussen and Green were the Top 6 at this point.

Jamie Chadwick (like Siegel) wasn’t able to post a fast lap in yesterday’s session, and may not get to today. She had told TSO yesterday that she was really starting feel more comfortable in the car at Detroit where she was certainly on pace. Also helping at Detroit was no one else had been there – so they were all starting at the same point.

But, as I was tying that note with 3 minutes remaining the 75 of Matteo Nannini, winner at the Indy GP, went through the gravel trap and nosed in to the tires at Turn 14. The AMR INDYCAR Safety Team was able to pull his car from the tires and back on the track, but they determined the car would need to lifted by the wrecker, so that would pretty much end the session – and yep, checkered flag.

One thing we are sure about is Colton Herta’s 1:52.0034, 129.018 mph track record set on June 24, 2017 will not stand after qualifying. Who will hold the track record, that’s undecided, and with ill-timed red flags to end both INDY NXT practice sessions, I don’t think we got good read on who is really quick so far this weekend.

Rasmus Lindh’s running was limited in the session due to a reported fuel pressure issue.

INDY NXT Grand Prix at Road America Practice #2 Results

Pos	Car #	Driver	Best Time	Diff	Gap	Total Laps	Best Lap	Team
1	27	Hunter McElrea	1:48.8556	—	–.—-	16	15	Andretti Autosport
2	26	Louis Foster	1:49.0220	0.1664	0.1664	14	13	Andretti Autosport
3	68	Danial Frost	1:49.0523	0.1967	0.0303	14	13	HMD Motorsports
4	75	Matteo Nannini	1:49.1184	0.2628	0.0661	13	13	Juncos Hollinger Racing
5	39	Nolan Siegel	1:49.1310	0.2754	0.0126	16	15	HMD Motorsports
6	51	Jacob Abel	1:49.2460	0.3904	0.115	15	14	Abel Motorsports
7	6	Christian Rasmussen	1:49.2681	0.4125	0.0221	15	14	HMD Motorsports
8	3	Josh Green	1:49.3066	0.451	0.0385	16	15	HMD Motorsports
9	57	Colin Kaminsky	1:49.4025	0.5469	0.0959	16	15	Abel Motorsports
10	99	Ernie Francis Jr.	1:49.6495	0.7939	0.247	16	16	HMD Motorsports
11	10	Reece Gold	1:49.6989	0.8433	0.0494	12	11	HMD Motorsports
12	14	Josh Pierson	1:49.7459	0.8903	0.047	17	16	HMD Motorsports
13	21	Kyffin Simpson	1:49.7879	0.9323	0.042	12	11	HMD Motorsports
14	28	Jamie Chadwick	1:49.7935	0.9379	0.0056	16	15	Andretti Autosport
15	7	Christian Bogle	1:49.8041	0.9485	0.0106	16	15	HMD Motorsports
16	29	James Roe	1:49.8939	1.0383	0.0898	14	13	Andretti Autosport
17	47	Enaam Ahmed	1:50.0029	1.1473	0.109	15	13	Cape Motorsports
18	98	Jagger Jones	1:51.1453	2.2897	1.1424	12	11	Cape Motorsports
19	76	Rasmus Lindh	1:59.6672	10.8116	8.5219	1	1	Juncos Hollinger Racing