By Patrick Stephan

The field pulled off pit lane at 12:15pm Central Time but we wouldn’t stay green for long as Rasmus Lindh stopped on track and had to be pulled back to the pits by the AMR INDYCAR Safety Team.

Back to green and the first laps turned saw Christian Rasmussen P1 with a lap of 1:49.7361. As noted in other updates, Colton Herta’s 1:52 something track record was not going to hold up with the new pavement. EVERY driver may break the record.

Kyffin Simpson took the P1 spot next time by at 1:49.3404, with Nannini in P2.

With time already a premium for this session, everyone got back out quickly. But we got a local yellow for Ernie Francis, Jr., who spun off track and returned. A couple cars had to go through that local yellow so they couldn’t set a fast lap that time through. Francis also gets a penalty for causing a yellow that impeded another driver.

With just over 20 seconds to go, we have another red fag as Matteo Nannini spins in to the gravel trap at Turn 1.

Race control will allow all cars back on the track for one timed lap and P1 Simpson has the top time at 1:49.1028 as the field comes back around. Reece Gold, Nolan Siegel, Christian Rasmussen and Louis Foster round out the Top 5 with everyone heading for the timing line.

Jacob Abel jumps to 4th on his final lap, but gets bumped down a bit as Kaminsky moves to P2, and Louis Foster P5.

Jamie Chadwick is able to move to P9 and James Roe 10th. Also improving their standing with that last lap are McElrea to 13th, Francis to 15th, Bogle (16th) and Ahmed (17th).

This is Kyffin Simpson’s second season in the INDY NXT series, and his first career pole. His previous best was 4th at the Indy Grand Prix. This is Kaminsky’s best career INDY NXT start, as his rookie season continues to improve. He has started 14th, 14th, 13th, 12th, and 7th in previous races this season.

Fellow rookie Reece Gold matches his best start of 3rd at Detroit #1.

Jamie Chadwick also posted her best qualifying effort today of 9th. Previous races saw the British driver start 18, 17, 14, 15, 14.

INDY NXT Grand Prix at Road America Qualifying Results

Pos	Car #	Driver	Best Time	Diff	Gap	Best Lap	Total Laps	Team
1	21	Kyffin Simpson	1:49.1028	1:49.1028	–.—-	5	8	HMD Motorsports
2	57	Colin Kaminsky	1:49.4151	0.3123	0.3123	7	7	Abel Motorsports
3	10	Reece Gold	1:49.4828	0.38	0.0677	4	8	HMD Motorsports
4	39	Nolan Siegel	1:49.5238	0.421	0.041	5	6	HMD Motorsports
5	26	Louis Foster	1:49.5239	0.4211	0.0001	8	8	Andretti Autosport
6	51	Jacob Abel	1:49.5634	0.4606	0.0395	7	7	Abel Motorsports
7	6	Christian Rasmussen	1:49.5878	0.485	0.0244	4	6	HMD Motorsports
8	68	Danial Frost	1:49.6690	0.5662	0.0812	4	6	HMD Motorsports
9	28	Jamie Chadwick	1:49.8916	0.7888	0.2226	7	7	Andretti Autosport
10	29	James Roe	1:49.9179	0.8151	0.0263	7	7	Andretti Autosport
11	14	Josh Pierson	1:50.0290	0.9262	0.1111	5	6	HMD Motorsports
12	75	Matteo Nannini	1:50.1665	1.0637	0.1375	3	6	Juncos Hollinger Racing
13	27	Hunter McElrea	1:50.1770	1.0742	0.0105	7	7	Andretti Autosport
14	3	Josh Green	1:50.2761	1.1733	0.0991	4	7	HMD Motorsports
15	99	Ernie Francis Jr.	1:50.2821	1.1793	0.006	7	7	HMD Motorsports
16	7	Christian Bogle	1:50.5307	1.4279	0.2486	7	7	HMD Motorsports
17	47	Enaam Ahmed	1:50.7656	1.6628	0.2349	7	7	Cape Motorsports
18	98	Jagger Jones	1:51.0238	1.921	0.2582	7	7	Cape Motorsports
19	76	Rasmus Lindh	No Time	—	—	—	—	Juncos Hollinger Racing