By Tony DiZinno

Approaching 1 p.m., we have been on a slight delay for track conditions and the rain ranging from steady to heavy over the last couple hours.

The first of two USF2000 races today gridded and waited while Road America track officials surveyed and cleaned up oil spills from a previous session at multiple points on the track; most notably between Turns 12 and 13.

As of 1:00 p.m., the race was red flagged before it even got going. Race Control radio: “Conditions are not acceptable for racing at this time.”

At 1:20 p.m., the Indy NXT qualifying session was postponed to a time TBD, with further updates to come in terms of weather. As of now, NTT INDYCAR SERIES qualifying remained on schedule.

At 1:40 p.m., it was announced the Indy NXT qualifying will run after NTT INDYCAR SERIES qualifying, with the USF2000 Race 1 postponed.

Quick other notes by series are below:

INDY NXT

Before the first practice of the day and second of the weekend, we got an entry list update. Kiko Porto, who made three Indy NXT by Firestone starts in 2023 with Cape Motorsports, has been drafted in to the No. 39 HMD Motorsports Dallara with Nolan Siegel stepping up to IndyCar.

“I’m very happy with this opportunity. I will indeed have to readapt to the car very quickly, but it’s a great chance to return to racing in INDY NXT, and I want to make the most of it,” he said in a release.

HMD general manager Mike Maurini filled in the team side of the update when speaking to IndyCar Radio’s Ryan Myrehn (thanks to Steve for the help on transcribing this):

“He has the opportunity to go drive an NTT INDYCAR SERIES car and we’ll support that 100%. We’re a company that tries to put drivers into INDYCAR, and this is a good opportunity for him.

“As we rolled through practice yesterday, through last night and through 7:30 this morning, we got the news that he wants to focus on that (the No. 78 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet) this weekend.

“We, as a team, want to focus on INDYCAR NXT by Firestone this weekend, so we agreed that he should go do the INDYCAR stuff for now.

“We’ll circle back on Monday, and see where we stand on everything.”

Regarding Porto, Maurini said: “Kiko’s licensed from last season. He did three races with another program. He’s here on-site. He had his race gear. We’d spoken to him last year and spoke yesterday to him about certain things about 2025.

“He just happened to be in the right place at the right time. There are a couple other drivers here on site, but it was just a last-minute deal we put together at 7:30am.”

The No. 39 car had Porto’s name already adorning the roll hoop and rear wing.

—

Michael d’Orlando told IndyCar Radio he only got the call to drive this week on Wednesday.

—

Drivers were concerned about track conditions if it got wet, which it did.

“It was pretty awful in the rain last year, and I think we were the first ever cars to test on it and it was pouring. There was no grip,” Yuven Sundaramoorthy told TSO on Thursday.

The morning practice session was peppered with offs, notably four drivers in a row at various points of the 4.014-mile Road America track. This included Jordan Missig, Myles Rowe, Louis Foster and Jack William Miller in separate spots, but all returned to the pits without incident.

Callum Hedge also had a heavy off at Turn 14, and significantly damaged the back end of his car. The HMD Motorsports team repaired it and he was ready to go for qualifying, whenever it occurs.

Dry times will ultimately be irrelevant in wet conditions, but Reece Gold ended the session on top ahead of Louis Foster, James Roe, Jacob Abel and Michael d’Orlando.

Times from the Saturday morning practice are below:

P	No	Name	Team	FTime	Diff	Laps	FL
1	10	Reece Gold	HMD Motorsports	1:50.5846	1:50.5846	16	14
2	26	Louis Foster	Andretti Global	1:50.6704	0.0858	14	12
3	29	James Roe	Andretti Global	1:50.8303	0.2457	14	12
4	51	Jacob Abel	Abel Motorsports	1:50.9059	0.3213	15	11
5	3	Michael d’Orlando	Andretti Cape INDY NXT	1:51.1468	0.5622	12	11
6	18	Caio Collet	HMD Motorsports	1:51.3396	0.7550	13	11
7	28	Jamie Chadwick	Andretti Global	1:51.4234	0.8388	11	11
8	2	Salvador de Alba Jr	Andretti Cape INDY NXT	1:51.5125	0.9279	16	12
9	14	Josh Pierson	HMD Motorsports	1:51.8300	1.2454	15	12
10	23	Jonathan Browne	HMD Motorsports	1:51.9401	1.3555	13	13
11	27	Bryce Aron	Andretti Global	1:52.0238	1.4392	11	10
12	99	Myles Rowe	HMD Motorsports with Force Indy	1:52.1260	1.5414	14	14
13	11	Nolan Allaer	HMD Motorsports	1:52.1841	1.5995	14	13
14	7	Christian Bogle	HMD Motorsports	1:52.2096	1.6250	15	14
15	22	Yuven Sundaramoorthy	Abel Motorsports	1:52.2942	1.7096	16	14
16	33	Niels Koolen	HMD Motorsports	1:52.4829	1.8983	17	14
17	21	Jordan Missig	Abel Motorsports	1:52.5487	1.9641	14	12
18	39	Kiko Porto	HMD Motorsports	1:53.1453	2.5607	16	15
19	76	Lindsay Brewer	Juncos Hollinger Racing	1:53.4515	2.8669	16	15
20	17	Callum Hedge	HMD Motorsports	1:53.9984	3.4138	3	3
21	40	Jack William Miller	Miller Vinatieri Motorsports	1:54.2163	3.6317	10	3

Qualifying Groups

Group 1: Foster, Abel, Collet, de Alba, Browne, Rowe, Bogle, Koolen, Porto, Hedge

Group 2: Gold, Roe, d’Orlando, Chadwick, Pierson, Aron, Allaer, Sundaramoorthy, Missig, Brewer, Miller

USF PRO 2000

An eventful and busy race of passing in the first of two USF Pro 2000 races saw Lochie Hughes take the win for Turn 3 Motorsport from pole, ahead of Frankie Mossman (Jay Howard Driver Development) and Ricardo Escotto (BN Racing). Pabst Racing’s pair of Jace Denmark and Christian Brooks completed the top five.

With Nikita Johnson only finishing seventh, Hughes has unofficially moved into the points lead. He’s at 209 points with Johnson second at 192, Denmark third at 180, Liam Sceats fourth at 167 and Brooks fifth at 156.

The USF Pro 2000 second and third races this weekend are scheduled for 4:10 p.m. Saturday and 10:00 a.m. Sunday.

USF2000

Race 1 was on a hold due to the rain and track conditions. The race clock started with a single lap under caution but was immediately red flagged.

The second race was due to run at 5:05 p.m. Saturday.