Hauger manages mixed conditions en route to Barber Indy NXT pole
Dennis Hauger remained perfect this season in Indy NXT by Firestone qualifying, earning the pole for the Grand Prix of Alabama in mixed (...)
Dennis Hauger remained perfect this season in Indy NXT by Firestone qualifying, earning the pole for the Grand Prix of Alabama in mixed conditions Saturday at Barber Motorsports Park.
Hauger, from Norway, grabbed the top starting spot for the race Sunday with a best lap of 1m12.7705s in the No. 28 Rental Group car fielded by Andretti Global. He won the pole and the race in his debut in the IndyCar development series March 2 at St. Petersburg, Florida.
Qualifying was a tale of two sessions in changing weather conditions. The 20-driver field was split into two groups for qualifying, and the first group of drivers all used Firestone Firehawk rain tires because of damp track conditions. The 17-turn, 2.3-mile natural terrain circuit dried enough for the second group to switch to the faster Firestone slick tires after their warmup lap, creating a big discrepancy in times between the two groups.
But series rules state the grid is set by alternating the quickest times in each group, so Caio Collet will join Hauger on the front row even though his top time of 1m24.8394s in the No. 76 HMD Motorsports car from the wetter first group was more than 12s slower than Hauger’s best.
That trend continued throughout the lineup for the 20-car field, as the starters in the odd-numbered grid spots all came from the drier, faster second group while all even-numbered starters qualified in the wetter, slower first group.
Hauger already was on top when he improved upon his best time on his last lap. Every driver in the second group was given one final flying lap after rookie Max Taylor spun off track late in the session in the No. 18 HMD Motorsports car, losing his two quickest laps for triggering a red flag during qualifying.
“It was looking like it was drying up, but you don’t really know before you go out there,” Hauger said. “After the first lap, I was like, ‘We’ve to pit for a sticker (slicks) run.’ After we did that, I think most people did in the end.
“It was a good run, a good last lap. I managed to maximize it. The Andretti team and No. 28 crew have had a good weekend so far and are looking forward to starting on pole tomorrow.”
The 35-lap race starts at 11:30 a.m. ET Sunday (FS1, FOX Sports app, IndyCar Radio Network).
Evagoras Papasavvas will start third in his series debut in the No. 24 HMD Motorsports machine. Papasavvas, 17, turned a top lap of 1m13.3669s in the second group. Lochie Hughes of Andretti Global will join him in the second row after qualifying fourth at 1m25.4437s in the No. 26 McGinley Clinic/USF Pro Championship car of Andretti Global.
Myles Rowe qualified fifth at 1m13.4377s in the No. 99 Abel/Force Indy machine of Abel Motorsports. Bryce Aron will start sixth after his run of 1m25.5923s in the No. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing car.
