PORTLAND, Ore. (Saturday, Aug. 9, 2025) – Caio Collet isn’t giving up.
Collet continued his persistent pursuit of championship leader Dennis Hauger by winning the Firestone P1 Award Saturday for the INDY NXT by Firestone Grand Prix of Portland at Portland International Raceway. It was Collet’s third pole of the season – all in the last three races – and his fourth career pole in the INDYCAR development series.
And there was nothing easy about this one, either.
Brazilian Collet grabbed the pole on his final lap in the second qualifying group with a top lap of 1 minute, 3.3595 seconds in the No. 76 HMD Motorsports car. The pole run essentially was a one-lap flyer, as Collet had to serve a drive-through penalty with less than two minutes left in the session for improper lane usage as he exited pit lane.
Complicating matters for Collet and all drivers in the second group was a red flag triggered by a crash by Jack William Miller in the No. 40 Abel/Miller/Vinatieri Motorsports car due to an apparent mechanical failure with just under 11 minutes left, trimming nearly eight minutes from the session.
“It was one of the toughest sessions of my life, to be honest,” Collet said. “The drive-through, I was not expecting that. My engineer came on the radio and said I only had one lap after coming out of the pits.
“So, it was really tough. But I had a really good car, and I was glad I could put together a lap. Hopefully tomorrow we can win the race.”
Collet has won three of the last five races this season to climb into second in the standings, 42 points behind Hauger. There are three races remaining this season, starting with the 35-lap contest at 1 p.m. ET Sunday (FS1, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network) on this 12-turn, 1.964-mile road course.
Myles Rowe led the first group to qualify second at 1:03.5755 in the No. 99 Abel/Force Indy car. That was his best qualifying performance in two seasons in INDY NXT, topping the third-place start in his series debut in 2024 at St. Petersburg.
Hauger will start third after his best lap in the second group of 1:03.4152 in the No. 28 Nammo machine of Andretti Global. Callum Hedge will join him in the second row of the starting grid after qualifying fourth at 1:03.6185 in the No. 17 Abel Motorsports car.
Bryce Aron tied his career-best start of fifth with his lap of 1:03.8284 in the No. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing machine. Salvador de Alba qualified on the outside of the third row in sixth at 1:03.8486 in the No. 27 Grupo Indi car of Andretti Global.
