Photo: Chris Owens
Max Taylor was quickest again in the second Indy Nxt free practice session in Arlington, which was red flagged three times.
The Andretti Global driver followed up his FP1-topping performance by finding more pace and setting a 1m38.8321s to end practice 0.4646 seconds faster than anyone else.
Red flags first waved 10 minutes in when Chip Ganassi Racing’s Bryce Aron ran into the tyre barriers and could not get going again. He sat out the rest of the session and therefore propped up the timesheet.
An off at turn four, which has caught out multiple drivers so far this weekend, briefly triggered a second red flag period roughly halfway through FP2.
There was eight minutes remaining when the third stoppage occurred, after Abel Motorsports with Force Indy’s Myles Rowe hit the wall at turn eight.
Taylor spent most of practice at the sharp end, but it was team-mate Lochie Hughes who set the pace early on. Hughes was top of the order with a time in the low 1m39s when the session was first interrupted.
After the second stoppage, AJ Foyt Racing’s Alessandro de Tullio lowered the pace but Hughes then reclaimed first place.
It was not until a few minutes from the end that Taylor moved to the top as he set the sole sub-1m39s lap of practice. Hughes responded with an improvement, but could only get within 0.4684s of the top spot.
After Rowe’s incident was cleared, there was three minutes left. One of the few drivers who improved was Seb Murray, who jumped up to second and demoted Hughes to the bottom of an Andretti 1-2-3.
HMD Motosports’ Tymek Kucharczyk was only 0.0011s slower than Hughes in fourth, and Rowe was fifth after his fastest lap was deleted. He edged Cape Motorsports by Ed Carpenter Racing driver Matteo Nannini by 0.0212s and HMD’s Enzo Fittipaldi by 0.0269s.
De Tullio improved on his final lap to be eighth, 0.041s ahead of Andretti’s Josh Pierson.
Championship leader Nikita Johnson (Cape) was down in 11th place, 1.0108s slower than Taylor.
Free practice 2 results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Max Taylor | Andretti Global | 1m38.8321s | 18 | |
| 2 | Seb Murray | Andretti Global | 1m39.2967s | +0.4646s | 19 |
| 3 | Lochie Hughes | Andretti Global | 1m39.3005s | +0.4684s | 18 |
| 4 | Tymek Kucharczyk | HMD Motorsports | 1m39.3016s | +0.4695s | 18 |
| 5 | Myles Rowe | Abel w/ Force Indy | 1m39.4273s | +0.5952s | 14 |
| 6 | Matteo Nannini | Cape by ECR | 1m39.4485s | +0.6164s | 19 |
| 7 | Enzo Fittipaldi | HMD Motorsports | 1m39.4542s | +0.6221s | 17 |
| 8 | Alessandro de Tullio | AJ Foyt Racing | 1m39.7806s | +0.9485s | 16 |
| 9 | Josh Pierson | Andretti Global | 1m39.8216s | +0.9895s | 17 |
| 10 | Max Garcia | Abel Motorsports | 1m39.8412s | +1.0091s | 17 |
| 11 | Nikita Johnson | Cape by ECR | 1m39.8429s | +1.0108s | 19 |
| 12 | Juan Manuel Correa | Cusick Morgan Motorsports | 1m40.0059s | +1.1738s | 16 |
| 13 | Ricardo Escotto | Juncos Hollinger Racing | 1m40.0123s | +1.1802s | 17 |
| 14 | Jack Beeton | HMD Motorsports | 1m40.0738s | +1.2417s | 18 |
| 15 | Nicolas Stati | Cusick Morgan Motorsports | 1m40.1116s | +1.2795s | 16 |
| 16 | Salvador de Alba | HMD Motorsports | 1m40.2512s | +1.4191s | 16 |
| 17 | Colin Kaminsky | Abel Motorsports | 1m40.7587s | +1.9266s | 17 |
| 18 | Nicholas Monteiro | AJ Foyt Racing | 1m40.7879s | +1.9558s | 17 |
| 19 | Alexander Koreiba | Juncos Hollinger Racing | 1m40.8249s | +1.9928s | 16 |
| 20 | Niels Koolen | Chip Ganassi Racing | 1m41.0987s | +2.2666s | 14 |
| 21 | Carson Etter | Chip Ganassi Racing | 1m42.3615s | +3.5294s | 16 |
| 22 | Jordan Missig | Abel Motorsports | 1m42.6455s | +3.8134s | 15 |
| 23 | James Roe Jr | Chip Ganassi Racing | 1m43.2208s | +4.3887s | 17 |
| 24 | Bryce Aron | Chip Ganassi Racing | 1m43.5464s | +4.7143s | 4 |