Photo: Penske Entertainment / Chris Jones
Seb Murray led an Andretti Global lockout of the top three places in Indy Nxt post-season testing on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course.
The two-and-a-half hour morning session was red flagged four times for a accumulated period of over half an hour, including an interruption that ended it early, and for many drivers their fastest laps came towards the end of their running.
Andretti’s Max Taylor was quickest, setting a 1m15.0926s to lead team-mate Josh Pierson by 0.3104 seconds. A further 0.3108s back was Cape Motorsports’ Nikita Johnson, then the same gap covered third to 10th.
In fourth place was Formula 2 star Victor Martins, who was driving for HMD Motorsports, and Chip Ganassi Racing’s Bryce Aron and Murray were also within 0.8s of the pace.
HMD had a line-up of European racing converts, giving running to Formula Regional Europe midfielder Jack Beeton, Euroformula champion Tymek Kucharczyk and ex-F2 racer Enzo Fittipaldi alongside Martins.
All 24 drivers improved in the three-hour afternoon session, which had three red flag periods totalling 16 minutes. The flags were called out due to cars getting stranded on track, either caused by technical trouble or spins, but none during the day were instigated by crashes.
Drivers’ best laptimes once again came very late on in their lap count, and the top two of Murray and Taylor both set their personal bests two laps from the end of the day’s run plan. A 1m14.5035s but Murray ahead by 0.1331s, with Pierson just 0.0308s behind Taylor in third.
Johnson was fourth, 0.3814s off the pace and in the pits at the end as he had actually completed his qualifying simulations halfway through his afternoon on track.
Returning team AJ Foyt Racing’s first day back in the Indy Nxt paddock concluded with Alessandro de Tullio going fifth fastest, ahead of Andretti Global’s Lochie Hughes.
Kucharczyk was the top American racing newcomer in eighth, with Martins down in 12th and the last driver within a second of Murray.
Test results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seb Murray | Andretti Global | 1m14.5035s | 86 | |
| 2 | Max Taylor | Andretti Global | 1m14.6366s | +0.1331s | 78 |
| 3 | Josh Pierson | Andretti Global | 1m14.6674s | +0.1639s | 100 |
| 4 | Nikita Johnson | Cape Motorsports | 1m14.8849s | +0.3814s | 69 |
| 5 | Alessandro de Tullio | AJ Foyt Racing | 1m15.0406s | +0.5371s | 62 |
| 6 | Lochie Hughes | Andretti Global | 1m15.0835s | +0.5800s | 58 |
| 7 | Myles Rowe | Abel w/ Force Indy | 1m15.0847s | +0.5812s | 76 |
| 8 | Bryce Aron | Chip Ganassi Racing | 1m15.1936s | +0.6901s | 61 |
| 9 | Tymek Kucharczyk | HMD Motorsports | 1m15.1956s | +0.6921s | 70 |
| 10 | Juan Manuel Correa | Cusick Morgan Motorsports | 1m15.3144s | +0.8109s | 81 |
| 11 | Enzo Fittipaldi | HMD Motorsports | 1m15.3246s | +0.8211s | 67 |
| 12 | Victor Martins | HMD Motorsports | 1m15.4684s | +0.9649s | 65 |
| 13 | Colin Kaminsky | Abel Motorsports | 1m15.5322s | +1.0287s | 96 |
| 14 | Max Garcia | Abel Motorsports | 1m15.5402s | +1.0367s | 73 |
| 15 | Niels Koolen | Chip Ganassi Racing | 1m15.5642s | +1.0607s | 57 |
| 16 | Jack Beeton | HMD Motorsports | 1m15.5876s | +1.0841s | 68 |
| 17 | Ariel Elkin | Cape Motorsports | 1m15.6055s | +1.1020s | 89 |
| 18 | Nicholas Monteiro | AJ Foyt Racing | 1m15.7210s | +1.2175s | 75 |
| 19 | Nicholas Stati | Cusick Morgan Motorsports | 1m15.7465s | +1.2430s | 74 |
| 20 | Jordan Missig | Abel Motorsports | 1m15.7989s | +1.2954s | 99 |
| 21 | Brady Golan | Juncos Hollinger Racing | 1m16.0877s | +1.5842s | 72 |
| 22 | Tommy Smith | Chip Ganassi Racing | 1m16.2757s | +1.7722s | 64 |
| 23 | Alexander Koreiba | Juncos Hollinger Racing | 1m16.5104s | +2.0069s | 66 |
| 24 | Carson Etter | Chip Ganassi Racing | 1m19.9431s | +5.4396s | 22 |