Taylor leads Andretti 1-2-3 in first Indy Nxt practice session of 2026

Photo: Penske Entertainment / Chris Jones

Max Taylor led an Andretti Global lockout of the top three places in the first Indy Nxt practice session of 2026 in St. Petersburg.

The track was immediately busy when the 45-minute session began, and the first benchmark was a 1m09.9265s from Taylor.

His team-mates Lochie Hughes and Seb Murray then lowered the pace in the 1m08s, and once everyone was on track five minutes in the name on top was Abel Motorsports’ Max Garcia. He had set a 1m07.891s, edging Andretti’s Josh Pierson by 0.0329s and Abel with Force Indy’s Myles Rowe by 0.0631s.

HMD’s Salvador de Alba bettered Garcia by 0.0542s a minute later, then Chip Ganassi Racing’s Niels Koolen edged ahead by 0.1277s.

Andretti was soon back on top, with Murray posting a 1m07.0788s to lead Hughes by 0.187s. Taylor was first to lap sub-1m07s, and his 1m06.4078s effort earned him first place by 0.3722s over Rowe. There was a 0.659s gap to HMD’s Tymek Kucharczyk once he climbed to third, but he was towards the bottom of the top 10 before the 10-minute mark.

Hughes lowered the pace to 1m06.1421s, leading Taylor by 0.2391s and HMD’s Enzo Fittipaldi by 0.4345s. Murray improved in fifth, as all but Rowe in the top half of the field improved and Garcia sat in the pits. When Taylor next crossed the line, he put in an impressive 1m05.8011s and Murray went third fastest but was 0.7513s behind.

More drivers pitted, and Rowe was demoted to sixth despite setting a personal best as de Albra bettered him in fifth.

Cape Motorsports by Ed Carpenter Racing’s Nikita Johnson took third place before red flags waved 15 minutes in. Approaching turn 10, HMD’s Jack Beeton had brushed the outside wall with his rear-right wheel and it sent him spinning into the corner. He broke his rear wing, rear-right wheel and suspension with a rearward impact, and the clear-up required a four-minute stoppage.

Taylor made a small gain of 0.0192s a few minutes after the restart, then improved further to 1m05.4236s as Hughes got within 0.4595s of his new benchmark.

Pierson set a personal best for fifth, then got faster again next time by and rose to third but was 0.8297s slower than Taylor. Garcia, who had headed back on track, jumped to fourth ahead of the improving Rowe with under 20 minutes to go, then Johnson reclaimed third with a 1m05.8925s and Fittipaldi posted a 1m06.1666s to sit fourth.

Taylor still had pace to find, and set a 1m05.2229s before pitting. Fittpaldi became his closest rival not long after that lap was set, but was 0.4788s off his pace, and there were personal bests from Cape’s Matteo Nannini, Murray and Rowe in fifth, sixth and seventh.

The track became far quieter, and Rowe utilised clear to break the 1m06s barrier three times. He rose to fifth, third and then second, lapping 0.3616s shy of Taylor.

Others were also able to string together successive personal bests, and sub-1m06s laps put Cusick Morgan Motorsports’s Juan Manuel Correa and Nannini into the top five and Abel’s Colin Kaminsky into seventh.

Red flags waved again with seven-and-a-half minutes to go as Hughes nosed into the barriers by turn eight. With assistance he returned to the pits sans front wing, and four minutes remained when green flags returned.

Lots of drivers headed out, but some then pitted and forwent the opportunity to improve. Kucharczyk and Koolen went sixth and seventh fastest with a minute remaining, and Murray then took seventh just before the chequered flag. After it flew, Taylor set an unbeatable 1m05.0852s. Pierson jumped from 13th to second, 0.4506s off and 0.001s ahead of Murray.

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