ELKHART LAKE, Wis. — With five points separating the top three drivers in Indy NXT by Firestone entering the doubleheader this weekend at Road America, Max Taylor sent a powerful message during practice Friday – don’t forget about me.
Taylor led the only practice for both races in the IndyCar development series, turning a top lap of 1 minute, 53.1419 seconds in the No. 28 Susan G. Komen car as Andretti Global drivers took the first three spots in the 45-minute session. Taylor is fourth in the series standings, 27 points behind leader Nikita Johnson.
“It felt pretty good,” Taylor said. “First time on this track in an Indy NXT car but definitely not my first time here. There are a lot of things to get used to, a lot more than I thought, but I adapted pretty quickly, and the Andretti car was on rails. As you can see, we were 1-2-3, so a really good way to start a weekend.”
Andretti Global flexed with Lochie Hughes second at 1:53.2732 in the team’s No. 26 entry, with teammate Josh Pierson third at 1:53.3204 in the No. 29 Starchive Andretti machine.
Series leader Johnson was the quickest non-Andretti driver and top rookie, fourth at 1:53.3652 in the No. 21 Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR car. Johnson leads HMD Motorsports rookie teammates Enzo Fittipaldi and Tymek Kucharczyk by two and five points, respectively, in the standings entering this event.
Matteo Nannini rounded out the top five at 1:53.6558 in the No. 20 Enve Motorsports car as Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR filled the bottom two spots of the top five.
Myles Rowe celebrated his 26th birthday today by ending up sixth at 1:54.1355 in the No. 99 Abel Motorsports with Force Indy machine. Rowe won the most recent event, June 7 on the World Wide Technology Raceway oval, after starting 24th and last in the longest climb to victory in the series’ 40-year history.
Among the closest championship contenders to leader Johnson, Fittipaldi was 10th today at 1:54.4460 in the No. 67 HMD Motorsports car, with Kucharczyk 16th at 1:54.7796 in the team’s No. 71 machine.