2026 Indy NXT Road America | Qualifying results

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Qualifying for rounds 9 and 10 of the 2026 Indy NXT by Firestone season have been completed at Road America, view the full results here.

The field entered qualifying after a single practice session on Friday, where Max Taylor led an Andretti Global 1-2-3 ahead of Lochie Hughes and Josh Pierson. With limited track time before the doubleheader, Saturday morning’s qualifying session became the first major test of who could convert practice pace into starting position.

With two races on the schedule at Road America, Indy NXT qualifying carried extra weight Saturday morning. Drivers needed to set two strong laps around the 4.014-mile circuit, with their fastest lap determining the starting grid for Race 1 and their second-fastest lap setting the order for Race 2. On a lap as long as Road America, maximizing each opportunity was critical.

Group 1

Lochie Hughes led Group 1 out for qualifying at Road America, with the session getting off to an eventful start as Carson Etter spun just past Turn 6 in the opening minutes.

Hughes set the first representative lap of the session, followed by Jack Beeton, before Tymek Kucharczyk moved to the top with a 1:52.6315.

The times quickly began to fall as drivers found more pace around the 4.014-mile circuit. Enzo Fittipaldi lowered the benchmark with a 1:51.798, but championship leader Nikita Johnson soon jumped ahead with a 1:51.423. Johnson’s lap was nearly two seconds faster than the quickest time from practice and about one second quicker than last year’s pole time.

Max Garcia also found time after an early mistake, locking up heavily into Turn 5 before responding on the following lap with a 1:51.901 to move into fifth place.

Hughes then went faster in the closing moments, setting a 1:51.534 to move into second place, between Johnson’s previous fast time and Beeton who followed him with a 1:51.602.

Johnson
Hughes
Beeton
Fittipaldi
Garcia
Rowe
Kucharczyk
Missig
Kaminsky
Roe
Monteiro
Etter

Group 2

Max Taylor was the first driver out for Group 2, looking to carry momentum from Friday after leading the lone practice session at Road America.

Seb Murray set the first fast time for the group, with Josh Pierson also moving into the mix early as drivers began building toward their representative laps.

Alessandro de Tullio then set his first lap time of the session with a scorching 1:51.741, moving to the top of the Group 2 order.

Taylor then moved into third with a 1:51.419, just one thousandth of a second behind Mateo Nannini’s 1:51.418. At the front, de Tullio still had more pace to give, improving again with a 1:51.047 to extend his advantage at the top of Group 2.

De Tullio still had more pace to give, improving again on his next lap with a 1:50.997. With both his fastest and second-fastest laps leading the overall order, he put himself on pole for both races at Road America.

Pierson then pipped Taylor at the line for third place, setting a 1:51.343 to slot in as the first Andretti Global driver on the Race 1 grid.

With his fastest and second-fastest laps both leading the overall order, de Tullio secured pole for both races at Road America. It marks his seventh pole through the opening nine races of the 2026 Indy NXT season.