The first practice of round 14 of Indy NXT at Portland International Raceway has been completed. View the full results here.
The field returns to a road course following Matteo Nannini’s victory at Nashville Superspeedway three weeks ago. Jacob Abel is driving the No. 48 ABEL Motorsports entry this weekend after Jordan Missig was sidelined for the remainder of the season following an incident at Nashville.
Myles Rowe was the first driver to top the timing charts, followed by Max Garcia and Nikita Johnson.
Enzo Fittipaldi was stuck in the pit lane after his car suffered an electrical issue and would not start.
Lochie Hughes, Alessandro de Tullio, and JM Correa joined the top five. Correa led the field with a 1:03.1984 with 33 minutes remaining.
Roe brings out the red flag
The first red flag of the session was displayed after James Roe suffered a big lock-up into Turn 1 and launched over the chicane curbing.
With 27 minutes remaining, the track returned to green.
British driver Bart Harrison is filling in for Salvador de Alba this weekend in the No. 17 HMD Motorsports entry. Nolan Allaer also returned in the No. 76 Juncos Hollinger Racing car.
The second red flag came out after Max Garcia ricocheted off the wall. He was able to drive back to the pits for a front-wing change before returning to the track.
The session resumed with 17 minutes remaining. Jacob Abel moved up to fifth with a lap of 1:03.628, an impressive showing after not driving an Indy NXT car for 18 months.
With eight minutes remaining, Jack Beeton’s HMD Motorsports machine left the pits with a brake cooling fan still attached.
Qualifying simulations bring a new leader to the front
Qualifying simulations began with eight minutes remaining. Sebastian Murray jumped to the top of the timing charts with a 1:03.0861, ahead of JM Correa, while Lochie Hughes slotted into second with a 1:03.1374.
Niels Koolen then put together a flying lap of 1:03.0405 to move to the top of the timing charts.
The checkered flag fell on the opening practice session at Portland International Raceway, with Koolen topping the times ahead of Murray and Hughes. Notably, championship contenders Tymek Kucharczyk, Johnson, and Fittipaldi finished in 12th, 13th, and 18th, respectively.
The field will return to the track tomorrow morning at 9:00 A. M. local time for practice 2.
2026 Indy NXT Portland | Practice 1 results
- Koolen
- Murray
- Hughes
- Correa
- Rowe
- Garcia
- de Tullio
- Taylor
- Abel
- Pierson
- Allaer
- Kucharczyk
- Johnson
- Nannini
- Aron
- Beeton
- Monteiro
- Fittipaldi
- Roe
- Koreiba
- Kaminsky
- Stati
- Harrison
- Etter





