By Patrick Stephan

The lone INDY NXT by Firestone session got started promptly at 11am ET on the 2.439-mile, 14-turn Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road course with the air temp working it’s way to 80F and the track approaching 100F as the 50 minute session ran.

Louis Foster would lead the session with a best lap of 1:15.3992. Foster, 20, from Odiham, England is the defending USF Pro 2000 champion, having won 7 of the 18 races in 2022, including the IMS Race #3 that spring. Currently 5th in points, he is 78 points behind leader Christian Rasmussen, who timed in 4th during today’s practice.

Nolan Siegel was P2 in the session, with Hunter McElrea 3rd, the same spots they occupy in the championship.

Matteo Nannini won the Grand Prix of Indy race in May here at IMS, beating Foster by just 0.3909. The #75 Juncos Hollinger Racing machine that Nannini drove that weekend is now occupied by Victor Franzoni for the second race weekend in a row (Matthew Brabham drove that car at Iowa).

The #47 Cape Motorsports entry driven by Brabham in Nashville is being raced this weekend by Kiko Porto – making his series debut. Porto is currently 2nd in USF Pro 2000 points, 81 behind Myles Rowe.

Francesco Pizzi in the #55 car for Abel Motorsports is running his second INDY NXT weekend, currently 6th in USF Pro 2000 points.

INDY NXT by Firestone Practice #1 Results

Pos	Car #	Driver	Best Time	Diff	Best Lap	Total Laps	Team
1	26	Louis Foster	1:15.3992	1:15.3992	16	17	Andretti Autosport
2	39	Nolan Siegel	1:15.4695	0.0703	24	25	HMD Motorsports
3	27	Hunter McElrea	1:15.4701	0.0709	19	22	Andretti Autosport
4	6	Christian Rasmussen	1:15.4766	0.0774	18	22	HMD Motorsports
5	21	Kyffin Simpson	1:15.4986	0.0994	20	22	HMD Motorsports
6	10	Reece Gold	1:15.5009	0.1017	21	25	HMD Motorsports
7	47	Kiko Porto	1:15.6281	0.2289	24	29	Cape Motorsports
8	68	Danial Frost	1:15.7291	0.3299	20	24	HMD Motorsports
9	76	Rasmus Lindh	1:15.7562	0.357	20	26	Juncos Hollinger Racing
10	75	Victor Franzoni	1:15.9730	0.5738	20	23	Juncos Hollinger Racing
11	7	Christian Bogle	1:16.0045	0.6053	17	20	HMD Motorsports
12	14	Josh Pierson	1:16.0084	0.6092	20	22	HMD Motorsports
13	51	Jacob Abel	1:16.0238	0.6246	20	24	Abel Motorsports
14	28	Jamie Chadwick	1:16.0515	0.6523	17	21	Andretti Autosport
15	99	Ernie Francis Jr.	1:16.0907	0.6915	15	19	HMD Motorsports
16	29	James Roe	1:16.1534	0.7542	19	23	Andretti Autosport
17	57	Colin Kaminsky	1:16.4640	1.0648	23	23	Abel Motorsports
18	55	Francesco Pizzi	1:16.5697	1.1705	15	19	Abel Motorsports
19	98	Jagger Jones	1:17.0729	1.6737	7	10	Cape Motorsports