Lochie Hughes Secures Pole for INDY NXT at World Wide Technology Raceway

MADISON, Ill. – Finding momentum after a challenging sophomore campaign, series veteran Lochie Hughes claimed his third career INDY NXT by Firestone pole—and his first on an oval—during qualifying Saturday at World Wide Technology Raceway. Driving the No. 26 Andretti Global entry, Hughes set a two-lap average of 162.578 mph.

“I think I just left the tiniest bit of margin out there, so I was a little bit nervous because I knew probably could have gone a bit quicker,” Hughes said. “It’s been a rough start to the year. My mind has been a bit like a pretzel, so I’m relieved to have a pole position”.

Rookie Alessandro de Tullio will join Hughes on the front row, qualifying second at 162.363 mph in the No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing machine. Max Taylor (162.212 mph) and Josh Pierson (161.676 mph) completed a strong showing for Andretti Global by sweeping the second row.

The starting grid will see the series leader, Enzo Fittipaldi, starting 23rd due to a mechanical issue that prevented his car from completing pre-qualifying inspection. Myles Rowe will start 24th after his qualifying attempt was disallowed due to a penalty for failing to follow INDYCAR directions at the conclusion of his run.

INDY NXT Official Qualifying Results

Rank	Car	Driver	Avg Speed	Comment
1	26	Lochie Hughes	162.578
2	14	Alessandro de Tullio (R)	162.363
3	28	Max Taylor	162.212
4	29	Josh Pierson	161.676
5	21	Nikita Johnson (R)	161.652
6	71	Tymek Kucharczyk (R)	161.494
7	10	Niels Koolen	161.263
8	45	Jack Beeton (R)	161.151
9	15	Yuven Sundaramoorthy	161.131
10	27	Seb Murray	161.071
11	17	Salvador de Alba	161.033
12	9	Bryce Aron	161.020
13	68	JM Correa	160.803
14	8	James Roe	160.660
15	48	Jordan Missig	160.539
16	12	Max Garcia (R)	160.417
17	20	Matteo Nannini	159.985
18	76	Ricardo Escotto	159.424
19	4	Nicholas Monteiro (R)	159.060
20	75	Alexander Koreiba (R)	158.853
21	57	Colin Kaminsky	158.292
22	11	Carson Etter (R)	155.355
23	67	Enzo Fittipaldi (R)	DNQ
24	99	Myles Rowe	DNQ	Penalty

(R) – Denotes Rookie of the Year candidate.

Note: Car 99 loss of qualifications attempt due to Failure to Follow the Direction of INDYCAR (9.3.1.7).

Race Details

The 75-lap event, the first oval race of the INDY NXT season, will be broadcast live starting at 5:30 p.m. ET Sunday on FS1, FOX One, and the INDYCAR Radio Network.