2026 Indy NXT St. Pete | Race results

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The opening race of the 2026 Indy NXT season has been completed at St. Pete, view the full results below.

2025 Indy NXT champion Dennis Hauger won this race and the series last year, with Lochie Hughes and Caio Collet joining him on the podium. The Norwegian and Brazilian graduated to IndyCar over the long break.

Having dominated practice and qualifying, Max Taylor started on pole position, with Nikita Johnson beside him on the front row.

Niels Koolen and Jordan Missig did not start from their grid spots due to radio and steering wheel issues respectively. Both would make the race, however.

Off the start, Johnson brilliantly swept around the outside of Taylor into turn 1 as he used the racing line to make a brilliant, decisive pass. Tymek Kucharczyk jumped up to 3rd from 5th on the grid.

A caution was required later on lap 1 as Jack Beeton spun on his own. There was also contact between Pierson and de Tullio as the driver of car #14 got into the back of the #29.

On lap 6, Carson Etter crashed down at turn 8 and was out of the race when running in 22nd. He had a broken front wing from earlier in the lap, although replays were inconclusive as to what happened.

When the green flag flew, there was a touch between Garcia and de Alba. The American tried to pass into turn 1 and made contact with the Mexican driver’s right rear. He got through for P9 as race control did not get involved.

Running in 13th position, Nicholas Monteiro was the latest driver to crash on lap 17. He clipped the inside wall on the entry to turn 9 and ended up in the outside one with a broken car.

The big incident of the race

On the next restart, a caution quickly appeared again on lap 21. Teammates at CGR James Roe and Niels Koolen crashed as they battled it out through turns 2 and 3, with both ending up with a DNF to their name. The Irish driver found the wall hard. Both were okay, although there cars were not as their rear suspensions got broken following the contact.

Racing resumed again on lap 26. Down at turn 4, de Alba made a quality pass on Garcia to reclaim P9. Meanwhile, Jack Beeton recovered from his spin to storm back into 11th.

The Australian continued his charge as he got his elbows out against Garcia to make a pass into turn 1 for P10. de Tullio also snuck through.

At the front, it was a controlled and excellent drive by Nikita Johnson to take his first Indy NXT victory. Max Taylor pushed him all the way to take 2nd. Switching from Europe to the US, Tymek Kucharczyk secured a brilliant 3rd on debut.