Louis Foster

Louis Foster led the opening practice Friday for the INDY NXT by Firestone Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.

Rookie Foster, from England, was quickest at 1 minute, 15.3992 seconds in the No. 26 Copart/USF Pro Championship entry fielded by Andretti Autosport in the 50-minute session.

SEE: Practice Results

“I’m looking forward to quali,” Foster said. “P1 in practice sets us up good for qualifying.”

Rookie Nolan Siegel was second on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course, turning a best lap of 1:15.4695 in the No. 39 HMD Motorsports with DCR car. Siegel is second in the INDYCAR development series championship standings, 45 points behind Christian Rasmussen with five races remaining this season.

Foster’s Andretti Autosport teammate Hunter McElrea was third at 1:15.4701 in the No. 27 Smart Motors car. Rasmussen was fourth at 1:15.4766 in the No. 6 HMD Motorsports with DCR machine.

Kyffin Simpson rounded out the top five at 1:15.4986 in the No. 21 HMD Motorsports with CGR car.

Up next on a hectic day for the series is qualifying at 2:20 p.m. ET (live, INDYCAR Live, INDYCAR Radio Network), followed by the 35-lap race at 5 p.m. (live, Peacock, INDYCAR Radio Network).