Max Taylor, Andretti Global Heat Up Second Arlington Practice

Max Taylor and Andretti Global were locked in during practice Saturday morning for the Grand Prix of Arlington, setting an impressive pace heading into qualifying this afternoon for the inaugural event.

Taylor (photo, top) topped the 45-minute session with a lap of 1 minute, 38.8321 seconds in the No. 28 Susan G. Komen machine of Andretti Global. That’s nearly a second quicker than his session-leading time of 1:39.8262 in practice Friday, as drivers and teams come to grips with learning this new 14-turn, 2.73-mile temporary circuit that winds around AT&T Stadium, home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, and Globe Life Field, home of MLB’s Texas Rangers.

SEE: Practice Results

Up next is qualifying at 4:30 p.m. ET today (FS2, FOX One, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio powered by OnlyBulls). The 27-lap race starts at 11 a.m. ET Sunday (FS1, FOX One, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio powered by OnlyBulls).

Andretti Global drivers posted the three quickest times this morning. Seb Murray was second at 1:39.2967 in the No. 27 Prosperity machine, while Lochie Hughes ended up third at 1:39.3005 in the No. 26 car.

Rookie Tymek Kucharczyk (photo, above), who finished third in the season opener at St. Petersburg, continued to impress by driving to fourth in this practice at 1:39.3016 in the No. 71 HMD Motorsports entry. Myles Rowe rounded out the top five at 1:39.4273 in the No. 99 ABEL Motorsports with Force Indy car despite clipping the wall and damaging the front wing of his car late in the session.

Bryce Aron also made contact with the tire barrier in Turn 9 earlier in the session, inflicting moderate damage to the left front of his No. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing machine.

St. Petersburg race winner and series leader Nikita Johnson was 11th at 1:39.8429 in the No. 21 Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR car.