QUALIFYING REPORT: Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

No. 26 McGinley Clinic /

USF Championship Dallara

• Rookie Hughes kept a strong pace in practice earlier today which transferred over to qualifying as the Australian driver locked in a front row starting position for tomorrow’s race.
• Although tomorrow will be Hughes’ first INDY NXT start in St. Petersburg, the 2024 USF Pro 2000 Champ swept the weekend last year in the junior series, leading practice and qualifying, and eventually capturing the win in Race 1.

“It was a pretty decent qualifying for us finishing at the top of our group and second overall. I’m really looking forward to starting on the front row for my first ever INDY NXT race tomorrow – it should be exciting. I feel like I have a lot less experience than the people around me, so I’m just trying to play catch up at the moment and learn as much as I can in these bigger cars. Hopefully we can have a good race tomorrow and put it on the podium to come away with some good points.”

Salvador de Alba

No. 27 Grupo Indi Dallara

• Salvador de Alba qualified for the second time in his INDY NXT career on the Streets of St. Petersburg this afternoon. De Alba kept a clean session, ultimately securing a starting spot in the top 10 for tomorrow’s race.
• Making a significant qualifying improvement from his INDY NXT debut, de Alba will take tomorrow’s start eight positions higher than he did in 2024.

“We just finished out the first quali of the year, and we’ll be starting on the fourth row with the No. 27 tomorrow. It’s not what we wanted at the beginning, but we’ll take it for sure. We’ll be right there tomorrow maximizing points with a clean start. I’m thankful for my crew and the whole team, and congrats to Dennis on his pole.”

No. 28 Rental Group Dallara

• After leading the first practice session of the weekend yesterday and recording the second-fastest lap time this morning in Practice 2, Hauger kept the strong momentum going in qualifying today by capturing his INDY NXT career-first pole position.
• Dennis broke the track’s record for fastest qualifying lap in INDY NXT history by over six-tenths of a second.

“That was the most nerve-wracking thing I’ve ever experienced in my life. The sun went down a bit in Group 2, so I was nervous to see what that would do for them, but we ended up getting the pole. Andretti gave me a great car out there for qualifying, and we really put things together for the whole team, so I’m super happy for us. I mean, it’s a long Championship and this is the first race of the season, so we need to keep it clean, have a good start and take it from there.”

No. 29 Topcon Dallara

• Back for his third full season, James Roe kicked off Practice 1 yesterday with the seventh-fastest lap time, and then followed up later this afternoon in Practice 2 just outside of the top 10.
• Unfortunately, Roe was not able to find the pace he needed in the qualifying session today, which he took on in Group 2, and will start tomorrow’s race near the middle of the grid.

“First qualifying of the year done. We’d obviously like to be starting a bit higher up in the field, but it’s a long race and we’ll have 45 laps to move forward. We just have to keep it clean and see where we end up.”

No. 2 Dream Racing Dubai Dallara

• Making his North American street course racing debut this weekend, Seb Murray joined teammates Hauger and de Alba in Group 1 as they set out to qualify for tomorrow’s race.
• The Scottish driver shaved just under half a second off of his fastest practice time from today’s Practice 2, to lock in a spot right next to teammate Roe.

“Quali was good, I was happy with the pace, especially for my first time here. I thought the car was great. Big thanks to Andretti Cape on that because they delivered and made me feel confident out there. I was able to push it right to the limit. I think we were consistent, but the group was really close and by the end I got pushed down a bit. We’re happy with P7 – not too bad for the first round. Hopefully we can bring it tomorrow and all goes well in the race.”

No. 3 Frank’s RedHot Dallara

• Ricardo Escotto qualified in Group 2 today alongside teammates Roe and Hughes, where the Mexican driver continued to build speed throughout the qualifying session, eventually landing a starting spot inside of the top-10 tomorrow.

“We had qualifying here in St. Pete today, and it felt like a ‘could’ve been’ type of session. We struggled with braking confidence, but overall, P8 isn’t bad for the first qualifying session of the year. We’re still looking for more, but I’m happy to work with the Andretti Cape team to do that. We’re looking forward to getting into the race tomorrow and gaining some positions.”

“It was a good start to the weekend for Andretti INDY NXT with a season opening pole and an All Andretti front row for our rookies. Dennis, Lochie and Salvador all had really good cars and all three had a great qualifying effort. I’m not sure what happened with James – he struggled a little bit, so we’ll just have to work on it overnight and see what we have for the race. It’s always good to start up front here in St. Pete. It’s such a tight track and we know it’s going to be a tough race tomorrow, so we’ll just put our heads down and see what we can do tomorrow.”