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 Chris Griffis Memorial Test

NTT INDYCAR SERIES Champ Palou Quickest with Helping Hand for CGR

INDIANAPOLIS (Friday, Oct. 16, 2026) – Alex Palou didn’t expect to be the quickest driver in Friday’s Chris Griffis Memorial Test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The five-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion had never driven INDY NXT by Firestone machinery before climbing into the No. 11 Chip Ganassi Racing entry on an overcast, chilly day in Central Indiana. He arrived with minimal expectations. His lap time, however, told a different story.

Palou topped the 22-car test, named in memory of Chris Griffis, the Schmidt Peterson Motorsports team manager who died suddenly in September 2011. Palou turned a lap of 1 minute, 14.5050 seconds on the 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course.

SEE: Overall Test Results

“Feels strange, but it feels good,” Palou said. “Feels kind of strange to be a rookie, but I'm a rookie. I've never been in this car before, so I'm a rookie in this series. I think a lot of people think that it's like other sports where you go down and it's like you're so much higher level. Here it's tough. I didn’t expect to be first.”

Tymek Kucharczyk finished second on the day with a lap of 1:14.8209 in the No. 71 HMD Motorsports entry. The Polish driver finished third as a rookie in the standings this past season with two victories. The last time he was on this road course, he won on May 9. The last time he was in this car, he won the Sept. 6 season finale at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

Max Taylor was third Friday at 1:14.8453 in the No. 28 Andretti Global entry. Kucharczyk and Taylor were the highest-finishing drivers from the 2026 championship standings to participate in Friday's test. Taylor finished fourth last season in the same ride.

Max Garcia, who became the second-youngest winner in INDY NXT by Firestone history with his Aug. 30 victory at Milwaukee Mile, finished fourth at 1:14.9443 while testing for HMD Motorsports. The Miami high school senior competed for Abel Motorsports during his rookie season.

Jack Beeton rounded out the top five with a lap of 1:14.9577. He competed for HMD Motorsports this past season but tested the No. 29 Andretti Global entry.

Friday’s test offered an opportunity to experience a different car for Palou and learn from the next generation of open-wheel drivers. The opportunity first arose during the 2026 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season, when Chip Ganassi Racing asked him to participate. His answer was an easy yes.

“I love driving cars, any kind of car,” Palou said. “Obviously, it's a bit different to what I'm used to. But you learn so much. These kids are really, really fast in these cars, but any track day is good. Obviously, I wouldn't do a race, but test day, 100 percent.”

One of Palou’s key points of reference was teammate Alessandro de Tullio, whose progress he had followed throughout the 2026 season. De Tullio recorded two wins and eight poles during his rookie season with AJ Foyt Racing. Friday marked his first day testing with Chip Ganassi Racing, and he finished sixth quickest with a lap of 1:15.0009.

“I think we have an incredible reference in our team with de Tullio,” Palou said. “He's been so fast all year, and I've been following him a lot.”

The 22 cars combined to complete 1,573 laps during the test.

The 2027 INDY NXT by Firestone season begins the first weekend of March on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida.

USF Pro Championships Shifts Gears for

USF Pro Fall Combine Test 


 

All Three Steps on the Open-Wheel Ladder Head to Indianapolis


 

PALMETTO, Fla. – The dust has barely settled following an enthralling 2026 USF Pro Championships Presented by Continental Tire season. Despite wrapping up only three short weeks ago, the teams and drivers are already setting their sights on a brand-new campaign in 2027. It all starts this coming weekend, October 17/18, with the traditional USF Pro Fall Combine test at the Indianapolis Grand Prix road course in Speedway, Ind.


 

All three steps on the highly acclaimed open-wheel racing ladder – USF Pro 2000, USF2000 and USF Juniors – will take to the 2.439-mile track for three 35-minute sessions on each of the two days.


 

Entry List


 

After falling shy of its goal of claiming a fourth successive USF Pro 2000 Teams Championship, Pabst Racing has every intention of returning to its winning ways in 2027. Colin Aitken, from Jacksonville Beach, Fla., will lead the way after joining the Wisconsin-based team midway through his rookie campaign and impressing with three podium finishes. 


 

Aitken will be joined at the test by Australians Brad Majman, from Melbourne, and Sydney’s Eddie Beswick, both of whom are looking to graduate from USF2000 after finishing second and third in this year’s standings with a combined seven race wins.


 

Exclusive Autosport emerged as top dog in 2026 through the efforts of Texan Jack Jeffers, who became the fifth driver to clinch back-to-back titles in USF2000 and USF Pro 2000. The locally based team will field three Pro cars at the test for Evan Cooley, from Mokena, Ill., and Canadian Anthony Martella, both of whom scored USF2000 wins this year while also gaining a taste for the more powerful USF Pro 2000 machinery, and Jeshua Alianell, from The Woodlands, Texas.


 

Logan Adams and Elliot Cox also will make the short trip to their hometown race track. Series regular Adams will drive his familiar family-run Comet/NCMP Racing Tatuus, while former USF2000 front-runner Elliot Cox is set to return to the cockpit with JHDD powered by ECR after sitting out most of the past two seasons due to budgetary constraints. Cox will join team regular JT Hoskins, from Sarasota, Fla.


 

New Yorker Vivek Kanthan will saddle with defending Teams Championship-winning Turn 3 Motorsport after two seasons of racing in the hotly contested Spanish F4 Championship, while Monegasque Sam Urus and Brazilian USF2000 graduate Naim Saleh will taste the waters with TJ Speed Motorsports, which ended the 2026 season strongly with a win and four podium finishes from the last five races.


 

In USF2000, all eyes will be on Poland’s Karol Pasiewicz and Olivia Racing. The combination took the USF Juniors season by storm, winning six times en route to the championship and earning a scholarship valued at over $250,000 to graduate to the next level. They also impressed during their USF2000 debut at Portland, where Pasiewicz secured an encouraging sixth-place finish.


 

South Africa’s Wian Boshoff (PFH Racing), Canada’s Lucas Nanji (Pabst Racing) and Jack Mohrhardt (VRD Racing), from Boca Raton, Fla., all return for the Fall Combine test after contesting the entire season, along with Callahan Peter, from nearby Fishers, Ind., who switches to the championship-winning DEForce Racing team for the outing.


 

Canadian Cole Medeiros (VRD Racing), Mexican Elias Vignola (DEForce Racing), Grant Mitchell (Zanella Racing), from Lake Forest, Ill., and Brenden Cooley (Exclusive Autosport), from Mokena, Ill., continue to broaden their experience after combining a full season of USF Juniors with occasional USF2000 outings in 2026, while Zanella Racing teammates and USF Juniors regulars Olivier Mrak, from Ottawa, Canada, and Jared Oselka, from Long Beach, Ind., are set to scope out the next step on the ladder.


 

Connor Willis, from Naperville, Ill., also will drive a USF2000 car for the first time at the official test with VRD Racing after competing in British Formula Ford events over the past couple of years.


 

Five teams are currently on the USF Juniors roster for the Fall Combine, but the only two drivers with any race experience at this level are Panamanian karting standout Gianmatteo Rousseau, who impressed on his debut at the recent Road America season finale with VRD Racing, and young Mexican Juan Garciarce with DEForce Racing.


 

Mason Ward, from nearby Carmel, Ind., is set to make his first public outing with the expanded PFH Racing squad, while other entrants include Adam Sana (JHDD powered by ECR), from New York, N.Y., Ocean Lopez (VRD Racing), from Wilmington, N.C., and Jack Cushman (Exclusive Autosport), from Westport, Conn.


 

Live timing for all sessions can be found on the free USF Pro Championships App and respective series’ websites usfpro2000.com, usf2000.com and usfjuniors.com.


 

 

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