The gap is closing, but Louis Foster continues to hold the advantage over his INDY NXT by Firestone rivals this weekend after practice Saturday morning for the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

Englishman Foster led the 45-minute session with a top lap of 1 minute, 4.7916 seconds in the No. 26 Copart/Novara Technologies car fielded by Andretti Global. Foster, entering his second season in INDYCAR’s development series, led practice Friday at 1:05.7384.

SEE: Practice Results

Rookie Caio Collet of Brazil was second today at 1:04.9188 in the No. 18 HMD Motorsports car. That gap of .1272 of a second more than halved the advantage of .4297 that Foster enjoyed Friday over session runner-up Michael d’Orlando of Andretti Cape INDY NXT.

Veteran Jacob Abel was third at 1:04.9898 in the No. 51 Abel Construction entry, followed by Josh Pierson at 1:05.3076 in the No. 14 HMD Motorsports car. Jamie Chadwick rounded out the top five at 1:05.4205 in the No. 28 VEXT entry fielded by Andretti Global.

Practice was halted twice due to incidents. HMD Motorsports teammates Christian Bogle and Nolan Allaer made contact in Turn 4 and Turn 8, respectively, in separate incidents late in the session. Both drivers were unhurt.

Foster will try to win the pole for this event for the second consecutive year when qualifying starts at 1:05 p.m. ET today (INDYCAR LIVE, INDYCAR Radio Network). His pole time last year on the 14-turn, 1.8-mile temporary street circuit was 1:05.1103.

The 45-lap race is at 10 a.m. Sunday (Peacock, INDYCAR LIVE, INDYCAR Radio Network).