Collet holds off Hauger at Laguna Seca for third Indy Nxt victory

Photo: Travis Hinkle

Caio Collet held off Dennis Hauger in Indy Nxt race one at Laguna Seca for his third victory in the championship and second of 2025.

The HMD Motorsports driver got a maximum score by leading lights-to-flag, but was put under heavy pressure from Andretti Global’s Hauger in the closing laps. The pair were separated by just 0.2092 seconds at the chequered flag.

The 35-lap race started in dramatic fashion with multiple incidents. Three cars spun in the first few corners, and as others ran wide in avoidance there was dust kicked up. Some of the cars stopped and were hit, with Jordan Missig and Salvador de Alba being eliminated on the spot while Max Taylor, James Roe Jr and Juan Manuel Correa all were able to rejoin the race after their cars made it to the pits but quickly went several laps down.

A caution period was required during the clear-up, and racing resumed on lap six. Collet made a good job of the restart and immediately began to pull away from Hauger.

As Abel Motorsports with Force Indy’s Myles Rowe attacked HMD’s Josh Pierson for third, Hauger did not need to worry about any pressure from behind as he was gradually gapped by Collet.

However, in the race’s second half he began to reel in the leader. They spent the final laps running nose-to-tail, with Hauger eyeing opportunities for a way past. He had the better pace through the first half of the lap, but Collet had the advantage from turn eight onwards. Hauger could not instigate an overtaking attempt, and finished right behind the driver who is now his closest title rival.

After pushing hard immediately following the caution period, Rowe fell back in the race’s second half and so Pierson ended up having a comfortable run to his maiden Indy Nxt podium.

Abel’s Callum Hedge had a quiet race en route to fifth, and Andretti’s Lochie Hughes dropped behind Collet in the title fight by finishing sixth.

One of the closest battles early in the race was between Tommy Smith, his HMD team-mate Liam Sceats and Chip Ganassi Racing’s Bryce Aron at the tail end of the top 10. Smith led the fight for much of the race, but a wide moment late on dropped him down the order.

Sceats then had clear air, and with a pace advantage closed onto the back of Jack William Miller. He was just 0.1679s behind the seventh-placed man at the finish, while Aron was a distant 10th behind HMD’s Nolan Allaer.

Race results (35 laps)