Photo: Travis Hinkle / Penske Entertainment
Dennis Hauger led his debut Indy Nxt race from lights to flag at St. Petersburg, heading team-mate Lochie Hughes in an Andretti one-two.
The former Formula 2 racer retained the lead from pole position at the start, but the race instantly went under caution after Tommy Smith ran into the back of Niels Koolen and was then hit by James Roe in the chain reaction.
After a trip to the pits, Roe returned to the track a few laps down but crashed in Turn 10 to trigger another caution when the leaders were on lap nine.
Despite the dominant pace he had shown so far this weekend, Hauger was unable to escape from fellow debutant Hughes and the chasing pack on either of the first two restarts.
It was only after a third restart – following a crash for Nolan Allaer – on lap 24 of a scheduled 45 that Hauger began to stretch his legs. By lap 30 he was over one second clear, but continued to trade fastest laps with Hughes.
During the last 10 laps Hauger really started to take command, and his lead stood at 3.5s when Jack William Miller crashed out of fifth position on lap 42 – by which time the race was already due to go to time, with just a couple of minutes left on the clock.
The race therefore ended behind the pace car with Hauger leading Hughes and HMD Motorsports’ Caio Collet, who started and finished third.
Miller had actually got up to fourth ahead of Abel Motorsports team-mate Myles Rowe at the start, only for Rowe to repass him at the first restart. Fifth would have been a considerable improvement on Miller’s previous best finish of 10th.
That position instead went to Salvador de Alba, who led Jordan Missig, Jonathan Browne and Callum Hedge. Unable to qualify due to an electrical issue, Josh Pierson charged from 19th place to finish ninth.
St. Petersburg native Nikita Johnson also raced forward on his series debut, starting 18th and finishing 11th.
Liam Sceats, a late addition the grid, was denied the chance to start from fifth, pitting with a rubbing tyre. He did eventually join the race, classified 11 laps down.
Race results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dennis Hauger | Andretti Global | 44 laps |
| 2 | Lochie Hughes | Andretti Global | +1.2105s |
| 3 | Caio Collet | HMD Motorsports | +1.5795s |
| 4 | Myles Rowe | Abel w/ Force Indy | +1.9228s |
| 5 | Salvador de Alba | Andretti Global | +2.7462s |
| 6 | Jordan Missig | Abel Motorsports | +3.2916s |
| 7 | Jonathan Browne | Chip Ganassi Racing | +4.2425s |
| 8 | Callum Hedge | Abel Motorsports | +4.5982s |
| 9 | Josh Pierson | HMD Motorsports | +5.0110s |
| 10 | Riccardo Escotto | Andretti Cape | +5.4952s |
| 11 | Nikita Johnson | HMD Motorsports | +7.2447s |
| 12 | Sophie Floersch | HMD Motorsports | +7.7283s |
| 13 | Bryce Aron | HMD Motorsports | +8.9220s |
| 14 | Hailie Deegan | HMD Motorsports | +11.2510s |
| 15 | Tommy Smith | HMD Motorsports | +2 laps |
| 16 | Jack William Miller | Abel w/ MVM | +3 laps |
| 17 | Seb Murray | Andretti Cape | +3 laps |
| 18 | Liam Sceats | HMD Motorsports | +11 laps |
| Ret | Nolan Allaer | HMD Motorsports | |
| Ret | James Roe | Andretti Global | |
| Ret | Niels Koolen | Chip Ganassi Racing | |
| Fastest lap: Hauger, 1m04.7732s
Championship standings |
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