Staff Writer - Jeffrey Hrunka
Dennis Hauger won in his INDY NXT debut in St. Petersburg by leading all 44 laps (55 Minutes) to cap a commanding weekend.
Hauger showed speed throughout the weekend, as he never left the top two on the timing sheets. He was fastest in practice one, placed second in practice two, and claimed the track record with a 1:03.880.
The race began with drama in the pit lane. HMD Motorsports' rookie Liam Sceats was relegated to his box for 11 laps because of a tire rub. Luckily for the 19-year-old New Zealander, he missed the opening incident at the start of the race.
Rookie Tommy Smith was credited with causing the first lap incident as he tagged Neils Koolen, who turned James Roe going into turn one. However, Koolen and Roe suffered the most from the incident, as Koolen was forced to retire and Roe later crashed into the turn ten barriers.
From the drop of the green flag, it was clear that the cars to beat were the two rookies from the Andretti Global garage. Hauger and Louchie Hughes stayed 1-2 through all 55 minutes (44 Laps) of the race.
“I think the pace was strong,” Hauger said. “Had a clean run and tried to keep it clean up front and not to do anything crazy. We had a few safety cars and a few restarts, but managed it well.”
On lap 22, Noal Allar brought out the penultimate caution of the race, as he ran into the barriers to bring out the full-course yellow. A 20-lap run followed this incident in which most of the field stayed single-file, aside from the opening restart. This wreck forced the race to finish under time, with the start of the NTT INDYCAR Series schedule right after.
Caio Collett challenged this dominant pair but struggled to get around Hughes. He brought the pressure on the early restarts but fell back over the long run. Collett ultimately rounded out the podium.
Through the early chaos, the HMD Motorsports teammates of Nikita Johnson and Josh Pierson were the biggest movers of the race. Johnson and Pierson started the race in 18th and 19th and finished it 11th and ninth respectively.
There was no passing between the top four- Hauger, Hughes, Collet, and Rowe - as they remained in that order throughout the race. A crash for Jack William Miller with two minutes left ended the race.
“I mean, we kept working in the shop as a team and simulator and data,” Hauger said. “Just go through everything. Everyone has tested at Barber [Motorsports Park] at the end of last year. So everyone goes in with a bit of experience, probably more than here, and knows what to expect.”
INDY NXT RESULTS
Dennis Hauger #28 (R)
Louchie Hughes #26 (R) - 1.211s
Caio Collet #76 -1.560s
Myles Rowe #99 -1.923s
Salvador de Alba #27-2.746s
Jodan Missing #48 -3.292s
Johnathan Brown #9 -4.253s
Callum Hedge #17 -4.598s
Josh Pierson #14 -5.011s
Riscardo Escotto #3 -5.495s
Nikita Johnson #18 (R) -7.245s
Sophia Florersch #24 (R) -7.728s
Bryce Aron #39 -8.922s
Hailie Deegan #38 (R) -11.251s
Tommy Smith #16 (R) - 2 laps down
Jack William Miller #40 - 3 laps down
Sebastian Murray #2 (R) - 3 laps down
Liam Sceats #30 (R) - 11 laps down
Noal Allaer #11 - 24 laps down
James Roe #29 - 39 laps down
Neils Koolen #10 - 43 laps down
* - Race ended behind the safety car
INDY NXT action returns at the Barber Motorsports Park for the Grand Prix of Alabama on Saturday, May 4 on FS1.
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