DENNIS HAUGER CLINCHES INDYNXT TITLE
Dennis Hauger has won the 2025 NTT IndyNXT title on his debut season with Andretti Global, defeating Caio Collet and his team mate Lochie Hughes.
The Norwegian driver has left Formula 2 prematurely at the end of the 2024 season, with two rounds to the end of the championship. Three years fighting for podiums and wins, and many unfavorable results were not enough to prove his talent for Formula 1 teams.
Change of plans
Dennis has decided do pursue a career in America, signing for Andretti in IndyNXT for the 2025 season. A car that is less powerful than an F2 car, combined with Dennis’ experience, would’ve been the recipe for success.
In America, the former FIA Formula 3 champion knew he could find some interesting opportunities, such as a career in Indycar, or even a future in Formula 1 with the new team Cadillac, who is partnering their entry to Motorsport’s pinnacle with Andretti.
Hauger knew he was going to face some talented drivers on the road to Indycar, such as the experienced Caio Collet, who was going for his second year in the series. Myles Rowe, who won the 2024 USF2000 Pro title, alongside Lochie Hughes, were also some big names to consider.
A dream start to the season
Hauger had a dream start to the championship, winning the first 4 of the 5 races. A P8 at the first race in the Indianapolis Road Course compromised his amazing win streak due to a collision at the start who pushed him down to 21st, but quickly went climbed up the field to the top 10.
Halfway through the season, Dennis faced some ups and downs. As the first oval tracks started to come, Dennis’ little experience on American races started to kick in, and even though he got pole position at Gateway, he finished P5 only in the race.
On the other hand, his main rival Caio Collet started to pick up his pace, slowly winning races and taking home important podiums.
The weekend that put the championship lead at risk
The worst weekend of the season for Hauger, was at Laguna Seca. A weekend that marked his first ever crash in IndyNXT during Free Practice 1, the Norwegian went into qualy with no mileage at all, as Free Practice 2 got cancelled due to bad weather,
The Brazilian Caio Collet managed to take double pole on that weekend and win both races, but the worst part for Hauger was a crash on race 2 with Collet’s team mate Josh Pierson.
Dennis arrived to Monterey with a 81-point lead to runner-up Caio Collet, and ended up leaving the weekend with half of those points ahead of the HMD driver.
Gaining control back
Things were not looking good for Dennis at the start of the Portland GP weekend either. In a track where overtaking is incredbly hard, Caio Collet got pole with Dennis Hauger being only P3 in qualy.
Chances that the Brazilian driver would have closed up to the lead in the standings were high. However, a great start by Dennis Hauger forced Collet into a mistake into turn 1 and the Andretti driver managed to overtake both cars in front, winning the race later on.
Dennis left Portland with a 54-point lead over Caio Collet, and only needed to finish the race in front of him at Milwaukee in order to win the championship with a spare race.
Like in Indycar, a weekend in IndyNXT gives out 54 points to the drivers: 50 for the win, 2 for pole, 1 for leading a lap in the race, and 1 for having led the most laps of the race.
A pole position in the penultimate race of the season let Hauger with one hand on the trophy, even more with Collet qualifying P7 only.
However, Dennis lost the lead at the start of the race to his Mexican team mate Salvador de Alba, while Collet climbed up to P6.
The race did not change a single bit after the start besides crashes at the back of the pack, and Dennis Hauger has been claimed as the 2025 NTT IndyNXT champion. The Norwegian won 6 races, with 3 further podiums and 8 pole positions with one round to go.
What awaits Dennis Hauger in 2026
Dennis wins a $850,000 scolarship to help him through his Indycar career, a seat secured for the Indy500 2026 combined with a test at the Texas Oval Speedway, and a seat secured for another Indycar race in 2026.
As the seats in the main Andretti Global team are all sealed for 2026, Dennis Hauger will be loaned to another team for one year on his debut season, the teams rumoured to be hosting the Norwegian will be either Juncos or Rahal.
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