INDYNXT: HAUGER DOMINATES IN PORTLAND AND HAS ONE HAND ON THE TITLE
The Andretti driver Dennis Hauger has won the race at Portland after starting third, ahead of runner-up Caio Collet and Myles Roweoff.
The Brazilian took pole position in an amazing qualifying session on Saturday evening, the third one for him the season. Although Hauger dominated both practice sessions, he struggled to get to the front row and got P3 only in the end, behind the Abel driver, Myles Roweoff.
Lochie Hughes who was also in contention for the title, managed to grab P7 only, making his life difficult on the championship fight.
Qualifying at Portland has always been very important due to the short straights not allowing good overtaking opportunities. However, at the race start, Hauger snatched all the possible slipstream from Collet, and at the braking zone in Turn 1, he forced the Brazilian to go wide by diving on the inside. In turn 3 Hauger had already got the lead.
A crash between multiple cars in turn 1, which saw Bryce Aron retire further up behind, called out the first and only caution of the race, which lasted approximately five laps.
The debuting Brazilian Monteiro who started P17, found himself P11 after the first laps. A great result for Nicolas coming from USF2000 Pro.
There were no secrets for Dennis Hauger at this point. He had to keep Collet at bay for 30 laps, and a good management of tires and gap from the Brazilian, paved the way to victory for the Andretti Global driver.
Trying to stay over 5 tenths at the exit of the last corner and not pushing the tires too much was the key for the Norwegian to conquer his 6th race this season.
Hauger won the IndyNXT Rookie title of the year with no rivals at all, and has opened up a gap to Collet of 54 points in the standings, which means he just needs to finish ahead of the Brazilian at Milwaukee in order to be the 2025 IndyNXT champion.
The drivers will get back behind the wheel on the oval track in the next two weeks.
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