Dennis Hauger’s dream Indy NXT season continued at the Detroit GP as the Norwegian avoided the chaos behind, taking a fourth win, extending his championship lead.
The Detroit GP lived up to it’s consistently chaotic race weekends, with incidents occurring up and down the pack. Hauger was starting on pole ahead of his teammate, Lochie Hughes, yet again, and the benefit of starting at the front paid off.
While Hauger held onto the lead, a pile-up occurred behind. Hauger managed to build a near four-second lead while his teammate fought behind, de Alba suffered damage and Lochie Hughes suffered the same fate with a broken front wing as the pair had intense battles.
As the race progressed, it became an ex-F3 podium, with Caio Collet and Juan Manuel Correa following the championship leader home.
In the post-race press conference, Hauger spoke about the race and the chaos he avoided.
“Yeah, I saw some of it in the mirrors. It looked a bit messy the first half of the race. But it was a clean race. I think that was the key around there, just keep it clean, and once I got a gap, it was just about managing and trying to keep the sort of overtakes, getting through the lap cars, as well, clean.”
“No, a good day, a good week, and overall P1 in every session. Yeah, big thanks to Andretti for the hard work, and looking forward to the first oval in a few weeks.”
Last lap nerves at the Indy NXT Detroit GP for Dennis Hauger
With the final caution ending just a lap before the end of the race, the chance for Hauger to lose the lead he’d meticulously held onto the entire race was looming. However, when asked about the restart, the Norwegian reassured that he was calm.
“No, I kept it cool, to be honest. It was just about trying to keep the tires alive. I think everyone was driving with cold tires on the last lap there, and I think we did a good job. No, it was pretty smooth. Just the first braking was a bit sketchy into Turn 1, and after that it was fine.
“We had a good car all weekend, so it felt like a good one.”
While the restart didn’t phase Hauger too significantly, he said that when the yellow was first called, there was a slight worry with him losing his strong four-second gap.
“I think I just said on the radio, I said, just, ‘oh, man’, because yeah, we had a comfortable gap, no real stress, and on four laps to go you know it’s going to have cool temperatures in the tires and the restart, and it’s always a bit sketchy. Yeah, there was a bit of a — just a messy one on the last one.
“No, it was fine. Didn’t overreact or anything. That’s how it is, and we knew it was going to be like that around here with some restarts. Usually at least. No, that’s how it is, and we had to do the job.”
Teammate battles
Hauger also touched on the fight between his teammates behind, which led to both falling off the podium and dealing with damage. The championship leader managed to keep it clean but rued what could have been as a team.
“I saw Lochie and Salvador fight behind, and honestly, it’s a shame, we could have been 1, 2, 3 as a team today. That’s the sport sometimes.
“But I didn’t have any contact at the moment with them, but I knew I was clean, and I just tried to stay that way throughout the race. But real shame for both Lochie and Salvador. I think we had some good cars today to be up there all of us. Yeah, that’s how it is sometimes.”
One of the biggest characteristics of Detroit is the bumpy road, which poses a unique challenge to the European drivers who have moved over to the states. Used to relatively smooth and in some cases repaved tracks, Hauger admitted it was ‘fun’ to race on such a different surface.
“Yeah, I enjoyed it a lot, to be honest. It’s completely different compared to what I’ve done before. But it was awesome from the first out there, you really have to be on the limit and a bit over the limit to find the time around there.
“Yeah, I’ve enjoyed it. I think all of us can relate to we haven’t done much of this over in Europe, but I think it was an awesome experience and a unique place. Yeah, I had a lot of fun this weekend.”
Hauger’s championship lead now sits at 38 points, which will put to the test as he heads to his first ever oval experience next weekend at the Worldwide Technology Raceway.
