The first round of the 2025 Indy NXT championship is in the books, and you can view the full standings here following a dominant weekend by Dennis Hauger.
Hauger leaves his rivals trailing in his wake
Norweigan Dennis Hauger put down a statement of intent at St. Pete on the weekend. He topped FP1, and the 21-year-old was fastest in his qualifying segment by a distance. In fact, his three quickest laps were enough for pole. Only in FP2 was he beaten, and Myles Rowe just pipped him to P1.
In the race, the former F3 champion and multi-time F2 race winner was perfect, leading from start to finish. He managed the start perfectly, covering the inside. On restarts, he was never threatened either. Hauger had pulled a 3s gap to fellow rookie Lochie Hughes before a caution brought a premature end to proceedings.
How the rest fared
Hughes also impressed, topping his qualifying group. While Andretti teammate Hauger was a bit too quick for him at St. Pete, a P2 finish was fine going.
After a good fight for the last podium spot, Caio Collet started his sophomore year with a podium, beating Myles Rowe to it. Salvador de Alba completed the top 5.
Jordan Missig and Jonathan Browne both had strong starts to the season, gaining three spots from their qualifying positions to end up P6 and P7. Hedge, Pierson and Escotto completed the top 10. Pierson’s drive was particularly impressive as he bounced back from a car issue in qualifying that left him P19 on the grid.
Hailie Deegan kept out of trouble, finishing P14 on her single-seaters debut. Her pace kept getting better throughout the weekend.
Jack William Miller, Nolan Allaer, James Roe and Niels Koolen did not see the chequered flag. The Irish and Dutch drivers were extremely unlucky as Tommy Smith’s error on the run to turn 1 at the start took them out. Roe returned to the race but later crashed at turn 10.
Allaer got hit from behind during a caution. The damage came back to bite later as he crashed at the final turn. Jack William Miller was left to rue a heartbreaking end. He crashed at turn 9 with a couple of minutes to go while running P5.
Indy NXT 2025 championship standings after St. Pete
