Dennis Hauger Goes Back-to-Back Winning Grand Prix of Alabama to Extend Championship Lead
- Jeffrey Hrunka
- May 4
- 3 min read
Jeffrey Hrunka - Staff Writer
Dennis Hauger continued to demonstrate his dominance in the INDY NXT SERIES at Barber Motorsports Park on Sunday. He led all 35 laps of the Grand Prix of Alabama presented by Firestone for his second consecutive victory.
The 22-year-old Norwegian has yet to finish worse than second in an INDY NXT SERIES session this season. He topped the timing sheets every time he hit the track this weekend.
"It was all just trying to take care of the rear tires, and not to push too much," Hauger said. "Happy with the weekend overall. The pace has been there all weekend, so big thanks to Andretti [Global]."
In what has become a trend for the INDY NXT series, a full-course yellow was brought out via a spin by Callum Hedge that sent him into the sandtrap on lap one. He finished 18th as the incident knocked him a lap down.
Hauger continued to pace the field for the opening ten laps, with Caio Collett and Evagoras Papasavvas in tow. However, throttle problems dropped Collett to 14th. The issues persisted for the 23-year-old Brazilian, who had to retire due to the engine issues for 19th place.
On lap 11, a caution lined up the field for another restart. An incident between Salvador De Alba and Bryce Aron brought out the yellow flag, as De Alba overdrove turn five, spinning the Chip Ganassi Racing driver. Both drivers continued, with De Alba getting the worst and acquiring damage.
With Hauger over six seconds at the front of the field, all eyes were on the battle for the podium position. Papasavvas, Lochie Hughes and Myles Rowe vied for the remaining spots over the final eight laps.
Passing at the front of the pack was difficult, and outside of on-track incidents, there were no overtakes inside the top five. This showed as Rowe couldn’t get the better of the rookies. Papasavvas and De Alba stayed in their respective position to round out the podium in second and third.
For Papasavvas, Barber marked his first start in the INDY NXT SERIES. After only one hour of testing with the car at Mid-Ohio earlier this year, he claimed his first podium on debut.
"The biggest thing with this car and going up the ranks through open wheel racing, is being able to trust that the car will stick,” Papasavvas said. “Using all my techniques, I used driving cars with lower downforce, where there is less mechanical grip, really helped out a lot.” Hughes joins his rookie teammate Hauger as the only driver to score back-to-back podiums in the first two races. "It's a pretty hard place to pass, especially in these cars," Hughes said. "Really difficult to pass around here, so I was doing everything I could. You know, second race of the season still, so I didn't want to shunt the car yet, just take the points."
Rookie Max Taylor and James William Miller were the race's two biggest movers, finishing seventh and eighth.
Taylor rolled 18th after he brought a red flag in qualifying, which deleted his two fastest lap times. Miller was not allowed to qualify because of behavioral violations at the St. Petersburg Grand Prix.
INDY NXT SERIES Results:
Dennis Hauger #28 (R) - (LEADER)
Evagoras Papasavvas #24 (R) -11.02s
Lochie Hudges #26 (R) -11.837s
Myles Rowe #99 -12.317s
Josh Pierson -12.853
Liam Sceats #30 (R) -19.341s
Max Taylor #18 (R) -19.678s
James William Miller #40 -25.093s
Ricardo Escotto #3 -25.575s
James Roe #29 -26.696s
Salvador de Alba #27 -27.268s
Jordan Missig #48 -27.969s
Niels Koolen #10 -29.795s
Tommy Smith #16 (R) -30.606s
Bryce Aron #9 -33.334s
Sebastian Murray #2 (R) -47.282s
Hailie Deegan (R) - 1 lap down
Callum Hedge #17 - 1 lap down
Caio Collett #76 - 7 laps down
Nolan Allaer #11 - 27 laps down
INDY NXT action returns at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for a doubleheader weekend around the 14-turn road course from May 9-10 on FS1.
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