ADVENT CALENDAR DOOR 2 – 2 Rookie Sensations Reach the Top of the Indy Ladder
When the Indy NXT championship of 2025 concluded this year, we had a rare occurrence of the top 2 in an Indy NXT standings being of european single-seater origin having raced in a major series on the road to F1. The last pair to do this was 7 years prior in 2018 with that being Pato O’Ward and Colton Herta having raced in F2 and GB3 respectively with varying participation in these series. A throwback for sure with Pato having raced in 1 weekend of action at Austria,Spielberg in 2019. This year we had the former Fia Formula 3 champion of 2021, Dennis Hauger take the championship in Scintillating fashion whilst 2nd year Indy NXT driver, Caio Collet finished runners-up after a strong second half the season – he has previously raced in Formula 3 with a best WDC position of P8 in 2022.
Who are they and why do they have such potential next year
Hauger – Hauger’s racing credentials are very respectable
He has raced up the European single-seater ladder quite rapidly. He won Italian F4 in 2019 before taking the F3 title pretty convincingly in his 2nd F3 Season. He had a solid 3 years in F2 but was stuck in the upper midfield never being able to take the leap towards a title challenge although showing flashes of brilliance throughout.
His rookie Indy NXT campaign proved a driver Hauger can become in a top level of motorsport if he has the right car and environment to thrive. Although he has been around for many years, still only at the age of 22 he is far younger than most and has a long motorsports career ahead of him starting next year in Indycar with Dale Coyne racing. Although not much should be expected from his first season due to the machinery he is in, I still believe he could surprise us with the odd standout quali or race performance. Hauger is definitely an investment into the future.
Collet – Collet has also a decent overall racing credentials thus far in his career.
He has taken out an F4 title mirroring Hauger with French F4 in 2018 and has had multiple title fights since without another title to his name. His F3 career could be compared to Hauger’s F2 stint. Always in the upper midfield, taking standout wins and races in moments, but unable to maintain consistency for a full season to challenge for the title. We must also consider he was an MP Motorsport and Van Amersfoort car so maybe he performed or even outperformed this machinery at times so results don’t tell the full story. Collet has since moving to the US has acclimatised very well to Indy NXT machinery and this has racked him a P3 and P2 finish across 2 seasons. These promising results have attracted the AJ Foyt squad to sign him up for next season. A move to promising machinery that if he can prove himself, he will be able to achieve some strong performances next year. The pressure though will be ramped up if he underperforms or is too inconsistent. Collet is known for his very strong consistency in results in his past successes so he should hopefully transfer this to the big time here in Indycar.
Final thoughts
Overall, I believe both have the potential in the future to be successful in Indycar but this will take time and next year will definitely be a learning curve for both. If either of these drivers can breach the top 20 barrier in the Championship next year it would be classed as a great achievement. Only time will tell what their fates may be.
written by Taegan Hignett / Media Credit – Penske Entertainment
