Caio Collet Keeps Pressure on Dennis Hauger, Holds Him Off at Laguna Seca

Brazilian driver Caio Collet is not letting up in his pursuit of the INDY NXT by Firestone championship.

Hours after scoring the top starting position for both Grand Prix of Monterey races this weekend at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, the HMD Motorsports driver led all 35 laps of the first race. Collet held off series points leader Dennis Hauger of Andretti Global for his second race win this season and his third overall over the past two years.

SEE: Race Results

Collet’s margin of victory was .2092 of a second, the closest INDYCAR-sanctioned INDY NXT by Firestone race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and the fifth-closest overall. Collet also is the series’ 11th consecutive pole winner to reach victory lane at this 11-turn, 2.238-mile road course.

“I think at the beginning of the race we had a really good car with pace,” Collet said. “I was just pushing, praying that everything would stay under control.

“But with a few laps to go I started to see a lot of vibration on my left front (tire), and I’m like, ‘OK.’ So, I worked with my tools, and I could see Dennis was catching me, catching me, catching me. I was counting down the laps, praying that the race was over soon.”

Collet also won the Grand Prix of Road America in June. He will start on the pole for Sunday’s second race, set for 1 p.m. ET on FS1, FOX Deportes, the FOX Sports app and the INDYCAR Radio Network.

Hauger entered the weekend with a string of five consecutive poles and a 76-point lead over Andretti Global teammate Lochie Hughes. With Hughes among the eight drivers collected in a series of first-lap incidents and finishing sixth, Hauger’s series lead grew to 81 points with Collet now in the second spot. Hughes is third in the standings, 89 points in arrears. Four races remain.

Hauger has finished first or second in eight of the 10 races this season. He also has finishes of fifth (at World Wide Technology Raceway) and eighth (in Race 1 on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course). He will again start from the second position in Sunday’s 35-lap race.

HMD Motorsports’ Josh Pierson finished third, his first podium finish in 33 series starts. He will start from the same position in Race 2.

The cars of Abel Motorsports’ Jordan Missig and Andretti Global’s Salvador de Alba were out after taking contact in the race’s first few corners. Other drivers involved in the incidents but able to continue were HMD Motorsports’ Juan Manuel Correa and Max Taylor, Andretti Global’s Hughes and James Roe, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Niels Koolen and Andretti Cape Motorsport’s Sebastian Murray.

The race continued under green after that stoppage, which lasted four laps.