Dennis Hauger exclusive: Leaving F2 to chase the IndyCar dream

Written by Archie O’Reilly, Edited by Morgan Holiday

Twenty-four. Synonymous with NASCAR legend Jeff Gordon.

For a young kid in Norway, it may seem strange to see someone like Gordon - on the opposite side of the Atlantic - as something of an inspiration. But Dennis Hauger has always admired racing in the United States.

So much so that young Hauger sported the No.24 for his first race start.

Over the years, his recollections of the significance of the number faded as he forged a successful junior career in Europe. The pinnacle was becoming FIA Formula 3 champion in 2021, leading into three seasons as a frequent front-runner in Formula 2.

But when the four-time F2 race winner felt that he had reached the end of his path in the premier feeder series championship leading into Formula One, Hauger found himself entering the pre-2025 off-season with a decision to make.

He could have stayed in F2 - his 11 podiums reflective of his capabilities. But as an ambitious 21-year-old, the former Red Bull Racing junior did not want to find himself stuck on a ladder with little potential of actually progressing to the top.

“I got a few pretty good deals in F2 - surprisingly good deals,” Hauger admits. “But it didn’t really feel like there was much left for me in F2.

“I could do a few more years like some of the other guys have done, going into year four and five and six. I don’t think it has a big meaning. And honestly, it’s a high budget and it’s a struggle to get it secured.

“We got a good deal but I still feel like going into something else would be a better opportunity for me. I’m still young. I still have the age. So it felt like the right decision to move into a new phase of my career.”

Hauger contested his final race weekend in F2 two rounds from the close of the 2024 season. His focus quickly turned to pivoting away from the F1 ladder.

As a European, especially one who had formerly been on the books of one of racing’s finest operations in its pomp, it is never an easy decision to switch tack from the ultimate goal of reaching F1. But Hauger showed distinct maturity when evaluating his future.

He considered endurance racing. Formula E too. But one route stood out above all.

“Quite early on, I was like: ‘Okay, if it’s not going to be F1, which obviously was the goal, being in F2, what are the other options?’” Hauger recalls. “And I was straight on: ‘I think IndyCar is the best type of racing there is.’ So I was really keen on getting over here.”

In an ideal world, the 2025 season would have been Hauger’s first at the summit of one of motorsport’s mountains. But where he saw no route beyond F2, the open-wheel ladder in the United States served up a different opportunity.

There has been a burgeoning trend of drivers moving from F2 directly to IndyCar in recent years: Christian Lundgaard, Callum Ilott, Marcus Armstrong. There have also been multiple race outings for fellow former F2 race winners Théo Pourchaire and Jüri Vips.

Primarily, Hauger also explored the possibility of making the direct jump to the top series.

“We were looking at different IndyCar options - if there were any possibilities,” he explains. “But you don’t have that name as you have in Europe and we don’t have that kind of budget that some of the other guys bring.”

So while his time in the feeder series on the F1 side had come to a natural ending point, Hauger was still willing to dabble in the road leading to IndyCar. Where F1 chances felt shut-off, he sensed a more genuine potential to progress to IndyCar from Indy NXT.

Given the champion is rewarded with a scholarship to aid progression to IndyCar, the pathway was clear to Hauger. And in his eyes, not jumping straight to IndyCar - which would involve being thrown in the deep end in some ways - has definite merits.

“It gives you the time to learn tracks, how the environment works and also create your own name over here,” he says. “So for me to go in here felt like a good idea.”

Hauger had picked up his watching of IndyCar in recent years. But it was at this point, with a move stateside at the forefront of his mind, where memories of his childhood motorsport fandom resurfaced bit by bit.

That No.24. It all came flooding back.

“When I was a kid, I was always watching NASCAR and IndyCar, especially the Indy 500 obviously,” he remembers. “It’s quite random - I didn’t actually think about it before I came over here - but when I was a kid, I was watching Jeff Gordon in NASCAR.

“It didn’t really cross my mind - I hadn’t thought about [the No.24] in a long time. So that was funny when I came over here.”

It was barely a decision for Hauger when a drive in Indy NXT - with the famed Andretti Global team, who won last year’s championship with Louis Foster - came onto the table. It felt like it was meant to be.

“I was just thinking: ‘Where’s the coolest place to go where I’ll have the highest motivation to do a good job?’” he says. “And that’s definitely IndyCar. It’s pure racing. It’s pure racing like you don’t really see anywhere else, which I think is a really cool factor.

“That’s definitely feeling even more true when I’m here on the race track. So for sure it’s a good opportunity for young drivers to try and make a living and also, at the same time, race the biggest and coolest series in the world.”

Being in the F1 paddock is the dream for many. It was Hauger’s dream. And he lived out a good part of that dream on the support bill for F1 all across the globe.

But it can be high-pressure. It can be intense. So the IndyCar paddock has, so far, provided a refreshing twist.

“It felt really fresh coming over here,” Hauger describes. “It was so many new people, new faces and a different atmosphere. I love it so far. I think everyone here is super passionate about what they do.

“And just looking at the Month of May now, the build-up to the Indy 500, you can see people going crazy - like super motivation. So that’s super cool to see and something I really needed going into this season to keep my high motivation.

“It’s a bit of a different environment - I would say a bit more chill - but still super professional from the team side. The way spectators are and the whole atmosphere around it is a bit different in its own way. So that’s really cool to see.”

Hauger attended the April Indianapolis 500 Open Test, which provided a first opportunity to watch cars on the oval at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS). He was blown away by the speeds but, even more so, amazed at the fan turnout for a test.

“I’ve never seen so many people at a test before - spectators on the tribunes and just on the grass, bringing their chair, watching the whole day, cars going around,” he says with a hint of pleasant surprise. “I can’t wait to see how it is on a race weekend when we go to the Indy 500 and actually see how everything looks for the first time.”

Excitement emanates from Hauger about this latest chapter in his career. This is by no means a backwards step to him.

The European perspective has, given the dominance of F1, long believed IndyCar to be inferior. But it took the perfect storm of Liberty Media’s takeover and success of Drive to Survive, especially in the time of a global pandemic, for F1’s popularity to surge again.

IndyCar is, of course, a United States-limited series as opposed to F1’s international calendar, but Hauger has already noticed strides being made by IndyCar in a growth sense.

“IndyCar is making step by steps every year now, especially this year,” he acknowledges. “So it’s going to be cool to see what they have for the future. For people in Norway as well, it’s a very new world. Everyone got up the hype with F1 and, after the series, it’s gone crazy.

“But if we get an IndyCar driver in Norway, it’s going to blow up definitely more.”

And Hauger desperately wants to be that driver.

He put in tireless work over the winter to be as prepared as possible for his new venture. And it was new in every sense; a new country, a new car and an entire schedule of unfamiliar tracks.

“I’ve put down a lot of work just to be prepared for it,” Hauger details. “A lot of training, a lot of videos… I’ve spent I don’t even know how many hours watching videos of all the tracks. So before I even got over here, I knew all the tracks by heart, what happened in that year.

“But obviously it’s a different story when you get on track; you need to do the job and you need to be on top of things straight away. It’s felt pretty good but, for sure, a lot of hard preparations with the team.

“And it’s been going really well so far with my engineer Andy - he’s a clever guy and we do a lot of data work together. So that’s been a part of the reason for me also coming into it so naturally.”

From the outset, the transition has appeared seamless. Hauger led his first-ever official session in the Indy NXT car on the IMS road course last October and has harnessed that momentum ever since.

He came out of the blocks on his debut weekend in St. Petersburg and led opening practice by over half-a-second on a challenging street circuit on which he had no experience.

That was backed up in qualifying, where he fronted his group by, once again, over half-a-second ahead of last year’s third-place championship finisher Caio Collet. Despite being in the less-favoured first group, he still took pole on debut ahead of Group 2 leader, fellow rookie and teammate Lochie Hughes.

Sunday’s race was punctuated by four cautions, including one which ended the race under yellow, but Hauger marshalled each restart with poise and controlled the race to ominously win in lights-to-flag fashion on his first attempt.

“I feel like the car has come quite naturally to me,” he says. “The driving style suits me quite well. I don’t think it really did that in F2 so I was always a bit on the back foot there, struggling to really make it natural and go to the track and have that speed straight away.

“When it clicked in F3, like here, I just had the pace straight away and we became champions. So it feels pretty good: the car, everything, how it works and how the team is working to get me up to speed. At the moment, I’m just having a good time and working hard to try and maximise what I can control.”

Hauger is remaining grounded after only a single race so far this season. Indy NXT returns this coming weekend at Barber Motorsports Park after an over-two-month break.

But he is already confident that he has made the right choice for his career.

“In the end, you still need to do the job,” Hauger says. “You still need to win. So there’s always a risk. But I felt confident. I’m really happy I made that choice. I’m enjoying my time over here a lot with the team and feeling at home so far.”

There are many more challenges to come. Hauger will have to contest four oval races - a completely new discipline for him - later in the season.

But he has already participated in his maiden oval test at Nashville Superspeedway at the start of April, where he continued the trend of his rapid adaptation to Indy NXT by topping the speed charts.

“It’s very different,” he admits. “But it felt pretty natural. The pace was more or less there straight away in qualifying simulations. But the biggest thing for me is just getting the confidence to push straight away when we get on track.

“The racing, it’s a different way of fighting. You have to use the dirty air, slipstream and try to keep the momentum; if you lose momentum, it’s so easy to lose a lot of positions lap after lap. So that’s a bit of a different way of thinking about the racing.

“But I think it will come quickly. It’s just about building the experience. The pace was there. It’s just about transferring that to the race week.”

After his lightning-fast start to the season, the expectation is now that Hauger should be winning the championship. But even heading into his debut campaign in Indy NXT, that was his target anyway.

“Because we don’t know how the budget is going to be next year, the goal was to come here and try to win it in the first season,” he concedes. “That was definitely not an easy task even to think about. There’s a high level this year, and with new tracks, new car and new tyres, it’s all very different.

“But that was the plan. That was the goal, to win. I didn’t think we would be on it straight away in St. Pete like we were. But that shows the work we put in comes to pay.”