THE MODERATOR: We'll go ahead and get started as we wrap up INDY NXT by Firestone Grand Prix at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
Here this morning, Dennis Hauger is on his way up. He will join us here momentarily after another win this season.
Caio Collet, driver of the No. 76 for HMD Motorsports, his third runner-up finish of the season, sixth podium of the year, 12th career podium.
And Lochie Hughes also joins us for Andretti Global, driver of the No. 26 McGinley Clinic, USF Pro Championship machine with the seventh podium of the season and third straight.
Caio, let's start with you. It's a difficult track. There's no break out there, is it, for you?
CAIO COLLET: Yeah, it's a tough track to overtake. At the beginning of the race, I thought I could get him at the end. I think he was struggling a bit more than me, but all of a sudden he just started pushing a little bit more, and then the gap was increasing and increasing.
I think towards the end I was able to match his fastest lap, but still I think on average pace he was just a little bit quicker than us today. Also yesterday, I think we missed a little bit on qualifying.
Overall, like okay. I'm happy to be here, but obviously we are all here to win. It's a little bit frustrating.
THE MODERATOR: For sure. Sitting through that delay, which is about 25 minutes or so roughly, how difficult is that to get back in the car and get going again and that sort of thing?
CAIO COLLET: You just need to reset your mindset. Obviously you have the race going, and then everyone was okay. It's easier to go on track, and then once you're in the car, you go back to the racing mindset and start back again.
It's good to go to the bathroom, relax a little bit, and come back out.
THE MODERATOR: Lochie, congratulations, another podium for you. This is your first year in INDY NXT by Firestone, coming home third. Passing difficult too. It's a tough track anyway. It's relentless. There's no time to really breathe, and passing is difficult as well.
LOCHIE HUGHES: Yeah, it was tricky. I actually felt better before the red flag. It just seemed like -- Caio and Dennis seemed like they were struggling a little bit to get to the high temp, and honestly it felt pretty good.
Then yeah, on the restart, for most of the race, I felt like I was following Caio the whole time and would get a lot of air while under steer through turn 1 just following him and then repeated that over and over again. Would fall back, catch up a little bit.
Yeah, then at the end, once I knew kind of I wasn't going to get Caio, was just kind of trying to bring it home, make no mistakes. For some reason, my back started hurting as well. I was really happy to see the checkered flag.
THE MODERATOR: Obviously a very good day for the race team as well for you guys.
LOCHIE HUGHES: Yeah, it's a good day for the race team, which is always good. I prefer it when it's a good day for me, but that's every driver.
Another podium for the year. Caio won this race last year, so to be following him the whole race shows how competitive it is this year.
Q. For Lochie, kind of now that you're in the back half of the season, what do you think are some of the things that you've taken away from this first half or some of the things that you've learned kind of now that you're seven, eight races into this NXT car?
LOCHIE HUGHES: It's just constantly learning. Actually, sometimes coming to some of these tracks that I've driven in the little cars, it was almost harder sometimes. You're so used to the way you drive it with your feet and everything, and you get in these heavy cars, and you don't drive it like that. It just takes a little bit to kind of get used to that.
Yeah, I feel like we're always there just -- yeah, just need that slight bit more. I found something in qualifying yesterday, which Dennis does, which kind of helps him in qualifying but not so much the races.
Yeah, hopefully I can start doing that kind of stuff. But that's just learning bigger cars and where you're going at the time and everything.
Q. Then Caio, coming off the win last year, P2 this year, some strong results at Mid-Ohio, what do you think it is about this track that allows you to run up front?
CAIO COLLET: It's a track that I enjoy driving. The team did really well here in the past. Obviously the win last year was really good. You have to have a really good car here. It's a really nice and flowing track from turn 4 until the line. So it's very enjoyable to drive. And also turn 1, a very high speed. I always enjoy to drive in a high speed car. It's just a track that I like to drive like Road America.
THE MODERATOR: One more question to wrap up for both of you. This is the beauty of this series. You come from a road course like this, and we're going to be on a quick oval in a couple days. Your thoughts about heading to Iowa? First Caio and then Lochie after that.
CAIO COLLET: We had a test there, but I think we were surprisingly too quick. I think the series is trying to slow us down a little bit, so we'll see how the rules play out next weekend.
We're looking forward to go back in an oval. We had a really good race last time out in Gateway, very exciting for all the fans. I think for me not so much in the last 15 laps. It's always fun to watch, and hopefully we can put on a good show again.
THE MODERATOR: Lochie, looking forward to Iowa?
LOCHIE HUGHES: Yeah, it should be good. Don't know what to expect after the test, and now they're kind of going to slow us down. I think the top five or eight of us at the test were quick enough to qualify for an INDYCAR race. So that would be cool. They should just let us race.
Yeah, looking forward to it. It's obviously a bit of a different oval to St. Louis. Interesting schedule coming up the rest of the year, ovals and the races on the West Coast. Yeah, looking forward to it.
THE MODERATOR: Find someplace to cool off. Thanks for coming up.
Again, that's Caio Collet and Lochie Hughes. Dennis Hauger will join us here momentarily.
Wrapping up today's INDY NXT by Firestone Grand Prix at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course with today's champion Dennis Hauger, who led all 33 laps today, driver of the No. 28 Nammo machine for Andretti Global. Fifth win this season, sixth podium in eight races, also handing Andretti Global throughout their prestigious history their 300th all time win. A lot of history made here today. Your thoughts on another win?
DENNIS HAUGER: First of all, sorry for forgetting.
It was an awesome day. Great car out there. We really nailed the balance today, which was nice. After Road America, a bit of a struggle there, and we just really put things together this weekend.
And to be a part of Andretti's 300th win and be a part of their history is really cool. So it was just a really great day, a good day for a championship. It's always nice to get a win.
THE MODERATOR: Really had to work the car through the weekend, right? I don't know if you guys were quickest out of the box on Friday, but here you are in Victory Lane with another win. A lot of hard work went into this, right?
DENNIS HAUGER: Yeah, we were P2 in practice 1 and 2. We knew we had the pace; it was just about tuning things and putting things together for qualifying. So we did that. We got a good lap in and got the pole.
Today we sort of tried to predict the balance and the track. It sort of changed a lot throughout the weekend. I'm really happy we sort of went in the right direction there and got that win. Yeah, it was a nice, clean race.
THE MODERATOR: Outside of the 25-minute wait there after the first opening laps, how difficult was it back in the car to try to get back into a rhythm and that sort of thing?
DENNIS HAUGER: Not too bad. Sort of just going up, checking with the engineer, going through a few things. It was not the easiest first few laps for me, but once we sort of got into a rhythm, it was pretty good.
It was kind of nice in the restart. I knew what I had to do to be let up more quickly. From then on, it was just about managing and trying to keep it clean.
Q. Dennis, it's your first time obviously around Mid-Ohio for race weekend. Kind of what did you take away from this track? I know you can't let your guard down and a lot of fast corners. What was kind of your impression on this circuit?
DENNIS HAUGER: I really enjoy this track. It's a unique place. Really technical and flowy, and sort of if you do one mistake in one corner, it sort of costs you throughout the corners that follow.
It was a really cool experience coming here for the first time on the race weekend. Yeah, it went pretty well, so it makes it even more enjoyable.
Q. Obviously a big camping presence, a lot of people out here are camping this weekend. Is this kind of a unique thing to see, or kind of when you're back home in Scandinavia at some of those tracks, like do they camp like they do out here at Mid-Ohio?
DENNIS HAUGER: For sure not. This race is so cool, 4th of July weekend as well, first time for me in the U.S. So seeing the fireworks, we had a barbecue before the race week with some of the guys from the team. The buildup to the weekend was really cool, so it was really enjoyable.
THE MODERATOR: 300 wins for this organization, and you know a lot of the big names that have won races for this too. What does it mean to be a part of something like that?
DENNIS HAUGER: It's so cool. It really shows the success Andretti has had in the younger races as well, not just in INDYCAR. It's such a big team with so much history. To get that 300th win -- we were close in Road America. I knew it was the 300th win on the table there as well, but we got it this weekend. So really proud to be a part of that.
THE MODERATOR: This is the beauty of this series. From a big road course like this to a fast oval coming up in a couple days in Iowa. Just your thoughts on getting back in the oval?
DENNIS HAUGER: There's definitely room for improvement in Gateway. Obviously qualifying was good, we got the pole. It's just such a different way of racing when we go into the races on an oval.
I feel like we had a test in Milwaukee after that, and I feel like I got a bit more rhythm into it, understood a bit more how to race. So hopefully we can put that into work next week and have a good one there as well.
THE MODERATOR: We'll see you in a couple days. Thanks for coming up.
That's Dennis Hauger, our champion at INDY NXT by Firestone Grand Prix at Mid-Ohio.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports