Lochie Hughes
Australian racing driver
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lachlan "Lochie" Hughes (born 15 March 2002) is an Australian racing driver who currently competes in Indy NXT for Andretti Global. He is also a reserve driver for Andretti in IndyCar.
Australian15 March 2002
| Lochie Hughes | |
|---|---|
Hughes at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 2024 | |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Born | Lachlan Hughes 15 March 2002 Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia |
| Indy NXT career | |
| Debut season | 2025 |
| Current team | Andretti Global |
| Racing licence |  FIA Silver |
| Car number | 26 |
| Starts | 14 |
| Wins | 2 |
| Podiums | 8 |
| Poles | 2 |
| Fastest laps | 2 |
| Best finish | 3rd in 2025 |
| Previous series | |
| 2024 2022–23 2022 2018–19 | USF Pro 2000 Championship USF2000 Championship Formula 4 United States Championship Australian Formula 4 Championship |
| Championship titles | |
| 2024 2022 | USF Pro 2000 Championship Formula 4 United States Championship |
| Awards | |
| 2018 Motorsport Australia Young Driver of the Year | |
Hughes made his American open-wheel debut in 2022, winning the 2022 Formula 4 United States Championship for Jay Howard Driver Development. He then finished third in the 2023 USF2000 Championship and won the 2024 USF Pro 2000 Championship. In his debut Indy NXT season in 2025, he finished third.
Career
Karting
Hughes would have success in karting, finishing second in both the Florida Winter Tour, the WSK Gold cup and the Australian Kart Championship in 2014, 2015 and 2017 respectively.[citation needed]
Australian Formula 4 Championship
2018
In 2018, Hughes would make his car racing debut in the Australian Formula 4 Championship driving for Team BRM.[1] He would get his maiden win in the series at Winton Motor Raceway. Hughes would finish the season fifth in the standings and rookie champion.[citation needed]
2019
Hughes would return to the series in 2019 once again driving for Team BRM.[2] He would get three wins, two poles, and eleven podiums during the season to finish second behind champion Luis Leeds.[citation needed]
Formula 4 United States Championship
After not racing in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Hughes would move to the United States to compete in the 2022 Formula 4 United States Championship driving for Jay Howard Driver Development.[3] He would start off the season with a win in the first race at NOLA Motorsports Park.[4] At the New Jersey Motorsports Park round, Hughes would take pole position, and won all three races on-track, however, a penalty in race one for jumping the start meant that his win would be taken away.[5] Hughes would clinch the championship at the final round at Circuit of the Americas taking two wins to cap off the season.[6] He would finish the season with six wins, two poles, and ten podiums.[7]
USF2000 Championship
2022
Hughes would make his debut in the USF2000 Championship in 2022 with Jay Howard Driver Development at the Mid-Ohio round.[8] Finishing second in his first ever race later to be disqualified for a technical infringement.[citation needed]
2023
On 6 October 2022, it was announced that Hughes would stay with Jay Howard Driver Development and make the jump up to the USF2000 Championship full-time in 2023.[9] At the opening round at St. Petersburg, Hughes would beat competitor Nikita Johnson to pole position by just eight hundredths of a second.[10] He would manage to convert pole to victory, getting his maiden win of the season.[11]
USF Pro 2000 Championship
2024
Hughes made his debut in the 2024 season racing with Turn 3 Motorsport.[12] Claiming five wins, four pole positions and eleven podiums, Hughes won the title at the season finale at Portland ahead of Nikita Johnson.[13]
Indy NXT
2025
In October 2024, Hughes graduated to the championship for the 2025 season with Andretti Global.[14] In the opening race of the season at St. Petersburg, he would qualify second behind his teammate Dennis Hauger. Hughes would convert his qualifying result in the race, finishing on the podium in second.[15] He would score another podium in the second round at Barber, finishing third behind debutant Evagoras Papasavvas and Hauger. For the third round of the season at Indianapolis, Hughes qualified on pole for both Indy GP races, ahead of teammate and championship leader Hauger.[16] He would have a dominant performance in race one, leading from the start, and going on to score his maiden win in the series.[17][18] Hughes would close down the gap to Hauger by thirty points to just three points following Hauger's finish of eighth.
2026
Hughes returned with Andretti for the 2026 season.[19]
IndyCar
Alongside his Indy NXT campaign, Hughes will also serve as the reserve driver for Andretti in IndyCar for 2026.[20]
Karting record
Karting career summary
| Season | Series | Team | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Florida Winter Tour – Rotax Mini Max | Praga North America | 11th |
| Florida Winter Tour – Kart Formula TaG Cadet | IPKarting Australia | 2nd | |
| ROK Cup International Final – Mini ROK | Praga Kart Racing | 14th | |
| WSK Final Cup — 60 Mini | 16th | ||
| 2015 | WSK Night Edition — 60 Mini | Birel ART | 7th |
| WSK Gold Cup — 60 Mini | 2nd | ||
| South Garda Winter Cup – Mini ROK | 6th | ||
| 2016 | CIK-FIA European Championship — OK Junior | 52nd | |
| WSK Night Edition — OKJ | Novalux Srl | 12th | |
| Australian Kart Championship – KA2 | 4th | ||
| Italian Championship — OKJ | 13th | ||
| 2017 | Australian Kart Championship – KA2 | 2nd | |
| Race Of Stars | Birel ART | 1st |
Racing record
Racing career summary
| Season | Series | Team | Races | Wins | Poles | F/Laps | Podiums | Points | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Australian Formula 4 Championship | Team BRM | 21 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 224 | 5th |
| 2019 | Australian Formula 4 Championship | Team BRM | 18 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 266 | 2nd |
| 2022 | YACademy Winter Series | Jay Howard Driver Development | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC† |
| Formula 4 United States Championship | 18 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 10 | 277 | 1st | ||
| USF2000 Championship | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 28th | ||
| 2023 | USF2000 Championship | Jay Howard Driver Development | 18 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 335 | 3rd |
| 2024 | USF Pro 2000 Championship | Turn 3 Motorsport | 18 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 11 | 395 | 1st |
| 2025 | Indy NXT | Andretti Global | 14 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 466 | 3rd |
| 2026 | Indy NXT | Andretti Global | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 60* | 4th* |
| IndyCar Series | Reserve driver | ||||||||
* Season still in progress.
† As Hughes was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points.
Complete Australian Formula 4 Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Team BRM | SYM 1 5 |
SYM 2 4 |
SYM 3 7 |
PHI 1 5 |
PHI 2 5 |
PHI 3 5 |
QLD 1 5 |
QLD 2 5 |
QLD 3 6 |
WIN1 1 4 |
WIN1 2 1 |
WIN1 3 5 |
WIN2 1 4 |
WIN2 2 Ret |
WIN2 3 5 |
SYD 1 4 |
SYD 2 5 |
SYD 3 4 |
PUK 1 5 |
PUK 2 3 |
PUK 3 5 |
5th | 224 |
| 2019 | Team BRM | MEL 1 3 |
MEL 2 5 |
MEL 3 4 |
SYD 1 2 |
SYD 2 Ret |
SYD 3 2 |
PHI1 1 4 |
PHI1 2 1 |
PHI1 3 DNS |
PHI2 1 2 |
PHI2 2 6 |
PHI2 3 3 |
BEN1 1 4 |
BEN1 2 1 |
BEN1 3 2 |
BEN2 1 1 |
BEN2 2 3 |
BEN2 3 2 |
2nd | 266 | |||
Complete Formula 4 United States Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
American open-wheel racing results
USF2000 Championship
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) (Races with * indicate most race laps led)
| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | Rank | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Jay Howard Driver Development | STP 1 |
STP 2 |
ALA 1 |
ALA 2 |
IMS 1 |
IMS 2 |
IMS 3 |
IRP | ROA 1 |
ROA 2 |
MOH 1 DSQ |
MOH 2 18 |
MOH 3 4 |
TOR 1 |
TOR 2 |
POR 1 |
POR 2 |
POR 3 |
28th | 22 |
| 2023 | Jay Howard Driver Development | STP 1 1* |
STP 2 3 |
SEB 1 1* |
SEB 1 4 |
IMS 1 2 |
IMS 2 2 |
IMS 3 1* |
IRP 6 |
ROA 1 12 |
ROA 2 1* |
MOH 1 4 |
MOH 2 19 |
MOH 3 22 |
TOR 1 15 |
TOR 2 3 |
POR 1 5 |
POR 2 13 |
POR 3 10 |
3rd | 335 |
USF Pro 2000 Championship
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) (Races with * indicate most race laps led)
Indy NXT
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) (Races with L indicate a race lap led) (Races with * indicate most race laps led)