Colton Herta won the inaugural IndyCar Classic at COTA in a stunning fashion, as the 2018 Indy Lights runner-up has now become the youngest race winner of the IndyCar series, at 18 years, 11 months and 25 days of age.
Bad luck struck both Will Power and Alexander Rossi, as the two led the whole field for most of the race right from the beginning. Will Power commanded the race, and looked certain to win until he stalled in the pits with 14 laps to go, and as a result, retired.
Race Report:
Race start was clean, as Will Power led comfortably from pole, with the rest following him. Alexander Rossi gained on the Australian, and attempted a daring but unsuccessful pass at turn 2, lap 3. The two drivers almost collided until Rossi lifted off the throttle.
Zach Veach was the first victim today, as he collided with Graham Rahal, which resulted in a broken suspension for the Andretti Autosport driver.
As the 1st round of pit-stops was initiated by Marcus Ericsson on lap 7, Will Power switched to the harder, black compound; while Alex Rossi got the softer, red compound on his car. Harding Racing was successful enough in undercutting Alex Rossi, which resulted in Colton Herta emerging ahead of the 2016 Indy 500 winner.
By this time, the trio of Power - Herta - Rossi, was followed by Newgarden and Ryan Hunter-Reay in 4th and 5th positions respectively.
However, Rossi managed to claw his way back into the 2nd position, when he overtook Herta on the back straight, on lap 22. Both Jack Harvey and James Hinchcliffe were next to pit, the duo got red and black compounds respectively. Amidst all the mayhem, reigning champion, Scott Dixon jumped into 5th position, 1 place up from his starting grid slot.
As the 2nd round of pits began, Colton Herta pitted, and so did Scott Dixon. Marcus Ericsson had moved in P5 by this point, and Ryan Hunter-Reay, who had pitted on lap 26, emerged behind the Swedish driver. Alex Rossi followed and came out of the pits, well ahead of Herta, while Power managed to retain his lead.
On lap 29, debutant Patricio O'Ward overtook a struggling James Hinchcliffe for P7. Three laps later, it was now Hunter-Reay's turn to overtake Schmidt Peterson Motorsports' drive, Marcus Ericsson for the 5th place.
By lap 37, Scott Dixon had successfully attempted to pass both 2018 Indy Lights Champion, O'Ward as well as Ericsson, as the Chip Ganassi driver moved up two places, into P6. On lap 44, James Hinchcliffe and Felix Rosenqvist came together at turn 20, with the Honda powered Chip Ganassi driver having his front nose cone ripped off, while Hinchcliffe suffered a front left punctured tire.
This carnage brought out a full caution period, with the trio of Power, Rossi and Dixon yet to pit. As the race progressed towards its finishing stages, the top 3 pitted for fresh rubber, as Herta and Newgarden had done a few laps earlier.
With 14 laps to go, Will Power, who by this point had led every single lap of the race, suddenly stalled in the pits. His pit crew made several attempts to get him going but to no avail. The 2018 Indy 500 winner had a miserable end, to a race, that he had commanded from pole.
The race witnessed its restart finally on lap 50, with Colton Herta now in lead, followed by Josef Newgarden, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Graham Rahal. Herta left no stone unturned in order to make sure, that he got the best out of the restart. As Herta then flew into the distance, Penske rival, Newgarden followed.
While everything now seemed to be going well towards the end of the race, Alex Rossi collided into the back of Simon Pagenuad. Scott Dixon also couldn't keep it all clean, and rubbed his Chip Ganassi against Zach Veach with 9 laps to go. As both Herta and Newgarden dueled for the top position, Herta made sure to use his remaining 38 seconds of push to pass, in order to stay in the lead.
Hence, Colton Herta crossed the checkered flag with a stunning victory, much to the delight of his Harding Steinbrenner Racing team. Previous race winner, Josef Newgarden finished 2nd, while Ryan Hunter-Reay, Graham Rahal and Sebastien Bourdais finished 3rd, 4th and 5th respectively.
Final race standings:
The Grand Prix of Alabama weekend will begin on April 5th and last until April 8th.
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