Tag: Colton Herta

Herta Leads Practice 2; Goes for 3 Straight Poles

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Colton Herta lowered the best lap of the weekend to 1:00.5657 to lead the morning practice before qualifying. Herta edged Andretti teammate Kyle Kirkwood by0.0315 seconds. Kirkwood led Friday’s practice as Andretti continues to assert itsel=f on street courses.

When qualifying begibns at 2:50 eastern time this afternoon, Herta will attempt to win his third consecutive pole position.

Felix Rosenqvist brought out the first red flag of the weekend when hit the wall in turn 5 with just a little more than seven minutes to go.

Cars returned to the track to run out the time, but no one got in a clean lap.

Tom Blomqvist improved one second from yesterday.

Qualifying Groups will be up in a bit.

The top 6:

  1. Herta 1:00.5657
  1. Kirkwood 1:00.5972-sec
  2. Ericsson 1:00.6350-sec
  3. Palou 1:00.6802-sec
  4. O’Ward 1:00.7954-sec
  5. Lundgaard 1:00.7366-sec

Herta Edges Rahal for Mid Ohio Pole

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Colton Herta will start the Honda Indy 200 from the pole tomorrow. He narrowly beat out Graham Rahal on his final lap as time ran out.

Colton Herta

Herta decided to go with blacks on his final run, and he nipped Rahal by 0.0432 seconds. The pole is Herta’s second in a rpw as the year of streaks continues. A;ex Palou has won two races in a row going into tomorrow.

Honda Lockout

All six cars in the Firestone Fast Six had Honda power, an unusual happening in this age of competitiveness. Rahal explained that Mid Ohio is an important race for Honda, and they put a lot of effort into this event.

RLL’s Best Day

The Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team put all three cars into the second round, and two afvanced to the Fast Six. Jack Harvey will have his second best start of the season rolling off 11th tomorrow.

Graham Rahal

Christian Lundgaard will start fifth. Rahal, in second, has his best starting spot of the year.

2023 has been a struggle for RLL, but there havs been slow improvement. Today the3y showeed that they are capable of competing.

Arrow McLaren Stumbles

Once again, Arrow Mcaren missed an oppoprtunity to start up front and finally get a win this year.

Pato O’Ward, fastest in Friday practice, ended up off track in round one and will start 25th.

Felix Rosenqvist starts 10th, and Alexander Rossi lines up 13th.

Today’s qualifying was exactly what Indycar qualifying should be. There was a lot of drama and fierce battling to advance.The Fast Six was arguably the best qualifying round of the season. Anyone in the final round coukld have been on pole.

The Starting Lineup

Herta Takes Pole on a Dusty Smoky Day

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There was dust. There was smoke. Five cars, incuding Colton Herta ,lost laps in qualifying. In the end, Herta survived to win his first pole of the season. It was the fourth pole in eight races for Andretti Autosport.

Herta had three off track excursions today. Two were in the morning practice, includin sending a Weather Tech sign to an untimely death.

He spun in qualifying, losing his fastest lap in round 2, yet still advancing to the Fast Six. His teammate Kyle Kirkwood was not as fortunate. On the last lap of round 2, kirkwood had secured a spot in the Fast Six, only to have his engine let go on the backstretch. The car stopped after the checkered flag came out, avoiding a penalty. Still kirkwood had another superb qualifying effort ruined by misfortune. This time it wasn’t his fault, but other than winning the pole at Long Beach, his luck after advancing has been abysmal.

Herta siad, “This place with the repave is not easy. To have a car that was stable enough to really attack in that last Fast Six was impressive. It’s been way too long this year for us to get a pole, so it’s nice to finally get one.”

From earlier:

Rossi Stays on Top

https://thepitwindow.blog/2023/06/17/rossi-stays-on-top-says-car-has-more-left/

Speaking of abysmal, Will Power would love to turn the clock back and start this day again. Power was involved in a crash near the endof practice with Scott Dixon, who moved in front of Power to avoid Romain Grosjean. Power angrily got out ofm his car and confronted Dixon, even givng him a shove. Before getting to Dixon he gave the Loudon salute..

Neither repaired car was up to qalifying. Power will start 22nd and Dixon 23rd. Power’s attempt to advance ended with a wild ride off track min turn 2.

Pato O’Ward will start second, just 0.17 seconds behnd Herta.

Some Positives

The day was not all bad. A. J. Foyt Racing advanced both cars to the second round for the first time since St. Pete in 2018. Benjamin Pedersen will star 10th and Santino Ferrucci lines up 11th tomorrow.

Marcus Armstrong starts eighth. The fourth ganassi driver has been getting closer to a Fast Six appearance each time out. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him in the final round at Mid Ohio or Toronto.

Christian Lundgaard just missed the last round and will start seventh. Lundgaard has been carrying the RLL team in qualifying this year.

Notes

Eight races into the season and Team Penske has yet to win a pole. The team has won three races. It’s the first year in some time Ithta I can remeber when Penske drivers have not won the majority of the races.

Alexander Rossi fell to fifth after leading both practice sessions. David Malukas, strong in the two practices, failed toadvance and will start 13th.

Points leader Alex Palou recovered froma morning spin into the turn 14 tire barriers and will start third. Tomorrow will be Palou’s sixth straight top four start. Texas was the last time Palou started outside the second row. He has not started lower than seventh in 2023.

Herta Leads Practice 2; Qualifying Groups Set

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Colton Herta led the final practice before qualifying for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Herta’s time of 1:00.0779 was 0.0.0742 seconds ahead of defending pole and race winner Scott McLaughlin. Rinus VeeKay was third and Kyle Kirkwood fourth.

The top 14:

Qualifying Groups

Group 1 Group 2

McLaughlin Herta

Kirkwood VeeKay

Ericsson Palou

Rosenqvist Grosjean

O’Ward Rossi

Harvey Malukas

Lundgaard Dixon

Castroneves Newgarden

Pagenaud Daly

Armstrong Power

Canapino Ilott

Ferrucci Rahal

Robb Pedersen

DeFrancesco

Notes

The light blue nimbers on the Arrow McLaren cars look great when the cars are standing still, but they are hard to see at speed in the bright sunlight.

Mark MIles said attendance for the race weekend is approaching an other record attendance.

Qualifying begins at 2:15 pm Eastern on Peacock

Herta Sweeps Day 1 as Times Drop in Session 2

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Colton Herta posted the fast time in the afternoon session of Indycar’s open test in California. His teammate Kyle Kirkwood, second in the morning round, did not participate in the second session. The team was replacing the clutch on the 27 Auto Nation Honda.

13 cars cracked the 100 second mark.

The results:

Tomorrow’s schedule is similar to today’s. Session 3 begins at noon Eastern time.

Herta Quickest in Session 1

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Photo from @FollowAndretti

Colton Herta led an Andretti 1-2 in the opening test session of 2023 at The Thermal Club near Palm Springs, California. Kyle Kirkwood was second in his Andretti Autosport debut Herta had the only lap under one minute,forty seconds.

From photos and videos I have seen, the track looks beautiful and the mountain backdrop provides a spectacular setting.

The results:

Session 2 began at 4:30 Eastern time and runs until 7:30.

The 2023 Grid- Clearer and Murkier

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Photo: Devlin Defrancesco at Long Beach

Just when you thought Silly Season was over, the NTT Indycar Series grid for 2023 became both clearer and cloudier in the last week.

Devlin DeFrancesco will stay in the 29 car for Andretti Autosport in 2023. He has had a somewhat uneven season, but DeFrancesco has qualified well in several of recent races. He started ninth at Gateway

Colton Herta

Formula 1 rumors have again risen around Colton Herta. Red Bull has made inquiries about his filling one of the Alpha Tauri seats which may soon be vacant. Herta is still shy of the required 40 points for an F1 super license. My guess is he is back in the 26 for one more year. Herta would likely be a reserve driver in F1 in 2023.

The Newest Hottest Driver

I thought it was a foregone conclusion that David Malukas would be back with dale Coyne Racing next year. The rookie has begun to get notice from other teams, and his second place at gateway two weeks ago really cranked up the free agent buzz.

David Malukas

There seems to be great interest from Chip Ganassi Racing, which could have as many as two openings in 2023, depending on the Alex Palou situation with McLaren, and whether Jimmie Johnson returns with Carvana.

This puzzle may not be resolved for awhile. My fear is that Malukas may end up the odd man out. That would be a huge mistake for the series.

Where Do Indy Lights Drivers Fit?

Linus Lundqvist will most likely win the Indy lights championship and have three Indycar races, including the Indianapolis 500, guaranteed. If Malukas moves to Ganassi, could Lundqvist move into the seat at Coyne?

Matthew Brabham and Hunter McElrea are also seeking Indycar rides. Ernie Francis, Jr. may also be looking to move up, at least for the 500.

Indycar in2023 will have the usual problem of too many drivers seeking too few seats. The grid is expected to expand next season, but the driver situation will only improve when the elusive third OEM appears.

Herta Takes Toronto Pole

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Colton Herta Photo by Chris Owens, Indycar

The streak is over. Coming into Toronto this weekend, the NTT Indycar series had seen nine different pole winners in its nine races. A different pole winner today would have tied a record set in 1952. But Colton Herta won his second pole of the season in a wild qualifying session that saw several pole contenders eliminated early due to a red flag.

The first group in round 1 had a smooth run. In group 2 things got a bit crazy. Devlin DeFrancesco overshot turn 3 and went nose first into the tires. The other cars were on an out lap, so DeFrancesco was not penalized. While he was extricating himself, Alex Palou’s car stopped on track, causing a red flag.

Drivers scrambled to get their best laps in the short time remaining. Kyle Kirkwood was on pace to solidly advance, but he clipped the wall in turn 6 and spun just before pit entrance in turn , bringing out a red flag. The drivers behind Kirkwood did not get to complete their laps. Will Power, Graham Rahal, and Simon Pagenaud, who all looked like pole contenders, missed the second round.

The round of 12 included four rookies- Callum Ilott, David Malukas, Christian Lundgaard, and Devlin DeFrancesco. Malukas would advance to the fast Six. he was the only driver in the final round who could keep the pole streak alive.

Indycar photo by Chris Owens

Josef Newgarden set the fastest time with less than a minute to go, then pitted and waited. Herta and Scott Dixon were both on a pace to beat Newgarden’s time. Herta edged Newgarden by 0.25 seconds. Dixon was faster than Newgarden but fell short of Herta by 0. 089 seconds. Herta earned his ninth career pole.

Notes

Points leader Marcus Ericsson will start ninth.

Callum Ilott just missed the fast Six and will start seventh.

David Malukas is in a good spot to pick up more ground on Christian Lundgaard in the Rookie of the Year battle. Lundgaard leads by 14 points. He starts 10th tomorrow.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing drivers Jack Harvey and Graham Rahal saw their competitive practice times go for naught with their 13th and 14th place staring spots. Rahal looked to be a pole contender.

Pato O’Ward has been slow all weekend. O’Ward needs a good result Sunday. He has averaged a 25th place finish the last two races.

Does Will Power have another come from behind run in him? Power will line up 16th tomorrow. It will be his third straight start of 15th or worse. Toronto is a difficult track to make up ground.

Results

Herta Paces Morning Practice

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Colton Herta turned the quickest lap in his morning’s pre qualifying practice session and will lead group 2 in round 1 this afternoon at 2 PM.

The start of practice was delayed 33 minutes because of incidents in support series. In Indy Pro 2000 qualifying, a car spun at the entrance to pit lane and dislodged the tire barrier. In the Porsche Cup qualifying session two cars collided and had hard contact with the wall and tires, moving the wall out of place and severing a camera cable.

There were problems for a few title contenders and several incidents of wall contact. Only two incidents resulted in red flags.

Alex Palou made contact and suffered damage to the left front suspension. he limped into the pits as action continued. Josef Newgarden noticed an oil pressure light on his dash and came into the pits. The car did not return to the track. An engine change might be coming before qualifying.

Romain Grosjean brought out the first red flag after heavy right rear wall contact. He slowly rolled back to the pits with the wheel close to separating from the car. With less than a minute remaining in the session, Takuma Sato had the hardest hit of the day. The car suffered heavy left side damage.

We will probably see some laps under one minute in qualifying on the red tires.

Qualifying begins at 2 PM, and several teams have a lot of work to do.

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