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<strong>IndyCar Classic:</strong> Herta takes historic win at COTA

IndyCar Classic: Herta takes historic win at COTA

Published on 24 Mar 2019 20:44
2
By: Fergal Walsh

Colton Herta has become the youngest winner in IndyCar history after taking the win at the Circuit of the Americas.

The 18-year-old crossed the line ahead of Josef Newgarden, who held off fellow former champion Ryan Hunter-Reay for second place.

Herta claimed the lead after a yellow was thrown out with just over 15 laps to go. The American had just pitted prior to the caution, with then leader Will Power still to pit.

Power, who started the race from pole position and led every lap of the race up to that point, suffered a mechanical problem during his scheduled final stop of the race, which put him out.

Herta was in the fight against Power and Alexander Rossi for much of the race, but dropped off the pace before the yellow.

The incident that caused the yellow involved Felix Rosenqvist and James Hinchcliffe, as the two came together at the exit of Turn 19, which sent Rosenqvist into the barrier.

Graham Rahal took his best result since the opening round of the 2018 season, crossing the line in fourth. Despite having little push-to-pass in the final laps, he held off Sebastian Bourdais, who fought his way up from the back after a disappointing qualifying.

Marco Andretti was sixth, leading Takuma Sato and Patricio O'Ward, who displayed good spirit in his first race of 2019.

Alexander Rossi, who was caught out by the late yellow, ended the race in third place. He had a scrap with Simon Pagenaud in the latter stages, which sent the Frenchman towards the back of the finishing runners.

Jack Harvey scored a consecutive P10 finish, which remains his highest result in the NTT IndyCar series.

It was a messy race for Andretti's Zach Veach who suffered an off on the opening lap. Later on in the race, he also hit Scott Dixon's left rear tyre when pulling out of the slipstream on the run into Turn 1.

Chip Ganassi Racing had a tough day, as Dixon couldn't compete with the leaders after struggling throughout the weekend. He ended the race in P13 ahead of Ed Jones and the Schmidt Peterson Motorsport duo of Marcus Ericsson and Hinchcliffe.

POS	DRIVER	TEAM	GAP
1.	Colton Herta	Harding Steinbrenner Racing	-
2.	Josef Newgarden	Team Penske	+ 2.7182
3.	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti Autosport	+ 3.2311
4.	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan	+ 8.0612
5.	Sebastien Bourdais	Dale Coyne Racing	+ 15.4015
6.	Marco Andretti	Andretti Autosport	+ 19.8494
7.	Takuma Sato	Rahal Letterman Lanigan	+ 22.1467
8.	Patricio O'Ward	Carlin	+ 23.2628
9.	Alexander Rossi	Andretti Autosport	+ 23.5279
10.	Jack Harvey	Meyer Shank Racing	+ 23.9532
11.	Spencer Pigot	Ed Carpenter Racing	+ 24.3838
12.	Tony Kanaan	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	+ 27.0568
13.	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	+ 31.0677
14.	Ed Jones	Ed Carpenter Racing	+ 35.6602
15.	Marcus Ericsson	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	+ 36.2308
16.	James Hinchcliffe	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	+ 36.7699
17.	Matheus Leist	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	+ 39.2619
18.	Kyle Kaiser	Juncos Racing	+ 46.2357
19.	Simon Pagenaud	Team Penske	+ 55.0378
20.	Santino Ferrucci	Dale Coyne Racing	+ 1:53.6876
21.	Max Chilton	Carlin	+ 1 Lap
22.	Zach Veach	Andretti Autosport	+ 2 Laps
23.	Felix Rosenqvist	Chip Ganassi Racing	+ 5 Laps
24.	Will Power	Team Penske	Mechanical

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Replies (2)

Ram Samartha

Posts: 1,172
Just finished watching the recording. Some good racing. They drive pretty impressively considering there's no power steering in those cars. Herta was basically gifted the race because of the no pitting under yellow rule in Indycar and Power's dnf. I was looking forward to a good fight at the end. It should of been Rossi on the top step. He got robbed.
- + 0
- Mar 25 2019 - 03:43
- Fergal Walsh
  
  Posts: 46
  It was a fun race. Herta drove fantastically all race, maybe over-did his second last stint, but nevertheless a worthy winner and a champion of the future.
  + 0
  
  Mar 25 2019 - 09:43