Testing report
IndyCar Grand Prix of Indianapolis
Herta tops Honda test on IMS road course
Harding Steinbrenner Racing’s rookie Colton Herta led the 14-car manufacturer test for Honda on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course, beating reigning champion Scott Dixon.
David Malsher-Lopez
Edited: Apr 29, 2019, 10:23 PM
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On his 26th of 60 laps, in an eight-hour test, Herta lapped the 2.439-mile road course in 69.5283sec. This compares well with last year’s pole time from Team Penske-Chevrolet’s Will Power of 69.8182sec, especially given that Herta was running primary Firestones, while Power’s pole was set on alternate compound rubber.
Herta’s top time on a track where he won both Indy Lights races last year, was one-tenth of a second faster than the top Ganassi car, that of reigning champion Scott Dixon, who finished second in last year’s IndyCar Grand Prix.
His Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Felix Rosenqvist spun and beached his car at Turn 4 with an hour to go, causing the session to be red-flagged for 10mins. Nonetheless, the rookie’s top time was just a half a tenth off that set by Dixon.
Jack Harvey, who took a pole and a win on this course while in Indy Lights, was fourth fastest for Meyer Shank Racing with SPM, just ahead of the fastest of the Andretti Autosport cars, that driven by Ryan Hunter-Reay.
The third of the rookies in the top half of the field was Marcus Ericsson, whose Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports car finished the test mere hundredths faster than Alexander Rossi (Andretti), Santino Ferrucci (Dale Coyne Racing) and James Hinchcliffe (Arrow SPM).
The sixth IndyCar Grand Prix on the IMS road course will be held on Saturday, May 11, and has been won by only Power (three times for Penske) and Simon Pagenaud (twice – once for Schmidt Peterson, once for Penske).
Pos Driver Team Fastest lap Total 1. Colton Herta Harding Steinbrenner Racing 69.5283sec 60 laps 2. Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing 69.6653sec 91 laps 3. Felix Rosenqvist Chip Ganassi Racing 69.7164sec 93 laps 4. Jack Harvey Meyer Shank Racing with SPM 69.7496sec 74 laps 5. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport 69.8900sec 74 laps 6. Marcus Ericsson Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports 70.0148sec 88 laps 7. Alexander Rossi Andretti Autosport 70.0272sec 71 laps 8. Santino Ferrucci Dale Coyne Racing 70.0547sec 64 laps 9. James Hinchcliffe Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports 70.0829sec 60 laps 10. Marco Andretti Andretti-Herta Autosport 70.1193sec 69 laps 11. Sebastien Bourdais Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan 70.1426sec 97 laps 12. Takuma Sato Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 70.1872sec 60 laps 13. Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 70.1977sec 60 laps 14. Zach Veach Andretti Autosport 70.4295sec 74 laps
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