Herta on top again in Wednesday morning session


Colton Herta, the 2018 Indy Lights runner-up, went three-for-three in leading the IndyCar Spring Training session in the morning of Day 2.
The Harding Steinbrenner Racing-Honda left it until 13mins to go in the two-hour session before turning up the wick and lapping the 3.427-mile course in 1min46.6401sec.
That beat his semi-teammate, Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi, by 0.3731sec, and eclipsed the fastest Chevrolet entry – Simon Pagenaud’s Team Penske machine – by over half a second.
Scott Dixon was one of five spinners, along with Jack Harvey, Kyle Kaiser, James Hinchcliffe and Spencer Pigot, but the reigning champion went out soon after and nailed a 1min47.7899sec, barely edging the second Penske of 2017 champ Josef Newgarden.
Hinchcliffe was swiftly able to rejoin the fray following his spin, but the team then discovered a fluid leak and the car was returned to the garage, having only completed seven laps.
Harvey’s Meyer Shank Racing-Honda was sixth quickest ahead of Ryan Hunter-Reay and second fastest rookie, Felix Rosenqvist wheeling the second Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda.
Sebastien Bourdais bounced back from a disappointing Tuesday to grab P9 on his last flying lap in the Dale Coyne Racing-Honda, while Carlin’s RC Enerson made it three rookies in the top 10.
AJ Foyt Racing also had a better day, series sophomore Matheus Leist and Tony Kanaan clocking 15th and 17th fastest.
This afternoon’s session runs from 1pm until 5pm local (Central) time.
Testing times:
Pos. | No | Driver | Lap | Gap | Laps | Engine | Team |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 88 | Colton Herta | 1:46.640 | --.---- | 11 | Honda | Harding Steinbrenner Racing |
2 | 27 | Alexander Rossi | 1:47.013 | 0.3731 | 18 | Honda | Andretti Autosport |
3 | 22 | Simon Pagenaud | 1:47.212 | 0.5715 | 20 | Chevy | Team Penske |
4 | 9 | Scott Dixon | 1:47.790 | 1.1498 | 13 | Honda | Chip Ganassi Racing |
5 | 2 | Josef Newgarden | 1:47.814 | 1.1735 | 20 | Chevy | Team Penske |
6 | 60 | Jack Harvey | 1:47.889 | 1.2491 | 21 | Honda | Meyer Shank Racing |
7 | 28 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | 1:47.903 | 1.2630 | 17 | Honda | Andretti Autosport |
8 | 10 | Felix Rosenqvist | 1:47.984 | 1.3442 | 16 | Honda | Chip Ganassi Racing |
9 | 18 | Sebastien Bourdais | 1:48.017 | 1.3765 | 18 | Honda | Dale Coyne Racing |
10 | 23 | RC Enerson | 1:48.156 | 1.5160 | 21 | Chevy | Carlin |
11 | 3 | Helio Castroneves | 1:48.183 | 1.5424 | 17 | Chevy | Team Penske |
12 | 12 | Will Power | 1:48.207 | 1.5671 | 22 | Chevy | Team Penske |
13 | 15 | Graham Rahal | 1:48.379 | 1.7394 | 20 | Honda | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
14 | 26 | Zach Veach | 1:48.389 | 1.7490 | 20 | Honda | Andretti Autosport |
15 | 4 | Matheus Leist | 1:48.600 | 1.9594 | 26 | Chevy | AJ Foyt Enterprises |
16 | 98 | Marco Andretti | 1:48.610 | 1.9697 | 21 | Honda | Andretti Herta Autosport |
17 | 14 | Tony Kanaan | 1:48.651 | 2.0105 | 23 | Chevy | AJ Foyt Enterprises |
18 | 7 | Marcus Ericsson | 1:48.662 | 2.0222 | 14 | Honda | Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports |
19 | 59 | Max Chilton | 1:48.737 | 2.0967 | 16 | Chevy | Carlin |
20 | 21 | Spencer Pigot | 1:48.871 | 2.2309 | 11 | Chevy | Ed Carpenter Racing |
21 | 20 | Ed Jones | 1:48.963 | 2.3234 | 18 | Chevy | Ed Carpenter Racing |
22 | 32 | Kyle Kaiser | 1:48.980 | 2.3394 | 24 | Chevy | Juncos Racing |
23 | 19 | Santino Ferrucci | 1:49.146 | 2.5062 | 12 | Honda | Dale Coyne Racing |
24 | 5 | James Hinchcliffe | 1:49.163 | 2.5225 | 7 | Honda | Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports |
25 | 30 | Takuma Sato | 1:49.237 | 2.5972 | 27 | Honda | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |

Previous article
Marco Andretti: “If I won the Indy 500 I’d cry, probably”
Next article
Rossi deposes Herta in IndyCar Spring Training final session

About this article
Series | IndyCar |
Event | COTA February testing |
Author | David Malsher |