Yahoo Autos IndyCar Results and More: No Raining on Colton Herta's Victory Party at Indy Road Course
To borrow a line from an old Rolling Stones song, time was on Colton Herta’s side in Saturday’s GMR Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
The race was originally scheduled for 85 laps, but due to ongoing issues with rain, Herta was declared the winner after just 75 laps when Juan Pablo Montoya made contact with a retaining wall, bringing out a full-course yellow caution that also led to the two-hour race window being reached.
It was Herta’s first win of 2022 and seventh of his young IndyCar career.
“Man, this was awesome,” Herta said on NBC after the race. “That was the hardest race I think I’ve ever done. Wet to dry, dry back to wet. And thank you so much for the Hoosiers who stuck around. I know you’re used to this kind of weather, so thank you very much. I love you guys.”
The race was slated to go 85 laps, but around Lap 68, IndyCar announced the race would finish under timed conditions. At the time, there was less than 10 minutes to go.
As the race restarted following yet another caution, IndyCar also moved all lapped cars behind those cars on the lead lap. Herta was in the lead and never let go.
When asked how he won the challenging event, Herta chuckled, “Pure talent.”
Then, getting more serious, he added, “The most interesting thing is you never have a car that works in the wet and the dry. It's just not possible, but it happened today. It was very interesting. Felt comfortable in all conditions. Yeah, it was fun to do it.”
Previous GP winner Simon Pagenaud earned his best finish of the season, ending up second.
“Oh my God, that was nuts,” Pagenaud said. “The weather, we should have a button just to spray some water on the track I think because the racing was phenomenal.
“Strategy was also the name of the game today. Choosing the right time at the right time. Waiting for the rain. Not sure it was coming. It was coming. Then just amazing, amazing succession of events.
“Just really proud of my team. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to show results, but the potential has been there the whole time, so I'm really proud that today we were able to show all the hard work that has been done in the background by Mike Shank and everybody at Meyer Shank Racing.”
Pole sitter Will Power, Marcus Ericsson and Conor Daly finished third through fifth. Sixth through 10th were Felix Rosenqvist, Takuma Sato, rookie Callum Ilott, Christian Lundgaard and Scott Dixon.
One other note of significance: Saturday marked the first time IndyCar has raced in the rain with the aeroscreen that was mandated starting last year. It worked flawlessly.
Lightning Warning, New Points Leader Made for Crazy Race
To say Saturday’s race was crazy is an understatement. The on/off rain was a significant factor, obviously.
There even was a warning from the National Weather Service that lightning was in the area and that fans should clear the grandstands at about the Lap 68 mark, but surprisingly, IndyCar officials did not stop the race nor cleared the grandstands. The race continued on until the time limit was reached.
Amidst all that, there was a significant upheaval in the IndyCar driver point standings, as well.
Even though he hasn’t won a race yet this year, Will Power’s great consistency in the first five races—he hasn’t finished lower than fourth in any of them, and was third in Saturday’s race—moved into the top spot in the driver standings with 138 points.
“Cars were dropping like flies,” Power said after the race. “It was such a hard choice on whether to get the slicks, which could have been the best strategy out there – or go for the wets.
“It’s so crazy, this place (IMS). When you look around, it can be completely raining on the frontstretch and you go around to the back and it’s completely dry. It was really anyone’s guess at what was going to happen. We got to the point where it was too wet, we were going to get caught out and we needed to take wets.”
Power later said, “Those sort of days you're thinking points when you see Palou out and you see Newgarden out and a couple of the main contenders that you are going to be fighting. You start thinking a little bit that way, yeah.”
Power’s Team Penske teammate, Scott McLaughlin, who finished 20th in Saturday’s race, is second in the overall standings with 124 points.
And another Team Penske teammate, Josef Newgarden, who wrecked Saturday and finished 25th, was still able to hold on to the No. 3 position in the points with 123 points.
Defending Series champ Alex Palou, who had been No. 1 coming into Saturday’s race, had a rough race, finishing 18th, which dropped him from first to fourth with 115 points, 23 points behind Power.
Last but not least, Herta’s win helped push him up to fifth in the standings with 112 points.
