Yahoo Autos Colton Herta Captures First IndyCar Oval Pole in Iowa Doubleheader Despite Hybrid Issues
IndyCar Officials scrambled to create fair rules amidst novel problems in the Hybrid's Oval rollout.
Colton Herta captured the pole for Saturday night without any Hybrid assistance. This is his first oval pole and 13th overall.
Scott McLaughlin took Sunday's pole and set the new Iowa Speedway track record at 188.248 MPH.
Colton Herta will start on the pole for the first time in an NTT IndyCar oval-track race during the Saturday night portion of Iowa Speedway's doubleheader after an internal debate about requalifying to attempt to improve his Sunday starting position as well.
Herta's car experienced a misfire that led to him putting down his official qualifying laps without the assistance of the new hybrid technology. Since this is only the second race of the hybrid era and the first oval series officials are attempting to fairly deal with problems on the fly.
Herta and Jack Harvey were both granted chances to requalify, but in doing so, they would delete their past times. For Harvey, who went out three times after two hybrid failures, it was worth it since his times placed him in the back of the field for Herta, much less so.
During doubleheader weekends, IndyCar has a unique qualifying format compared to the other oval weekends. Instead of drivers being lined up by their two-lap average, their run is split in half, with the fastest first lap setting the grid for race one and the fastest second lap setting it for race two.
Colton Herta suffered a misfire, and IndyCar granted him and Jack Harvey the chance to go out for a final qualifying run. Andretti sent Herta back to the car, the driver strapped in, and they were getting ready to fire when the gravity of the situation set in.
Herta was already set to start on the pole for the first race of the weekend and on the second row on Sunday. If he deleted his qualifying time for race one, he sat with no floor beneath him to keep him from plummeting through the starting grid. In race two, he could only improve three spots.
The team sat as the final drivers took to the newly partially repaved oval, and Herta's number was still on top of the leaderboard.
Over the radio, Herta asked, "Is it smarter to just not do it?"
The driver was the first one to show doubt, and the team informed him that, to their knowledge, they already deleted their time. A clarification was given by the officials that he was still able to abort. This rule will become more defined in time.
Luck hasn't been on Colton Herta's and Andretti Global's side this season; this may have played into their last-minute choice to abandon a requalifying run avoiding the what-ifs of a potential double-or-nothing decision.
The team made the call to take the first victory, and Herta entered the Iowas Doubleheader in better shape than he ever had.
"That's the most bizarre pole I think IndyCar has seen for a while," Herta told NBC. "I'm happy we ended up holding on; it's tough. It's my first oval pole, and it means a lot to finally get that monkey off my back."
Scott McLaughlin set a new track record of 188.248 MPH on his second lap setting him up for Sunday's pole. The previous record held for a decade was set by Helio Castroneves at 186.809. He will also start on the pole Saturday evening next to Herta.
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