Colton Herta won Saturday’s (May 14) GMR Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course after weather, tire strategy, and a flurry of cautions consistently threatened to upend the race.
Standing in Indy’s famed victory circle after the race, Herta was a man of few words.
“That was the hardest race I think I’ve ever done. Wet to dry – dry back to wet,” Herta said.
“And thank you so much for the Hoosiers for sticking around. I know you’re used to this kind of weather, so thank you very much.”
While Herta won the race, the points lead has changed to the hands of Will Power.
Power finished third behind Herta and Simon Pagenaud, his fifth finish of fourth or better in a row. This finish, coupled with poor results from Josef Newgarden, Alex Palou, and Scott McLaughlin, leaves Power with 16 point lead over McLaughlin heading into the Indianapolis 500.
With the race starting under wet conditions, Herta and Scott Dixon were the first drivers to risk going on to Firestone’s red walled slick tires, ice skating around the circuit while fickle weather left everyone scratching their heads in terms of strategy.
Herta’s closest threat early on was Barber winner Pato O’Ward. O’Ward kept Herta in his sight for the first half of the race, especially during the multiple dry spells which showed a proper advantage in straight line speed for the McLaren driver.
While McLaren teammate Felix Rosenqvist kept Herta and O’Ward honest with a comfortable run in third position, a spin from O’Ward in turn one on lap 42 resulted in nose-to-nose contact for both McLaren cars. Rosenqvist ultimately finished sixth; the rest of O’Ward’s day was not so simple.
Herta and the other leaders briefly switched over to slick tires on lap 60, but while under caution for a spin by Rinus VeeKay on lap 61 much of the field opted to switch back to wets as the rain finally arrived in force. Among those who gambled on being able to make it to the end on slick tires…
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