IndyCar: Colton Herta to drive for Harding Racing at Sonoma

By Asher Fair | Sep 3, 2018

AVONDALE, AZ - APRIL 06: Gabby Chaves, driver of the #88 Harding Racing Chevrolet IndyCar (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /

Colton Herta is set to make his IndyCar debut driving for Harding Racing in the 2018 season finale, the IndyCar Grand Prix of Sonoma, at Sonoma Raceway.

Colton Herta, the son of former IndyCar driver and current IndyCar team owner Bryan Herta, is set to make his IndyCar debut following a successful Indy Lights season during which he drove for Andretti Steinbrenner Racing and earned four victories,13 podium finishes and three pole positions in 17 races en route to a second place finish in the championship standings.

Herta, 18, is set to make his IndyCar debut on Sunday, September 16 in the 2018 season finale, the IndyCar Grand Prix of Sonoma, at Sonoma Raceway. He is set to do so driving for Harding Racing, the for which he test drove at Portland International Raceway earlier this summer.

During his time competing in the Mazda Road to Indy, the American driver has competed in two races at the 12-turn, 2.385-mile (3.838-kilometer) Sonoma Raceway road course in Sonoma, California. He competed in both of these races in the 2014 U.S. F2000 National Championship season.

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In the 2014 U.S. F2000 National Championship season, Herta drove for JAY Motorsports and secured six top 10 finishes, including two season-high fifth place finishes, in 12 races en route to a 15th place finish in the championship standings. He finished in seventh and ninth place, respectively in the two races that were contested at Sonoma Raceway.

Herta’s 2018 Indy Lights season was his second season as a full-time Indy Lights driver, as he also competed in the series full-time last year driving for Andretti Steinbrenner Racing. He secured two victories and seven podium finishes in 16 races last year en route to a third place finish in the championship standings. He did not compete in any Mazda Road to Indy series in the 2015 or 2016 seasons.

Harding Racing have fielded just one car in each of the 19 IndyCar races that they have entered, of which 16 have been the first 16 races of this season. This car, the #88 Chevrolet, has been driven by Gabby Chaves in 16 of these 19 races.

Chaves drove the #88 Harding Racing Chevrolet in the three races that the team entered last year, and he drove it in 13 of the first 16 races this year, including the first 11. Conor Daly drove it in the other three.

However, in the IndyCar Grand Prix of Sonoma, Harding Racing are set to field two cars, as they are also set to field one for Patricio O’Ward, the Andretti Autosport driver who was the only driver to finish ahead of Herta in the 2018 Indy Lights championship standings and won the title because of it.

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Tune in to NBC Sports Network at 6:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, September 16 for the live broadcast of the IndyCar Grand Prix of Sonoma to see how Colton Herta performs in his IndyCar debut.