IndyCar: Will Harding Steinbrenner Racing compete at the front in 2019?

Harding Steinbrenner Racing have formed a technical alliance with Andretti Autosport for the 2019 IndyCar season. Will they be a force to be reckoned with this year?

Steinbrenner Racing, the team with which Andretti Autosport had a partnership in the 2017 and 2018 Indy Lights seasons, formed a partnership with Harding Racing following the conclusion of the 2018 IndyCar season to become Harding Steinbrenner Racing for the 2019 season.

While Harding Racing competed in IndyCar on a part-time basis in the 2017 season and on a full-time basis in the 2018 season and they did so as a Chevrolet-powered team in both seasons, they switched their engine manufacturer from Chevrolet to Honda during the current offseason.

Harding Steinbrenner Racing have now formed a technical alliance with the Honda-powered Andretti Autosport team.

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This technical alliance was originally expected to elevate the performance of Harding Steinbrenner Racing for the 2019 season, but it was not originally expected to elevate their performance to the level at which their lone full-time driver, Colton Herta, was expected to be a contender to win races on a regular basis.

After all, entering the 2019 season, the team have recorded only three top 12 finishes in their first 21 entries over the course of their first 20 races, including only one top 12 finish in their last 19 entries over the course of their last 18 races.

But after Herta’s impressive performance in the four IndyCar Spring Training test sessions at Circuit of the Americas, has this changed?

Herta made his IndyCar debut in last year’s season finale at Sonoma Raceway driving for Harding Racing after he finished in second place in the 2018 Indy Lights championship standings, and he finished this race in 20th place after starting in 19th.

Meanwhile, Patricio O’Ward, who was set to drive for Harding Steinbrenner Racing on a full-time basis this season as well prior to his recent departure from the team, won the 2018 Indy Lights championship and made his IndyCar debut in this race as well. He finished it in fifth place after starting in ninth.

But in IndyCar Spring Training, nobody, and I mean nobody, had anything for Herta.

Herta topped the speed chart in three of the four test sessions around the 20-turn, 3.427-mile (5.515-kilometer) Circuit of the Americas road course in his #88 Honda, and he recorded the top overall time of these four sessions.

Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi, who finished in second place in the championship standings in the 2018 season, was the only other driver who topped the speed chart in any of these test sessions. Rossi topped the speed chart in the fourth and final session of this year’s Spring Training, and when he did so, Herta finished right behind him in second place.

While preseason testing is hardly a true indicator of just how strong each team will be throughout the upcoming IndyCar season, make no mistake about it; Harding Steinbrenner Racing are not the Harding Racing of old, and their new technical alliance with Andretti Autosport has the potential to turn them into one of the top teams in the sport.

At the very least, Spring Training was a fantastic indicator of this. As a result, don’t be shocked to see Herta competing at the front of the field throughout the 2019 season.

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How competitive will Harding Steinbrenner Racing be in the 2019 IndyCar season now that they have formed a technical alliance with Andretti Autosport? Will Colton Herta win any races? Where will he finish in the championship standings?

The 2019 season is scheduled to get underway on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida on Sunday, March 10, which is under three and a half weeks away. The Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg is the first of the 17 races on this year’s schedule.