IndyCar: Colton Herta earns first career win at 2019 IndyCar Classic

In his third career IndyCar start, Colton Herta earned his first career victory, as he won the 2019 IndyCar Classic at Circuit of the Americas.

Ever since he won the 2008 Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida, Graham Rahal had been the youngest race winner in IndyCar history. He won this race at the age of 19 years and 93 days old.

But Harding Steinbrenner Racing rookie Colton Herta changed that today by winning the second race of the 17-race 2019 IndyCar season, the IndyCar Classic, at Circuit of the Americas, which was the first ever IndyCar race at the track. The Valencia, California native is just 18 years and 359 days old.

Herta, who started the 60-lap race around the 20-turn, 3.41-mile (5.488-kilometer) Circuit of the Americas road course in Austin, Texas in fourth place in his #88 Honda, won it by 2.7182 seconds over Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden, who finished in second in his #2 Chevrolet.

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Honda drivers rounded out the top seven. Andretti Autosport’s Ryan Hunter-Reay, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Graham Rahal, Dale Coyne Racing’s Sebastien Bourdais, Andretti Herta Autosport’s Marco Andretti and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Takuma Sato finished in third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh place in their #28 Honda, #15 Honda, #18 Honda, #98 Honda and #30 Honda, respectively.

Carlin rookie Patricio O’Ward finished in eighth place in his #31 Chevrolet. Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi and Meyer Shank Racing’s Jack Harvey rounded out the top 10 by finishing in ninth and 10th in their #27 Honda and #60 Honda, respectively, giving Honda drivers eight of the top 10 positions.

But it was Team Penske’s Will Power who dominated the race after starting from the pole position in his #12 Chevrolet. He led the race’s first 45 laps before a drive shaft issue during his pit stop on lap 46 forced him to retire from the race, relegating him to a 24th (last) place finish.

However, Power’s potential victory was in jeopardy even before this pit stop. He was leading the race ahead of Rossi and Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon, and none of them had made their final pit stop when Chip Ganassi Racing rookie Felix Rosenqvist crashed on lap 44, causing the race’s lone caution flag period.

As a result, these three drivers were set to lose a lot of ground by pitting under caution since the field would be bunched up. Rossi and Dixon certainly did, as they both fell out of the top 10, with Dixon unable to recover much at all en route to a 13th place finish in his #9 Honda, and Power lost a whole lot more than that.

Herta took the lead when these three drivers made the pit stop via what was the race’s lone lead change, and he never looked back, as he went on to lead the race’s final 15 laps.

Of the 24 drivers who started the race, only Power failed to finish it. Of the 23 drivers who finished it, 20 finished on the lead lap.

Here are the full race results of the 2019 IndyCar Classic at Circuit of the Americas.

Race Results
1st – Colton Herta
2nd – Josef Newgarden
3rd – Ryan Hunter-Reay
4th – Graham Rahal
5th – Sebastien Bourdais
6th – Marco Andretti
7th – Takuma Sato
8th – Patricio O’Ward
9th – Alexander Rossi
10th – Jack Harvey
11th – Spencer Pigot
12th – Tony Kanaan
13th – Scott Dixon
14th – Ed Jones
15th – Marcus Ericsson
16th – James Hinchcliffe
17th – Matheus Leist
18th – Kyle Kaiser
19th – Simon Pagenaud
20th – Santino Ferrucci
21st – Max Chilton
22nd – Zach Veach
23rd – Felix Rosenqvist
24th – Will Power

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The next race on the 2019 IndyCar schedule is scheduled to take place on Sunday, April 7. This race, the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, is set to be broadcast live on NBC Sports Network from Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama beginning at 4:00 p.m. ET.