IndyCar: Colton Herta tops rookie/refresher test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

By Asher Fair | Apr 25, 2019

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - MAY 25: Gabby Chaves, driver of the #88 Salesforce DDR Chevrolet (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images) /

Colton Herta topped the speed chart in the test session for IndyCar rookies and non-series regulars at Indianapolis Motor Speedway leading up to next month’s Indianapolis 500.

Harding Steinbrenner Racing rookie Colton Herta topped the speed chart in Wednesday’s combined test session featuring the Rookie Orientation Program and the refresher tests for the non-IndyCar regulars at Indianapolis Motor Speedway leading up to the 103rd running of the Indy 500 in just over four weeks.

Herta recorded a top lap time of 39.8040 seconds (226.108 miles per hour) around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval in Speedway, Indiana in his #88 Honda in this test session.

Eight other drivers participated in this test session. Team Penske’s Helio Castroneves, a three-time Indy 500 champion, finished in second place in his #3 Chevrolet.

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Honda drivers took the next five positions on the speed chart. Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports’ Oriol Servia, Chip Ganassi Racing rookie Felix Rosenqvist and Andretti Autosport’s Conor Daly rounded out the top five by finishing in third, fourth and fifth place in their #77 Honda, #10 Honda and #25 Honda, respectively.

Dale Coyne Racing rookie Santino Ferrucci and Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports rookie Marcus Ericsson rounded out the top seven by finishing in sixth and seventh place in their #19 Honda and #7 Honda, respectively.

The other two drivers who participated in this test session are both Chevrolet drivers, and they are both non-series regulars as opposed to rookies. These two drivers are Dreyer & Reinbold Racing’s J.R. Hildebrand and McLaren’s Fernando Alonso. They finished in eighth and ninth place in their #48 Chevrolet and #66 Chevrolet, respectively.

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing’s Sage Karam was supposed to participate in this test session as the driver of the #24 Chevrolet, but the team were only allowed to use one engine, and that engine went to Hildebrand.

Here are the full results of this test session at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Test Results
1st – Colton Herta
2nd – Helio Castroneves
3rd – Oriol Servia
4th – Felix Rosenqvist
5th – Conor Daly
6th – Santino Ferrucci
7th – Marcus Ericsson
8th – J.R. Hildebrand
9th – Fernando Alonso

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Tuesday, May 14 is when practice for the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500 is officially scheduled to begin, and qualifying for IndyCar‘s most prestigious race is scheduled to take place on Saturday, May 18 and Sunday, May 19. The race itself is scheduled to take place on Sunday, May 26.