Colton Herta has been making a satement in his Rookie season so far. IndyCar's youngest winner has been doing everything he can to stand out amongst not just IndyCar's veterans but their rookies as well.
WIth 2019 having one of the strongest rookie classes in recent years, Herta is pitted against two very fast Swedes (Felix Rosenqvist and Marcus Ericsson). Herta came out of the gate swinging with a win at Circuit of the Americas and a pole at Road America, as lacklustre week in Iowa last race has done nothing to slow down the Californian driver.
Herta comes into Mid-Ohio with one goal in mind, do what ever it takes to pass Rosenqvist and Santino Ferrucci in the Rookie of the Year standings. In Friday's combined practice session, Herta logged the fastest lap out of anyone leading practice two with a time of 1:05.7292 seconds. Edging out Simon Pagenaud by over 2 tenths of a second, the Frenchman had nothing but praise for Herta's efforts.
“Colton has been a breath of fresh air, quite frankly,” Pagenaud said. “He (has) showed tremendous speed on the road courses, certainly pushed the old guys. That’s what we need.”
Pagenaud was second with a time of 1:05.9313 seconds with Team Penske teammate Will Power in third with a time of 1:05.9935.
Rookie Rosenqvist was fourth followed by Ryan Hunter-Reay completing the top five. James Hinchcliffe and Scott Dixon were sixth and seventh, followed by Matheus Leist in one of his best practice efforts of the season in eighth. Spencer Pigot and Jack Harvey rounded out the top ten.
Newgarden was 11th in the combined results, followed by defending winner Rossi in 14th.
For Herta every point matters when chasing the rookie of the year title, especially since Herta trails Ferrucci by 20 points and another further 34 behind Rosenqvist. Herta's had a fast Capstone Honda and looks for strong run in Saturday's IndySar P1 qualifying session.
“(Being Rookie of the Year) would be great" Herta said "But honestly I’m just focused on not running with the rookies but running with everyone, trying to be the best with everyone.”
The future looks bright for IndyCar with four deep and competant rookie drivers. The Honda Indy 200 from Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course will get underway July 28 at 4:05 p.m. EST. Alexander Rossi will be the defending winner as he looks to trim the 29 point gap back to points leader Josef Newgarden.
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