Herta Dominates IndyCar Race At St. Petersburg

Colton Herta raises the trophy after winning the Firestone Grand Prix of St Petersburg. [Joe Skibinski Photo]

By Joe Jennings

Starting from the pole, youthful Colton Herta wasn’t to be denied as he totally dominated the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, the second race in 2021 for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES.

Herta’s Gainbridge Honda was fielded by Andretti Autosport and the car was so strong that he led 97 of the 100 laps around the 1.8-mile temporary street course.
The Californian captured his fourth career win, tying his father Bryan, who serves as his son’s overseer on the pit box.

“I am winded and can hardly talk,” Herta said, obviously out of breath. “I’m so happy we did this, so happy that we rebounded from Barber (where he was collected in a first-lap wreck). We’ve now got the momentum we need (to contend for the championship). I was nervous (following a late-race restart) because Josef (Newgarden) is so good around here and was on Red tires, but I was able to hold him off. I am so happy to be powered by Honda, and my team, they did a hell of a job.”

The opening lap of the 2021 Firestone Grand Prix of St Petersburg. [Chris Owens Photo]

Said his proud father, “I am so proud of him. He executed really well but we did not like to see those couple of late race yellows, but we did it. Neither of us was nervous on those restarts. We were both in the zone and were feeling very comfortable. I could hear it in his voice and we know each other so well there’s just a lot of unspoken communication.”

“It was a very physical race and I am very tired,” said the victor. His hands were blistered and admittedly were causing him a problem. Same condition that bothered several drivers.

Herta built up nearly a 10-second lead as the race wound down, only to see it go away as two yellow flags bunched the field with 20 laps to go. The slowdown allowed 2019 and 2020 race winner Josef Newgarden to catch up and make a run for the lead.

With Herta on black tires and Newgarden on new red tires, the latter got close but could not pull alongside. At the checkered flag, Herta had extended his lead to 2.4 seconds.

Colton Herta leads Josef Newgarden in the closing laps of the Firestone Grand Prix of St Petersburg. [Chris Jones Photo]

Said Newgarden, “We lost too much ground on the second stint and then the caution almost gifted us with another chance. I felt I was close to an opportunity but Colton was really good, and I did not want to over-extend myself. But a good day and I’m really happy with Chevy’s performance.”

Simon Pagenaud took third 6.4 seconds behind the victor.

Front-row starter Jack Harvey ran well throughout and came home fourth followed by perennial champion Scott Dixon.

Rounding out the top-10 finishers were Takuma Sato, who came from 15th, Marcus Ericsson, Will Power, coming from 20th, Rinus VeeKay and two-time winner Sebastien Bourdais.

Barber victor Alex Palou ended up 17th and championship hopeful Alexander Rossi was further back in 21st. Rossi had a run-in with Graham Rahal, which cost them both positions. Rahal finished 15th.

NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson had an eventful race, spinning around twice, and he was scored 22nd, 5 laps off the pace. The race marked his debut on a street course.

Next weekend the NTT INDYCAR series heads to the Texas Motor Speedway for a pair of races on the lightning-fast oval. The races will be run on Saturday and Sunday.

Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Race Results
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Results Sunday of the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg NTT INDYCAR SERIES event on the 1.8-mile streets of St. Petersburg circuit, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):

1. (1) Colton Herta, Honda, 100, Running
2. (3) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 100, Running
3. (4) Simon Pagenaud, Chevrolet, 100, Running
4. (2) Jack Harvey, Honda, 100, Running
5. (8) Scott Dixon, Honda, 100, Running
6. (15) Takuma Sato, Honda, 100, Running
7. (16) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 100, Running
8. (20) Will Power, Chevrolet, 100, Running
9. (7) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 100, Running
10. (5) Sebastien Bourdais, Chevrolet, 100, Running
11. (14) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 100, Running
12. (17) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, 100, Running
13. (18) Romain Grosjean, Honda, 100, Running
14. (13) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Honda, 100, Running
15. (9) Graham Rahal, Honda, 100, Running
16. (19) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 100, Running
17. (10) Alex Palou, Honda, 99, Running
18. (12) James Hinchcliffe, Honda, 99, Running
19. (6) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 99, Running
20. (21) Ed Jones, Honda, 99, Running
21. (11) Alexander Rossi, Honda, 98, Running
22. (23) Jimmie Johnson, Honda, 95, Running
23. (24) Dalton Kellett, Chevrolet, 67, Off Course
24. (22) Max Chilton, Chevrolet, 18, Mechanical

Race Statistics
Winner’s average speed: 96.552 mph
Time of Race: 1:51:51.4115
Margin of victory: 2.4933 seconds
Cautions: 3 for 9 laps
Lead changes: 3 among 3 drivers

Lap Leaders:
Herta 1-34
Pagenaud 35
Palou 36-37
Herta 38-100

NTT INDYCAR SERIES point standings: Palou 67, Power 65, Dixon 65, Herta 62, Pagenaud 54, Harvey 51, Bourdais 51, VeeKay 51, Ericsson 50, Newgarden 47.

Joe Jennings

racingnation.com

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