IndyCar: Herta Tops 1st Practice Session at Laguna Seca

Colton Herta, driver of the Andretti Autosport Gainbridge No 26 entry, topped Practice 1 for the IndyCars at Laguna Seca Friday.

Herta’s lap of 1m07.5382s in his Honda beat the Arrow McLaren Chevy of Pato O’Ward by just 0.05s.

“We didn’t get to do a proper run,” Herta said of the alternate, red-sidewall tires. “I think some of the teammates did, which is a good thing for me at least to understand what they do and how we can make the car a little bit better.

“But it’s really close. I feel really happy with how everything is. It’s a good-looking race car this weekend, and I hope to try to make it to Victory Lane with it.”

O’Ward’s teammate, Alexander Rossi, turned the third fastest time with a lap at 1m07.6336.s.

Marcus Ericsson and Kyle Kirkwood rounded out the top five.

The 75-minute session was marred by red flags.  Romain Grosjean, Scott McLaughlin, Will Power and Agustin Canapino all had off track excursions.   Rookie Juri Vips lost an engine that also added to the downtime.

The track record was set back in September of 2000 when Helio Castroneves did a lap at 1:07.722.  This record will probably be broken in qualifying tomorrow.

Herta’s top lap in the Andretti Autosport with Curb-Agajanian machine wasn’t quite as quick as the best time Thursday during the series’ Open Test, 1:07.2762 by Will Power in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet. But it still topped the INDYCAR SERIES track record of 1:07.722 set by Helio Castroneves in 2000, as the 11-turn, 2.238-mile circuit was repaved in May.

AR1 spoke with Colton Herta and asked what his thoughts of the newly repaved track will mean.  “This place really needed a repave, but it is going to make the racing worst.”

“You are going to be going faster and creating more aero wash.  Just like Road America, offline isn’t really cool.  You need the track to be weathered a little more to have two racing lines.”

“I liked the primary tires in yesterday’s all day practice.  I just wish we had enough sets to run all day.”

“We will 100% break the track record on Saturday.  I imagine at least a second faster, maybe in the low 1:06s.”

Christian Lundgaard, driver of the No 45 iPacket Rahal Letterman Lanigan entry, was happy with the repave.   AR1 asked him how it felt and his answer was  “Fast”.

“We were lightning fast. The car is in a good window, we did not really have to change much in terms of balance.  It is going to be fun getting on the reds to see if the neck falls off!”

There were five red flags during the session as the 27 drivers came to grips with the fast new pavement. Two drivers – Romain Grosjean in the No. 28 DHL Honda of Andretti Autosport and Power – made barrier contact in separate incidents. Neither driver was hurt, but their cars sustained moderate damage.

Another Grid Penalty

– INDYCAR officials have announced a six-position starting grid penalty for the No. 78 Juncos Hollinger Racing entry for an unapproved engine change following the Sunday, Sept. 3 race at Portland International Raceway.

The team was in violation of:

Rule 16.2.3.2 A fifth (5^th) Engine is eligible to earn Engine Manufacturer points if a Full Season Entrant has completed the Full Season Entrant Engine Mileage with its first four (4) Engines. Otherwise, a fifth (5^th) or more Engine does not earn Engine Manufacturer points and will be considered an Unapproved Engine change-out.

According to Rule 16.6.1.2, the penalty is a six-position starting grid penalty on road and street course events and nine positions at oval events and will be served at the series’ next event, which is the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey Sunday, Sept. 10 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

Lucille Dust reporting live from WeatherTech Laguna Seca Raceway

IndyCar Official Practice 1 Results

(R) Rookie