Colton Herta has achieved victory in his third race at Indycar, aged only 18 years old. The Californian has become the youngest winner in the history of the Indycar, beating Graham Rahal. A race dominated by the trio Will Power, Alexandre Rossi and Colton Herta that has endured until the first and only Caution of the race.
At the start, Power and Rossi managed to keep the first 2 positions, not so Hunter-Reay, who has seen how the rookie Herta claimed the 3rd place. The situation has remained fairly stable until the first pit stop, when Herta has managed to overtake Rossi with an Undercut between laps 12 and 14. With the front 3 consolidated, Newgarden, Hunter-Reay and the rookies Marcus Ericsson, Felix Rosenqvist and Patricio O’Ward formed the chasing group. On lap 22 Rossi regained the 2nd position.
Again in the second stop, between laps 28 and 29, Herta tried the Undercut but couldn’t repeat the success. Ericsson and O’Ward entered into a fight with Newgarden and Hunter-Reay (who had a problem in the second stop). Rosenqvist, who in St. Petersburg came to dispute the victory, fell out of the top 10.
Herta stopped on lap 43, just seconds before Rosenqvist collided with Hinchcliffe in the penultimate corner and ended up in the pit entry, blocking the entrance and spoiling the victory options of Rossi and Power. The disaster for Power completed when after stopping, the transmission failed and could not engage the 1st gear. Herta gained the lead, with Newgarden, Hunter-Reay and Graham Rahal behind.
The rookie woludn’t be intimidated by the group of veterans behind him and controlled the race. The other featured Rookie of the day, O’Ward, remained in the top 10, while Ericsson lost many positions. Herta took a good gap to Newgarden, which he used to manage the last laps.
Great victory for Herta, in his 3rd race in the competition and with a precocity record included. The first 3 finished happy, Newgarden because he takes the lead 18 points clear over the young winner and Hunter-Reay because he returns to the podium after the DNF in St. Pete. Good result also from O’Ward, in the 8th position, although he lost the 6th place in the last laps to Andretti and Sato.