Colton Herta tops opening IndyCar Spring Training session at COTA

Colton Herta

Using the softer option Firestone Red tires Colton Herta topped the opening test session for the IndyCars at Circuit Of Americas in Austin Texas.

Herta's lap of 1m48.744s was 0.0949s faster than former F1 driver Marcus Ericsson using Firestone's Primary test tires which are being tested to be used when the teams return for the race in March….assuming they hold up well.

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The times are 11 seconds slower than last year's F1 pole speed by Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, down from 15 seconds slower when the IndyCars tested back in October on the hard primary tire.

Josef Newgarden was third quickest in the #2 Penske Chevy 0.6088s behind and the fastest on the hardest black tires.

RC Enerson was 4th quick in the Carlin Chevy and Zach Veach (Andretti Honda) rounded out the top-5.

Session 1 Times

Pos	No	Name	FTime	Diff	Gap	Laps	FSpeed	Engine	Tire	Team
1	88	Colton Herta	1:48.744	–.—-	–.—-	16	112.889	Honda	A	Harding Steinbrenner Racing
2	7	Marcus Ericsson	1:48.839	0.0949	0.0949	23	112.790	Honda	Po	Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsport
3	2	Josef Newgarden	1:49.353	0.6088	0.5139	17	112.260	Chevy	P	Team Penske
4	23	RC Enerson	1:49.543	0.7988	0.1900	26	112.065	Chevy	A	Carlin
5	26	Zach Veach	1:49.812	1.0675	0.2687	16	111.791	Honda	Po	Andretti Autosport
6	98	Marco Andretti	1:49.972	1.2282	0.1607	15	111.628	Honda	P	Andretti Herta Autosport with CA
7	9	Scott Dixon	1:50.008	1.2634	0.0352	11	111.592	Honda	P	Chip Ganassi Racing Teams
8	21	Spencer Pigot	1:50.069	1.3250	0.0616	9	111.530	Chevy	P	Ed Carpenter Racing
9	27	Alexander Rossi	1:50.116	1.3721	0.0471	14	111.482	Honda	P	Andretti Autosport
10	59	Max Chilton	1:50.179	1.4350	0.0629	21	111.418	Chevy	A	Carlin
11	4	Matheus Leist	1:50.180	1.4357	0.0007	18	111.418	Chevy	P	AJ Foyt Enterprises
12	10	Felix Rosenqvist	1:50.290	1.5452	0.1095	16	111.307	Honda	P	Chip Ganassi Racing Teams
13	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	1:50.375	1.6309	0.0857	12	111.221	Honda	Po	Andretti Autosport
14	3	Helio Castroneves	1:50.448	1.7032	0.0723	20	111.148	Chevy	Po	Team Penske
15	19	Santino Ferrucci	1:50.449	1.7044	0.0012	11	111.147	Honda	Po	Dale Coyne Racing
16	12	Will Power	1:50.640	1.8960	0.1916	19	110.954	Chevy	P	Team Penske
17	5	James Hinchcliffe	1:50.677	1.9328	0.0368	11	110.917	Honda	Po	Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsport
18	22	Simon Pagenaud	1:50.972	2.2273	0.2945	14	110.623	Chevy	Po	Team Penske
19	15	Graham Rahal	1:50.991	2.2468	0.0195	15	110.603	Honda	A	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
20	60	Jack Harvey	1:51.004	2.2600	0.0132	7	110.590	Honda	Po	Meyer Shank Racing with Arrow SPM
21	18	Sebastien Bourdais	1:51.078	2.3341	0.0741	16	110.517	Honda	P	Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sull
22	30	Takuma Sato	1:51.289	2.5450	0.2109	16	110.307	Honda	Po	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
23	20	Ed Jones	1:51.421	2.6764	0.1314	14	110.177	Chevy	P	Ed Carpenter Racing
24	14	Tony Kanaan	1:51.745	3.0008	0.3244	7	109.857	Chevy	P	AJ Foyt Enterprises
25	32	Kyle Kaiser	No Time	—	—	1	—	Chevy	Po	Juncos Racing

Legend
A = Firestone Softest Red Tires (Alternate Tires)
P = Firestone Hardest Primary Tires
Po = Firestone Primary Test Tires