Luck was not on Colton Herta’s side once again as for the third straight race the 19-year-old rookie from Santa Clarita comes home empty handed following his record-breaking win at the INDYCAR Classic in Austin, Texas in March.
Herta came into Saturday’s race with the fastest car in practice and warmups. The teenager started the race in the fourth position behind fellow rookie Felix Rosenqvist, veteran Scott Dixon and Jack Harvey.
With rain looming in the forecast, Herta held fast to P4 for the first 11 laps of the 85-lap race when rookie Marcus Ericsson made hard contact with the wall bringing out the caution.
On the restart on lap 17 Herta got a good jump on Jack Harvey, but in the treacherous Turn 1 of the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Harvey came down onto Herta, making contact with Herta’s wheel and causing him to spin. As the middle of the pack passed by without incident, James Hinchcliffe got into Ryan Hunter-Reay causing Hunter-Reay to make contact with the stalled No. 88, ending Herta’s weekend in 23rd.
“I don’t know if I was a bit ambitious or he turned down on me,” Herta told NBC’s Kevin Lee. “It’s been disappointing the last three races for both me and the team.”
