Slip slidin' away: Colton Herta wins wet and wild GMR Grand Prix
Editor's note: Full results and updated point standings are at the bottom of this file.
In a chaotic start to the month of May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Colton Herta was victorious in Saturday’s GMR Grand Prix on the iconic venue’s infield road course.
With wet conditions plaguing the event, tire strategy was crucial for teams looking to have a shot at the win. Thankfully for Herta, his race strategist and father Bryan Herta was the first to make the call to switch from wet tires to slicks.
The move paid off. Herta propelled from his initial starting position of 14th to first, leading 50 laps en route to his seventh career victory and first of 2022.
“It sure helped us,” Herta said of his father’s call. “That was the hardest race I think I’ve ever done, going from wet to red, red to wet, it was nuts. Fortunately, we were in the right position. We went from 15th to first!”
The race did not go the planned distance. It was set to be an 85-lap event, but because of several crashes, spins and yellow flags, the race was shifted to a timed event that was to last only two hours in length.
Herta was awarded the win after the 75th lap when yet another caution came out and the two-hour time limit expired, immediately ending the race.
In a great effort for Meyer Shank Racing, Simon Pagenaud - who started in the 20th position - finished second. When asked if he could have caught Herta if the race didn’t end early, Pagenaud said he didn’t know if it would have been possible.
“I couldn’t see,” Pagenaud said because of the rain and splashing water on-track. “I couldn’t drive at the end. That was unfortunate. The car felt really good in the wets [rain tires], but I just couldn’t see.
“I was looking for lights on the sides to find breaking points, but it was treacherous at the end. Obviously, I have to say congrats to Colton because it was really tough to finish the race.”
Race polesitter Will Power finished third after dropping back early in the race. His podium finish allowed him to take the lead in the championship point standings. It also was Power's fifth finish of fourth or higher in as many races this year.
“Cars were dropping like flies!” Power said after making his way back to the front. “It was such a hard choice on whether to get the slicks, which could have been the best strategy out there – or go for the wets. It’s so crazy, this place.
“When you look around, it can be completely raining on the frontstretch and you go around to the back and it’s completely dry. It was really anyone’s guess at what was going to happen. We got to the point where it was too wet, we were going to get caught out and we needed to take wets.”
Marcus Ericsson charged his way through the field to finish fourth, while Conor Daly finished fifth. Felix Rosenqvist, rookie Callum Illott, Takuma Sato, Christian Lundgaard, and Scott Dixon rounded out the top 10.
The race itself also featured a variety of spins and crashes by many of the competitors as they had a tough time racing through the wet conditions. With the start already being delayed by nearly 45 minutes due to the weather, a time limit was eventually placed on the race, which wound up finishing under caution due to a spin by Juan Pablo Motoya with less than two minutes remaining.
Now that the Grand Prix is in the books, the stage is set for the Greatest Spectacle in Racing. The next round of the 2022 NTT IndyCar Series is the 106th Running of the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, May 29.
