{"id":28775,"date":"2024-12-21T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-21T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=28775"},"modified":"2024-12-21T09:21:06","modified_gmt":"2024-12-21T14:21:06","slug":"herta-history-at-cota","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/12\/21\/herta-history-at-cota\/","title":{"rendered":"A Look Back: History Made at COTA with Herta Victory"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eighteen-year-old rookie Colton Herta made history at COTA in 2019 by winning the INDYCAR Classic.<\/p>\n

Colton Herta: Part of the History Books<\/b><\/h2>\n

In just his third race in his IndyCar career, Colton Herta<\/a> made it into IndyCar\u2019s long history book with his win at Circuit of the Americas<\/a>. The victory at 18 years and 359 days old, set the record for youngest driver to win an Indy car race.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a look back to the historic weekend five years ago.<\/span><\/p>\n

Qualification:<\/b><\/h3>\n

There was a lot of hype and excitement surrounding the race even before it began.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was the first time IndyCar made its way to the Austin, Texas track. It was also the first time that American open-wheel cars and F1 raced at the same track during the same season since 2006.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The 3.41-mile, 20-turn permanent road course would make things exciting, not only in the race but also in qualifying and it did not disappoint.<\/span><\/p>\n

Herta ultimately secured fourth in the No. 88 Harding Steinbrenner Racing Honda, starting ahead of Felix Rosenqvist and Scott Dixon in row 3 and just behind Ryan Hunter-Reay, Alexander Rossi<\/a>, and pole-sitter Will Power<\/a> who set a time of 1 minute, 46.0177 seconds (115.792 mph).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The pole marked Power’s second consecutive pole position to start the 2019 season and the 56th of his 15-year career.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This qualification for Herta was a bounce back from his previous session at the opening round in St. Petersburg<\/a> where he was penalized for qualifying interference, surrendering his two best laps by rule after a \u201crookie mistake\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

The group of drivers that rookie, Herta, will be around at the start of the race have years of experience over him but he wasn\u2019t going to let that stop him from his determination of earning his first IndyCar victory.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Race:<\/b><\/h3>\n

On Sunday the green flag is waved marking the start of the 60-lap race.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Herta wasn’t looking to make history at COTA but he knew he wanted to give it a chance.<\/span><\/p>\n

He knew it wasn\u2019t going to be easy, he <\/span>needed everything to go his way if he had a fighting chance to be on the top step. <\/span>And that\u2019s exactly what happened.<\/span><\/p>\n

The race looked like it was going to be another pole to victory for Power as he was leading for the first 44 laps under green flag conditions. Then a late crash changed everything in how the race played out.<\/span><\/p>\n