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Colton Herta Wins Wet ‘N Wild GMR Grand Prix

Colton Herta soaks in a hard-fought GMR Grand Prix victory with his Andretti Autosport team. (Photo: Joe Skibinski | Penske Entertainment)

Colton Herta dazzled the crowd with a spectacular save in mixed track conditions and survived the wet weather mayhem to win a wild GMR Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course.

The Andretti Autosport driver picked up his seventh career NTT IndyCar Series victory and the first of the 2022 season for the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda.

“This is the hardest race I think I’ve ever done,” Herta said.

“Wet to dry, dry back to wet. Thank you so much for the Hoosiers for sticking around. I know you’re used to this weather, so thank you very much. Love you guys.”

After entering the race 11th in the points, Herta moved up five spots to sixth in the championship. He’s 38 points back.

Spending last weekend at the Miami Grand Prix with the McLaren Formula 1 Team and getting the win at IMS this weekend gives Herta plenty to smile about and positive momentum heading into the 106th Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, May 29.

Herta’s epic save was the talk of the town:

With the threat of weather interference entering the day, IndyCar decided the enforce the option of a 120-minute timed race, if they were unable to reach the race distance of 85 laps within the two-hour window.

The time limit came into play with about 20 minutes remaining when IndyCar made the switch to end the race under the timed format instead of going all 85 laps.

Instead, the checkered flag arrived 10 laps earlier. The field completed a 75-lap race.

The race ended under caution in the closing minutes because Juan Pablo Montoya crashed his No. 6 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet in Turn 12, ending what was shaping up to be a solid run for the two-time Indianapolis 500 champion.

Montoya ran as high as fifth-place as the laps were winding down. He entered the IMS Road Course race to knock off the IndyCar rust as he’ll pursue his third Indy 500 on Memorial Day weekend.

Although the final result didn’t reflect his strong performance in the race, Juan Pablo Montoya proved that he hasn’t lost a step in the NTT IndyCar Series. (Photo: James Black | Penske Entertainment)

Montoya’s teammates saw a strong performance at the front begin to slip away on the Lap 42 restart when the rain started falling at the Brickyard.

Pato O’Ward spun around and got hit by his teammate Felix Rosenqvist. Ultimately, Rosenqvist rallied back to finish sixth while O’Ward’s strategy of staying on the slick tires didn’t work out late in the race. The No. 5 Chevrolet finished 19th.

In the middle of green flag pit stops as rain approached IMS, the caution flag flew on Lap 37 for Dalton Kellett, who spun and got stuck in the grass in Turn 6.

Last year’s race winner Rinus VeeKay got put in the grass by Callum Ilott on Lap 21. Then, Devlin DeFrancesco had nowhere to go and hit VeeKay’s sideways No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet.

Josef Newgarden’s day went south on Lap 17 when he got caught up in the middle of a sandwich in between Alexander Rossi and Jack Harvey.

Rossi squeezed Newgarden down into Harvey, which sent the No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet spinning across the nose of the No. 45 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda.

Newgarden finished a frustrating 25th and slid down to fourth in the championship, 30 points behind new points leader and teammate Will Power.

The first caution arrived on Lap 6 when reigning IndyCar champion Alex Palou lost control of his No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda in Turn 10 while trying to heat up his Firestone slicks on a track with mixed conditions. Palou spun, stalled in the middle of the track and lost a lap.

For the remainder of the race, Palou couldn’t get his lap back but still managed to climb up to 18th-place. Palou was the points leader coming into IMS and leaves the track in second, only 14 points behind.

Next Race: 106th Indianapolis 500

His fourth Indianapolis 500 win last year left Helio Castroneves hungrier to have his face appear on the Borg-Warner Trophy for a historic fifth time. (Photo: Travis Hinkle | Penske Entertainment)

In two weeks, the 106th Indianapolis 500 will take place on Sunday, May 29 (11 a.m. ET, NBC). After joining the four-time winner’s club last year with AJ Foyt, Rick Mears and the late Al Unser Sr., Helio Castroneves is seeking to stand alone by defending his Indy 500 crown and becoming the first driver in history to reach five wins in this legendary race.

IMS track officials will use the next two days following the GMR Grand Prix to covert the track from the road course back to the 2.5-mile oval. The first official practice session for the 2022 Indy 500 gets underway on Tuesday, May 17.

GMR Grand Prix Top-10 Results: Herta, Pagenaud, Power, Ericsson, Daly, Rosenqvist, Sato, Ilott, Lundgaard, Dixon.

Kobe Lambeth is a 2021 graduate of UNC Charlotte, who earned his undergraduate degree in Communication Studies (mass media concentration), with a double minor in Journalism and American Studies. In February 2007, he initially developed a strong passion for motorsports. His childhood dream is to work in the motorsports industry for a long time. In June 2017, his journey began as a freelance journalist and social media specialist for RockinghamNow, covering high school sports and leading a Twitter project. He was a part of expanded coverage of high school football within his local community. Through the use of Twitter, his team had a goal of significantly increasing the number of followers on multiple accounts. At The Podium Finish, he intends to provide professional motorsports coverage, focusing on series such as the NASCAR Cup Series, NTT IndyCar Series and more. He's also a Freelance Editor at NASCAR Digital Media and Multimedia Producer at GRID Network

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