Colton Herta drifts through soaked Indy for first win of 2022
Cameron Richardson recaps a wet-weather IndyCar race at the Indianapolis road course.
“That was the hardest race I think I’ve ever done.”
The sentiment from GMR Grand Prix winner Colton Herta was probably unanimous throughout the Indianapolis Motor Speedway paddock Saturday afternoon as rain caused a mumbo jumbo of strategies.
For Herta to even win, he had to survive a massive hydroplane that had him drifting in the early portion of the race.
The on-and-off rain throughout the two-hour event threw pit crews in the ring of fire as teams couldn’t figure out whether to stick with slick tires in the dry spots or rely on the wet tires on the parts of the track that were drenched.
At points, there was rain down the frontstretch of the track while the backstretch was completely dry.
With the help of a lot of late cautions running down the two-hour clock, it was Herta leading the field to take his first checkered flag of the 2022 season.
Given the drastic conditions, there was no telling how drivers would respond when it came to what tires to put on. Outside of an early stint where the track was dry and the rain stayed away, the flow to the race was chaotic thanks to a handful of spins and cars stalling on track.
It was a miserable day for title contenders as Alex Palou and Josef Newgarden suffered incidents that ruined their respective days.
Palou spun on his own on lap seven while Newgarden received help from Jack Harvey and cut a tire to put him out of the race for a handful of laps.
Both drivers finished outside the top 15, which allowed 2014 IndyCar champion Will Power to jump to the top of the table for the first time since 2018.
From the pole, Power had a back-and-forth day where he lost the lead early, but recovered and remained consistent inside the top 10 to score a third-place finish.
“In every situation, I just tried to be as smart as I could,” Power said to NBC Sports. “It’s never fun not racing for a win, but the conditions weren’t right trying to do that, especially with the points battle.”
The massive points swing gives Power a 16-point advantage over Scott McLaughlin, who had a late-race incident that resulted in a 20th-place finish.
Frenchman Simon Pagenaud had his first breakthrough of the season as he landed his first podium finish since the Indianapolis 500 last year.
The runner-up run comes after Pagenaud rolled off from the 20th starting spot.
“I couldn’t see or drive at the end,” Pagenaud told NBC Sports. “I was looking for lights to find a braking point, but it was treacherous. It was really tough to finish the race.”
Marcus Ericsson had a spin and a failed strategy attempt that put him toward the back, but the Swede recovered for his second top-five finish of 2022. With the Indy 500 paying out double points, he has an opportunity to jump close to the title picture as he currently sits eighth and 53 points behind Power.
Hometown hero Conor Daly surprised the field with his first top-five finish since Gateway in 2017 to earn solid momentum heading into the 500.
“I’ve never been in a race like that in my life,” Daly told NBC Sports. “It was absurd and the craziest thing I’ve ever experienced.”
Pato O’Ward earned the award for the most-daring driver of the day as he tried earning a quality finish on the slicks while the track was at a near flood and the spray coming off the back of the cars created no visibility.
The Mexican tried his best to keep the car straight, but on the final restart, the course was too treacherous for slick tires so O’Ward pitted for wet tires and settled for a 19th-place finish.
Callum Ilott was the highest-finishing rookie with an eighth-place run.
The 106th running of the Indianapolis 500 will take place two weeks from Sunday on May 29th.