Courtesy of the NTT IndyCar Series

LEXINGTON, Ohio – The NTT IndyCar Series has one of the most competitive rookie classes in recent memory, and one of those in the four-man battle set the pace Friday for the Honda Indy 200 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Colton Herta. Photo by Chris Jones

Colton Herta, who drives for Harding Steinbrenner Racing, ran a lap of 1 minute, 5.7292 seconds in the No. 88 Capstone Turbine Honda to edge Team Penske veterans Simon Pagenaud and Will Power. Pagenaud was second Friday on the 13-turn, 2.258-mile road course in the No. 22 Menards Chevrolet (1:05.9313) with Power third driving the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet (1:05.9935).

Results: Combined Session Report

Herta trails Felix Rosenqvist of Chip Ganassi Racing by 34 points for top first-year honors. Santino Ferrucci of Dale Coyne Racing is second, trailing Rosenqvist by 14 points. Marcus Ericsson of Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports is the other full-time driver in the rookie battle. The separation between the four is just 43 points through 12 races.

“It’s really close right now,” Herta said.

Felix Rosenqvist. Photo by James Black

Winning the NTT P1 Award as Saturday’s top qualifier would give one of them another point toward capturing Rookie of the Year honors. Should Herta or Rosenqvist win the pole, they would become the first rookie to win multiple Indy car poles since Danica Patrick won three poles in 2005. Saturday’s qualifying is at 2:35 p.m. ET (TV: NBCSN, Radio: Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network, SiriusXM Channel 209).

Herta initially said he doesn’t pay attention to the rookie standings, but then he noted that Rosenqvist leads, a sign that he indeed cares. Pagenaud noticed the contradiction.

“You don’t know (the order), but you know,” Pagenaud said, drawing a smile from Herta.

Simon Pagenaud. Photo by Joe Skibinski

“Exactly,” Herta said. “(Being Rookie of the Year) would be great, but honestly I’m just focused on not running with the rookies but running with everyone, trying to be the best with everyone.”

Herta has been successful at the latter, winning the race at Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas, qualifying fifth for the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge and winning the pole at Road America. Herta, 19, is the youngest winner of a pole and a race in the history of the sport.

“Colton has been a breath of fresh air, quite frankly,” Pagenaud said. “He (has) showed tremendous speed on the road course, certainly pushed the old guys. That’s what we need.”

Pagenaud also complimented Rosenqvist on his season – the Swede was fourth on Friday’s speed chart – and called the foursome “a great rookie class.”

“At the end of the day, it’s about being complete,” said Pagenaud, who added this year’s Indianapolis 500 victory to his 2016 NTT IndyCar Series championship. “That’s what (the rookies) are trying to do. It’s fun to watch from my seat, for sure.”

Carpenter named event’s Grand Marshal

Former Ohio State football standout Bobby Carpenter, a former first-round NFL draft pick of the Dallas Cowboys, was named Grand Marshal of the Honda Indy 200. He will offer the command to start engines for Sunday’s 90-lap race (4 p.m. ET, TV: NBC, Radio: Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network, SiriusXM Channel 209).

The Lancaster, Ohio, native co-hosts the popular “Carpenter & Rothman Show” radio show airing weekdays in Columbus.

‘What They’re Saying’ from Honda Indy 200 practice

Top 10 Drivers (combined practice results):

COLTON HERTA (No. 88 Capstone Turbine Honda): “We had a great end to the first day of practice at Mid-Ohio for the Honda 200. The No. 88 Capstone Turbine Honda was so quick in Practice 2, so being able to finish quickest of the day feels great. Hopefully, we can keep that pace for qualifying tomorrow. The No. 88 boys continue to work so hard, so I’m hoping we can get that great result this weekend.”

SIMON PAGENAUD (No. 22 Menards Team Penske Chevrolet): “Great first day here at Mid-Ohio for the Menards Chevrolet team. Today was hopefully a good snapshot of how the car is going to be in qualifying tomorrow. We feel competitive and confident, whether we are running on Firestone black tires or the reds (alternate tires), so we are in good shape. We’ll go back and look at all the little details tonight, so we are fully prepared for another good day tomorrow.”

WILL POWER (No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet): “The Verizon Chevy is definitely getting there. We made some improvements from the morning session to where we wound up in the afternoon. We are still doing better on the (Firestone) black tires than we are on the reds (Firestone alternate tires), so we’ll keep working on that. We are headed in the right direction for qualifying tomorrow, and hopefully, we can earn a good starting spot for Sunday’s race.”

FELIX ROSENQVIST (No. 10 Clover Chip Ganassi Racing Honda): “This is one of the few tracks I’ve been on in an Indy car before. After testing Scott’s (Dixon) car with the team twice here, it’s a different mindset in that you have an idea of what to expect. I think we had a good start in the Clover car. It was a good day and we’re making progress with the car, for sure. We just need to really focus on what the alternate tires are going to do tomorrow, as I think that will play a big role.”

RYAN HUNTER-REAY (No. 28 DHL Honda): “I think it was a somewhat productive first day. It went by pretty quickly due to the limited amount of laps we wanted to put on these tires – we wanted to save them for qualifying tomorrow. All-in-all, I think we’re in the top five to seven right now. We need to make some big gains in the car tonight. We’re not going to be on pole with the current balance and qualifying is very important here, so we need to put our heads down and make some of the right setup changes tonight.”

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE (No. 5 Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda): “Solid first day for us in the No. 5 Arrow car. We rolled off the truck pretty strong, which we were hoping to do after a strong showing here last year. The setup seems to have carried over pretty well. Obviously, the times are super close, a tenth (of a second) puts you into P2 this afternoon. We don’t need big changes, we just need to kind of tune it and put it all together over a lap and see where we shake out tomorrow. This is definitely a track position kind of race and qualifying is going to be very important, so that’s the focus overnight.”  

SCOTT DIXON (No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda): “I think we need to do better than we’ve done here lately in terms of results. We need to get back to our winning ways. We’ve had success at Mid-Ohio as a team, as well as me personally, but that isn’t good enough right now. The track really evolves here and you really need to keep up with changes to understand what you need here to go fast. I think we made some gains here from last year and hope we get to continue to show that this weekend after a fast start in the PNC Bank car this morning. The second session wasn’t terrible. I spun early in one run and then the red (flag) came out when we were on our run on the alternate tires, so we didn’t get to post a time that reflected what we have.”

MATHEUS LEIST (No. 4 ABC Supply AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet): “Overall, I think it was a good day here in Mid-Ohio. The first practice was decent. We did a pretty good setup when we came here to test for the Chevy day. We didn’t quite change the car for the afternoon because we knew the car was decent, so we just worked on the basics. Finishing the day in P7 was overall a pretty good day. The car is feeling good.  It’s a tough track, everybody is so close to each other. Two-tenths from seventh, you can be either third or you can be 15th. It’s just so close. We just have to focus on tomorrow’s qualifying.”

SPENCER PIGOT (No. 21 Autogeek Chevrolet): “We made good gains with the Autogeek Chevrolet and it’s in a good spot. It’s a shame not to have been able to get a run in on the red (Firestone alternate) tires with that red flag coming out, but we have a good baseline for tomorrow. We’ll make a few more adjustments in the morning session, then be ready to go for qualifying.” 

JACK HARVEY (No. 60 AutoNation SiriusXM Honda): “It’s the home race for Mike (Shank) and Mid-Ohio has been good to me in the past, but we are trying to execute a normal race weekend. We had a really positive day today and in the past when we have this kind of day, we continue to improve throughout the weekend. We found some areas that we wanted to work on after the first practice and once we changed those things, we were able to leapfrog up a couple of positions in Practice 2. This series is so competitive that it doesn’t matter how good you feel on Friday – it could completely flip on its head. I want to do a solid job for the entire Meyer Shank Racing team, as well as for our AutoNation and SiriusXM partners. It has been a great day and I hope we keep this momentum going.”

Remainder of Field (alphabetical):

MARCO ANDRETTI (No. 98 UniFirst / Curb Honda): “It was a horrible day, to be honest. We were jumping all over the place with setups trying to find something we liked and then the red flag came out at the end there, so we didn’t get a lap on the reds (Firestone alternate tires) that we were looking for, so we really don’t know where we stand. We’ll put our heads together tonight, and hopefully, redeem ourselves tomorrow before qualifying.”

SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS (No. 18 SealMaster Honda): “The SealMaster Honda No. 18 is very anchored. We’re pretty happy with the balance. There is still a little gain to make, but the car is good. We were three or four tenths off Will (Power) on blacks (Firestone primary tires) and right up there on reds (Firestone alternate tires). I lost a lap because of the red flag, but overall, pretty happy. We’ll see what we have tomorrow. Honestly, I was dreading a little bit about this weekend after such a strong performance last year in the race. It wasn’t completely fair because we had three sets of brand new red tires, and clearly, they were the better tire in the conditions on race day. So, I feel good about the fact that we found some performance today.”

MAX CHILTON (No. 59 Gallagher Carlin Chevrolet): “It was a solid day in Mid-Ohio today and I believe that we have top-10 pace in the No. 59 Gallagher Carlin Chevrolet. We showed it this morning with a 10th and again this afternoon, but unfortunately, we didn’t get a time on the reds (Firestone alternate tires) with that late red flag. We had a one-lap wonder at the end of that second practice where we were third-fastest overall and it was my fastest lap of the session with sort of stone-cold tires. I think we definitely have the potential to get another good qualifying result for the team similar to last year’s.”

RC ENERSON (No. 31 Lucas Oil School Carlin Chevrolet): “It’s my first time back with Carlin since Spring Training (February 2019) and my first INDYCAR race this season here at Mid-Ohio this weekend. It’s been awhile since I’ve been in a car, so both practice sessions were really just about taking baby steps back to getting comfortable with the No. 31 Lucas Oil School Carlin Chevrolet. The second practice session was even better than the first, and we were able to finally throw the reds (Firestone alternate tires) on and see the grip level there. I haven’t been on red tires in a very, very long time, so it was a bit of a surprise. We’re still working forward and every lap I’m starting to feel more and more comfortable in the car, so I think we’re making big steps forward already.”  

MARCUS ERICSSON (No. 7 Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda): “Like always, another new track for me to learn. I really like Mid-Ohio, it has a proper old school feel to it. Nice sweeping corners, a lot of elevation changes, so it’s definitely a driver’s type of track. It was fun to learn that. I think the day has been pretty good. We had quite a good first session getting used to the track; I think the Arrow SPM team rolled out with a good car straightaway. We finetuned for Practice 2, trying to get more laps in. I think we took some steps in the right direction. Still a bit more to find, but we’re making progress, and hopefully tomorrow, if we put everything together, we can be right up there.”  

SANTINO FERRUCCI (No. 19 Cly-Del Manufacturing Honda): “In the first practice session this morning, I was still learning the track a little bit aboard the Indy car, as it’s completely different from what I’ve raced here in the past, and I struggled a lot with the car. Then going into the second session this afternoon, we changed a lot on our No. 19 Cly-Del Manufacturing Honda. Everything felt a lot better. On the black (Firestone primary) tire run, we got caught up in traffic, and then when we put on the red Firestone (alternate) tires, the red flag came out. Unfortunately, we were not really able to show our pace because of that, but we know we have it. We’ll see what we can do tomorrow.”

ED JONES (No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Scuderia Corsa Chevrolet): “We weren’t able to get a good lap in on the red (Firestone alternate) tires, so the results don’t show the true speed of the car. We definitely need to make some improvements heading into tomorrow, but we have a good idea on what we need to do, so I am feeling confident.” 

TONY KANAAN (No. 14 ABC Supply AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet): “We tried a different direction than the No. 4 (teammate Matheus Leist), and obviously, I think they found a better way. So, that’s we planned to do this weekend, to try to find something that works, so now we’re going to what they have and be up there with them.”

JOSEF NEWGARDEN (No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet): “Unfortunately, I just got loose and went off track late in the afternoon session today. Thankfully, the damage isn’t too bad and the PPG Team Penske guys are the best, so they’ll get everything fixed up for tomorrow. We were just a little off with the car in the second practice, so we will get that fixed as well and be ready to go with the PPG Chevy on Saturday.”

GRAHAM RAHAL (No. 15 Fifth Third Bank Honda): “We tried a lot today and made a big swing in the second session after struggling in Practice 1. Everyone puts a lot into this program, so I know it’s not a lack of effort, but we’re not in the ballpark right now. We still have tomorrow to figure it out so we’re going to dig in and come back out here fighting tomorrow.”  

ALEXANDER ROSSI (No. 27 NAPA AUTO PARTS Honda): “Obviously, we’re not where we’d like to be at the end of the day. We tried a few different things, so we know what doesn’t work, but we need to find what does. We were hoping to get a good run in just before the red flag came out, so we can’t really gauge how we ended, we just know we need to work overnight to figure out what it is we’re missing. Luckily, Ryan (Hunter-Reay, teammate) found something that was a little beneficial, so hopefully, we can take that and build off of it.” 

TAKUMA SATO (No. 30 Mi-Jack / Panasonic Honda): “It was a little bit of a tough day. The session was interrupted by a red lap and we never got a timed lap with the red (Firestone alternate) tire, which was a shame, and I believe a lot of people are in the same boat. However, we are still on the bottom of the timesheets, so we need to find the speed. Last year, we came back quite strong in Practice 3, so hopefully, overnight we will analyze and come back better tomorrow.  We are struggling with a little bit of everything. Struggling on rotation, snap oversteer and the stability on power.”

ZACH VEACH (No. 26 Gainbridge Honda): “Trying to get the car right has been the biggest struggle of today. We made good progress from 20th to 14th in Practice 2, so hopefully, we can do the same tomorrow in Practice 3 and be where we need to contend for the (Firestone) Fast Six like we did last year. We just need some help in some places and I think we’ll be well on our way to do that.”