Colton Herta and Patricio O’Ward have an inability to escape one another. And it’s making them both better.
The duo put on a fierce battle as Andretti Autosport teammates in Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires competition this year, combining for 13 wins over the 17 races with O’Ward capturing the championship in the top level of the INDYCAR-sanctioned Mazda Road to Indy development ladder.
The two are reunited once more as they prepare for their Verizon IndyCar Series debuts Sunday at the INDYCAR Grand Prix of Sonoma. This time, it comes with Harding Racing. O’Ward qualified an impressive fifth Saturday in the No. 8 Harding Group Chevrolet while Herta qualified 19th in the sister No. 88 car.
When the green flag waves shortly after 6:30 p.m. ET Sunday (NBCSN and Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network), Herta will become the fourth-youngest driver to start an Indy car race, behind only Nelson Philippe, Graham Rahal and Andrew Ranger. Herta will be the first driver born in the 21st century to compete in an Indy car event.
The son of retired driver and Andretti Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian co-owner Bryan Herta said it really hit home with him when he shared the Sonoma Raceway track with some of his heroes on Friday.
“I don't think it really sunk in until the first practice session, and then you're like on the grid with all the big boys,” Colton Herta (pictured above) said.
“You're going by (Will) Power and (Scott) Dixon and (Sebastien) Bourdais, guys you kind of looked up to when you were growing up and coming up in the ranks, and now you're trying to beat them. It's pretty cool in that sense, but it probably didn't hit me until I sat in the car getting ready for the first practice.”
Herta and O’Ward are a slice of an unabashed youth movement this weekend at Sonoma – the hopeful heirs apparent to the day when the likes of Power, Dixon, Bourdais, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Takuma Sato and Tony Kanaan park their cars for the final time. No fewer than 10 drivers in this weekend’s 25-entry field are 25 years old or younger. Herta (18), O’Ward (19), Matheus Leist (20) and Santino Ferrucci (20) are all under 21.
The youngest of the group, Herta said it’s been his desire to race an Indy car since, well, the day he made another debut on March 30, 2000.
“It's really cool to finally get your start in (an) Indy car,” he said. “I've waited 18 years for this. Right out of the womb, I was waiting to get into an Indy car.”
The career paths of Herta and O’Ward continue to parallel each other in many ways. Both started in karting and spent formative junior formula years abroad before returning to North America.
O’Ward, from Monterrey, Mexico, spent 2015-16 in the middle rung of the Mazda Road to Indy ladder, the Pro Mazda Championship presented by Cooper Tires, finishing runner-up in his second season. He drove in four Indy Lights races in 2017 while also co-piloting a Prototype Challenge car to the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, before returning this year for the full Indy Lights season – where he won nine races, the championship and $1 million scholarship to guarantee at least three Verizon IndyCar Series races in 2019.
Herta drove in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship powered by Mazda, the initial Mazda Road to Indy level, in 2014 before heading to Europe and Asia for more seasoning. He came back to Indy Lights in 2017 with Andretti-Steinbrenner Racing, finishing third that season and second this year while winning a total of six races.
“We've been racing karts since – if I remember correctly, since 2009, 2010, I think – and we've been going up the ranks,” O’Ward said. “We didn't really do some of the junior performance (categories) together, but we both came to Indy Lights.
“I think it's cool that we're both pushing each other. We're both trying to get better, and I'd much rather have a strong teammate than to have someone that I won't really get information out of. I think it's always good to have someone that pushes you and pushes you to your limits, so you can get better and better. I feel like he'll feel the same way.”