ANDRETTI DRIVERS SWEEP PODIUM AT MID-OHIO

Andretti Autosport drivers sweep podium at Mid-Ohio – Photo: LAT

Andretti Autosport has recorded its first IndyCar Series win in well over a year with Colton Herta breaking through to take the victory in the second race at Mid-Ohio.

By RHYS VANDERSYDE

After starting from pole position, Herta scored his third career win beating out teammates Alexander Rossi and Ryan Hunter-Reay who rounded out the podium.

“I’m so happy,” said Herta after the race.

“We’ve been knocking on the door almost every weekend. We’ve had the pace. But for some reason or another, one thing has gone wrong or this thing has gone wrong.”

“We finally put everything together. We got the pole this morning, had a stellar car. Everybody on the Capstone Turbine crew gave me an incredible car.”

Australian Will Power was unable to back up yesterday’s performance with radio issues hindering his race.

“We had some radio issues, so I really wasn’t sure what position we were running in all the time, so I really just followed my teammates and pitted when they did.” said Power.

“It was pretty smooth sailing from there, but we really couldn’t make up a lot of ground.”

“Considering that and the radio challenges during the race, we come away actually feeling all right with a seventh-place result and a pretty good weekend overall with the win on Saturday.”

Series leader Scott Dixon had been on for a good result until a self-confessed rookie mistake dropped the Ganassi driver down to the tail of the field. He was able to recover and salvage tenth place by the end of the race.

“We really struggled on the restarts with tire pressures for some reason.” said Dixon.

“On the turn when I spun out, I just had a bunch of guys in front of me on alternate tires, and I got too aggressive. I got on the overtake button at the exit of Turn 1 and spun the tires and spun the car.”

“It was just a stupid, rookie mistake, and I feel bad for the PNC Bank team.”

“Obviously, the car proved to be fast after that. We managed to fight back until the very end and pick up some spots. But overall, we should have never been in that position to begin with.”

Dixon’s major rival in the series standings Josef Newgarden only finished two places ahead of the Kiwi, reducing the points margin to 72 points with three races scheduled for the remainder of the season.

IndyCar will now return to Indianapolis for a doubleheader on the IMS road course October 2 and 3.

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