Colton Herta

Colton Herta
Herta at the 2021 Grand Prix of Long Beach
Nationality	American
Born	Colton Thomas Herta (2000-03-30) March 30, 2000 (age 24) Santa Clarita, California, United States
IndyCar Series career
99 races run over 7 years
Team(s)	No. 26 (Andretti Autosport with Curb-Agajanian)
Best finish	2nd (2024)
First race	2018 Grand Prix of Sonoma (Sonoma)
Last race	2024 Music City Grand Prix (Nashville Superspeedway)
First win	2019 IndyCar Classic (Austin)
Last win	2024 Music City Grand Prix (Nashville Superspeedway)
Wins Podiums Poles 9 18 14
Previous series
2017–18 2016 2016 2015 2014	Indy Lights Euroformula Open Championship BRDC British Formula 3 Championship MSA Formula Championship U.S. F2000 Championship

Colton Thomas Herta (born March 30, 2000) is an American racing driver who competes in the NTT IndyCar Series for Andretti Global with Curb Agajanian.^[1] He is the youngest person to ever win an IndyCar Series race.^[2]

He is the son of IndyCar and Champ Car driver Bryan Herta.

Herta made his competitive karting debut in 2010 at the age of 10, racing karts in the SKUSA and IKF series, although he had been karting since the age of 6. He made his single-seater racing debut at 13, finishing second in the SBF2000 Winter Series. In 2014, he made his professional racing debut in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda, finishing 15th in the championship despite missing the opening weekend due to age requirements. In the same year, Herta made his international formula racing debut at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia with the Meritus-run AsiaCup Series, taking part in one event where he won 1 race win and 3 podium finishes. Herta also made a one-off appearance in the Global RallyCross Championship Lites, being the youngest driver to compete in the series.

In 2015, he made his debut in the UK-based MSA Formula series, as the youngest driver and the only American on a grid that consisted mostly of Britons, and got his first win in the second race at Snetterton Circuit in August, thus helping the United States win the Nations Cup. He went on to collect three more victories throughout the season, finishing third overall.^[3]

For 2016, he was planning to move to the newly renamed BRDC British F3 series but was too young to compete at the opening round.^[4] Wanting to complete a full season, he made the switch to the Euroformula Open Championship, staying with Carlin and finished third in points, with four victories, six podium finishes, and five pole positions. Herta went on to compete in six British F3 events, earning three podium finishes including a victory at Brands Hatch.

In 2017 Herta joined forces with the newly formed Steinbrenner Racing to pilot the 98-car in the Indy Lights Series.^[5] He started the year strong with a second-place finish in the first race at St. Petersburg street circuit and followed it up with a Sunday victory; Colton's first win in Indy Lights. He got his 2nd victory at the next event at Barber Motorsports Park, the series' 400th race. Herta won Rookie of the Year and finished 3rd in the drivers championship.

In 2018, Herta remained in Indy Lights. He won four races, including all three held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (both races of the GP of Indianapolis and the Freedom 100 on the speedway). Herta finished 2nd in points to his Andretti teammate Patricio O'Ward.

In September 2018, Herta made his IndyCar Series debut at the season finale in Sonoma, driving for Harding Racing.^[6]

For the 2019 IndyCar season, Herta signed to drive the No. 88 Harding Steinbrenner Racing car. Herta was the first IndyCar Series driver born in the 2000s to start a race. On March 24, 2019, at the age of 18, Herta became the youngest-ever winner in IndyCar history by winning the IndyCar Classic at Circuit of the Americas.^[7] He qualified 5th for the Indianapolis 500, but retired after just four laps after a gearbox failure. On June 22, 2019, at the age of 19, Herta became the youngest-ever pole-sitter at Road America. He won again at Laguna Seca, and finished 7th in the overall standings, just 5 points behind Rookie of the Year Felix Rosenqvist.

Herta again drove the #88 car for Harding Steinbrenner Racing in 2020, with additional backing from Andretti Autosport. Herta finished 7th in the opening round of the 2020 IndyCar season at Texas Motor Speedway. He finished 8th at the Indianapolis 500. On September 13, 2020, Herta won the second of two races held at Mid-Ohio. He scored a runner-up finish at the Indianapolis road course's Saturday race. With seven top 5s in 14 races, he ranked third in points.

Going into 2021, Herta was seen as the strongest challenger in the Andretti stable to Scott Dixon for the IndyCar title. For 2021 Herta would move from the #88 Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Racing car to the #26 Andretti Autosport with Curb Agajanian car with backing from Indianapolis 500 title sponsor Gainbridge. Herta started his season caught up in an accident caused by Josef Newgarden in Alabama but earned his first win of the season at St. Petersburg, his first win on a street circuit.^[8] He would secure two podium finishes before his second win of the season; a second-place at Road America and third place at the second round on the IMS Road Course. He was frequently beset by poor strategy, mechanical issues, and driving errors. Most notable of these was at the inaugural round in Nashville; Herta would qualify on pole position for the race,^[9] lead most of the race, lost the lead under caution to Marcus Ericsson, and crashed out of the race attempting to take the lead back from Ericsson in the closing laps.^[10] Herta was in place to win the race at Gateway but would have to retire the car due to a broken half shaft that happened during a pitstop. Herta would pick up his second win of the season at Laguna Seca, where he led all but one lap of the race to win from pole.^[11] He finished the season off with a come from behind victory on The Streets of Long Beach when he started fourteenth and worked his way rapidly through the field to take the lead from Josef Newgarden and Scott Dixon to win his third race of the season. He ultimately finished the season fifth in the championship standings.^[12]

After intense speculation that he would be making a move to Formula One, Andretti Autosport and Herta announced that he would be racing in IndyCar in 2022, partnering Alexander Rossi, Romain Grosjean, and Devlin DeFrancesco. Herta struggled in the initial rounds of the season, including crashing after losing the lead at Long Beach, but picked up his first win of the season at the GMR Grand Prix. Herta was in place to win the second race at the IMS road course before a mechanical failure would cause him to have to retire the car for the day and his teammate Alexander Rossi would win.

Herta initially signed a multi-year contract to remain with Andretti Autosport,^[13] though this would be later to be extended to 2027.^[14] Herta's 2023 would end with 3 top-5 finishes, including a podium at Toronto. He also took back-to-back poles at Mid-Ohio and Road America, where he would also lead the most laps. Road America proved to be the closest Herta would come to a win in 2023, dominating the race before dropping to 5th due to a poor strategy call forcing him to save fuel in order to reach the finish. The season concluded with Herta 10th in the standings again after a tough second half including two DNFs at Nashville Street Circuit and the finale at Laguna Seca.

Herta started the season with five top five finishes in the first five races, including podiums at St. Petersburg and Long Beach. He struggled with bad luck and performance issues after the Indianapolis 500, though did manage to pick up another podium finish at Laguna Seca and his first pole position on an oval at Iowa. Herta finally broke through at Toronto, qualifying on pole and winning his first race in two years. At the final race of the season at the Nashville Superspeedway, Herta broke through and took his first win on an oval, securing second place to Alex Palou in the 2024 IndyCar Series championship standings, his highest points total yet. Herta also became the highest scoring Andretti Autosport driver in the modern IndyCar era since Ryan Hunter-Reay in 2012.

Herta participated in the 2019 24 Hours of Daytona in a BMW M8 GTE for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. He, along with co-drivers Connor De Phillippi, Augusto Farfus and Philipp Eng, won the race in the GTLM class.

Herta returned to Daytona participate in the 2022 edition, partnering fellow IndyCar drivers Pato O'Ward and Devlin DeFrancesco along with Eric Lux in an LMP2 entry for DragonSpeed.^[15] The quartet won after Herta took the lead in the final 11 minutes of the race.^[16]

In late 2022 Herta was confirmed as one of the drivers for the new BMW M Hybrid V8 prototype to be fielded by Rahal Letterman Lannigan racing during the 2023 IMSA SportsCar Championship.

In the 2024 IMSA SportsCar Championship, Herta drove the #40 Acura for Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport and earned his first overall win in the series at the 12 Hours of Sebring.

With the attempted purchase of Sauber by Andretti Autosport, Herta was the favorite candidate to join Formula One with Alfa Romeo for the 2022 season partnering Valtteri Bottas. He got to mold the seat and do a test with the simulator at the team's base in Hinwil, Switzerland, where according to multiple reports and Mario Andretti,^[17] he set faster times than Kimi Räikkönen and Antonio Giovinazzi, then Alfa Romeo's lineup. A preliminary agreement was reached with Ferrari to hold a 300 km test with a Formula One car so that Herta could participate in free practice in the United States, Mexico City and Sao Paulo Grand Prix. However, those tests never happened and the negotiations between Andretti and Sauber broke down at the end of 2021, the purchase never took place and Alfa Romeo signed Zhou Guanyu for 2022.^[18]

In March 2022, Herta was signed by McLaren as a development driver in the 2022 season to test the MCL35M from 2021.^[19] He took part in his first test drive from 11–13 July around Algarve International Circuit in Portimão, which results have said to have "seriously impressed" industry insiders.^[20]

In 2022, Red Bull began to show interest in having Herta as an AlphaTauri driver for 2023.^[21] Herta however lacked enough points to obtain a super license, which is necessary to be able to contest in Formula One. Red Bull began efforts to obtain it by asking the FIA to consider making an exception for Herta.^[22] Red Bull reached an agreement with Alpine for Herta to be included in the tests with its Formula One cars in September in Hungary, which the French team was organizing to choose its driver in 2023.^[23][24] Alpine would accept, so that Herta could get some extra points in his super license and that the AlphaTauri driver, Pierre Gasly, was free to join the French team.^[25] Ultimately the FIA's refused to make an exception for Herta,^[26] Red Bull would abandon its efforts to bring the American driver to Formula One and Herta did not participate in the tests with Alpine.^[27]

Herta plays the drums and is a member of indie punk rock band The Zibs, which he formed in 2018 with his high school friends Jon Graber and Chris Broadbent.^[28]

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	Position
2012–13	SBF2000 Winter Series	N/A	12	1	1	0	4	287	6th
2013	Pacific Formula F1600	PR1/BHA with Curb-Agajanian	15	10	6	10	15	413	1st
2014	U.S. F2000 National Championship	JAY Motorsports	12	0	0	1	0	115	15th
	AsiaCup Series	Meritus.GP	4	1	1	2	3	59	8th
	GRC Lites	AD Racing	1	N/A	0	N/A	N/A	16	15th
2015	MSA Formula Championship	Carlin	30	4	3	8	12	355	3rd
2016	Euroformula Open Championship	Carlin	16	4	5	4	7	199	3rd
	Spanish Formula 3 Championship		6	2	2	1	4	94	2nd
	BRDC British Formula 3 Championship		6	1	0	1	3	109	19th
	Masters of Formula 3		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	13th
2017	Indy Lights	Andretti Steinbrenner Racing	16	2	7	3	7	300	3rd
2018	Indy Lights		17	4	3	7	13	447	2nd
	IndyCar Series	Harding Racing	1	0	0	0	0	20	37th
2019	IndyCar Series	Harding Steinbrenner Racing	17	2	3	2	2	420	7th
	IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTLM	BMW Team RLL	3	1	0	0	2	89	14th
2020	IndyCar Series	Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport	14	1	1	0	2	421	3rd
	IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTLM	BMW Team RLL	3	0	0	0	0	79	9th
2021	IndyCar Series	Andretti Autosport w/ Curb-Agajanian	16	3	3	2	5	311	5th
	IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTD	Turner Motorsport	2	1	1	1	1	285	50th
2022	IndyCar Series	Andretti Autosport	17	1	2	1	2	381	10th
	IMSA SportsCar Championship - LMP2	DragonSpeed USA	1	1	0	0	1	0	NC
	Formula One	McLaren F1 Team	Test driver
2023	IndyCar Series	Andretti Autosport with Curb-Agajanian	17	0	2	0	1	356	10th
	IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTP	BMW M Team RLL	1	0	0	0	0	274	24th
2024	IndyCar Series	Andretti Global with Curb-Agajanian	17	2	3	1	6	513	2nd
	IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTP	Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport	3	1	0	1	2	970	18th

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate points for the fastest lap of top ten finishers)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	DC	Points
2015	Carlin	BHI 1 12	BHI 2 4	BHI 3 14	DON 1 15	DON 2 9	DON 3 4	THR 1 5	THR 2 6	THR 3 9	OUL 1 3	OUL 2 6	OUL 3 Ret	CRO 1 6	CRO 2 2	CRO 3 14	SNE 1 9	SNE 2 1	SNE 3 1	KNO 1 5	KNO 2 2	KNO 3 2	ROC 1 3	ROC 2 7	ROC 3 1	SIL 1 2	SIL 2 5	SIL 3 2	BHGP 1 2	BHGP 2 5	BHGP 3 1	3rd	355

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate points for the fastest lap of top ten finishers)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	DC	Points
2016	Carlin Motorsport	EST 1 Ret	EST 2 5	SPA 1 6	SPA 2 5	LEC 1 18	LEC 2 EX	SIL 1 2	SIL 2 Ret	RBR 1 1	RBR 2 1	MNZ 1 16	MNZ 2 4	JER 1 1	JER 2 4	CAT 1 2	CAT 2 1	3rd	199

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Rank	Points
2014	JAY Motorsports	STP	STP	BAR 19	BAR 7	IMS 5	IMS 20	LOR 14	TOR 5	TOR 14	MDO 10	MDO 16	MDO 13	SNM 7	SNM 9	15th	115

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Rank	Points
2017	Andretti Steinbrenner Racing	STP 2	STP 1	ALA 10	ALA 1	IMS 12	IMS 10	INDY 13	RDA 12	ROA 3	IOW 4	TOR 4	TOR 10	MDO 2	MDO 6	GMP 3	WGL 3		3rd	300
2018	Andretti Steinbrenner Racing	STP 3	STP 8	ALA 2	ALA 3	IMS 1	IMS 1	INDY 1	RDA 1	RDA 2	IOW 2	TOR 7	TOR 6	MDO 2	MDO 2	GTW 2	POR 2	POR 4	2nd	447

(key)

Year	Team	Chassis	No.	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Rank	Points	Ref
2018	Harding Racing	Dallara DW12	88	Chevrolet	STP	PHX	LBH	ALA	IMS	INDY	DET	DET	TXS	RDA	IOW	TOR	MDO	POC	GTW	POR	SNM 20		37th	20	[29]
2019	Harding Steinbrenner Racing			Honda	STP 8	COA 1	ALA 24	LBH 23	IMS 23	INDY 33	DET 12	DET 12	TXS 18	RDA 8	TOR 7	IOW 18	MDO 8	POC 16	GTW 9	POR 4	LAG 1		7th	420	[30]
2020	Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport				TXS 7	IMS 4	ROA 5	ROA 5	IOW 19	IOW 19	INDY 8	GTW 4	GTW 6	MDO 9	MDO 1	IMS 4	IMS 2	STP 11					3rd	421	[31]
2021	Andretti Autosport		26		ALA 22	STP 1	TXS 22	TXS 5															5th	455	[32]
	Andretti Autosport w/ Curb-Agajanian								IMS 13	INDY 16	DET 14	DET 4	ROA 2	MDO 13	NSH 19*	IMS 3	GTW 18	POR 8	LAG 1*	LBH 1*
2022					STP 4	TXS 12	LBH 23	ALA 10	IMS 1*	INDY 30	DET 8	ROA 5	MDO 15	TOR 2	IOW 24	IOW 12	IMS 24	NSH 5	GTW 11	POR 6	LAG 11		10th	381	[33]
2023					STP 20	TXS 7	LBH 4	ALA 14	IMS 9	INDY 9	DET 11	ROA 5*	MDO 11	TOR 3	IOW 19	IOW 7	NSH 21	IMS 13	GTW 6	POR 13	LAG 23		10th	356	[34]
2024	Andretti Global w/ Curb-Agajanian				STP 3	THE 4	LBH 2	ALA 8	IMS 7	INDY 23	DET 19	ROA 6	LAG 2	MDO 4	IOW 11	IOW 5	TOR 1	GTW 5	POR 4	MIL 22	MIL 3	NSH 1	2nd	513	[35]
2025					STP	THE	LBH	ALA	IMS	INDY	DET	GTW	ROA	MDO	IOW	IOW	TOR	LAG	POR	MIL	NSH		-	0

Year	Chassis	Engine	Start	Finish	Team
2019	Dallara	Honda	5	33	Harding Steinbrenner Racing
2020	Dallara	Honda	10	8	Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport
2021	Dallara	Honda	2	16	Andretti Autosport
2022	Dallara	Honda	25	30	Andretti Autosport
2023	Dallara	Honda	21	9	Andretti Autosport
2024	Dallara	Honda	13	23	Andretti Autosport

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Class	Make	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Rank	Points
2019	BMW Team RLL	GTLM	BMW M8 GTE	BMW S63 4.0 L Twin-turbo V8	DAY 1	SEB 7	LBH	MDO	WGL	MOS	LIM	ELK	VIR	LGA	PET 3		14th	89
2020	BMW Team RLL	GTLM	BMW M8 GTE	BMW S63 4.0 L Turbo V8	DAY 5	DAY	SEB	ELK	VIR	ATL	MDO	CLT	PET 6	LGA	SEB 4		9th	79
2021	Turner Motorsport	GTD	BMW M6 GT3	BMW 4.4 L Turbo V8	DAY 6	SEB	MDO	DET	WGL	WGL	LIM	ELK	LGA	LBH	VIR	PET	50th	285
2022	DragonSpeed USA	LMP2	Oreca 07	Gibson GK428 V8	DAY 1†	SEB	LGA	MDO	WGL	ELK	PET						NC†	0†
2023	BMW M Team RLL	GTP	BMW M Hybrid V8	BMW P66/3 4.0 L Turbo V8	DAY 6	SEB	LBH	LGA	WGL	MOS	ELK	IMS	PET				24th	274
2024	Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport	GTP	Acura ARX-06	Acura AR24e 2.4 L Turbo V6	DAY 3	SEB 1	LBH	LGA	DET	WGL	ELK	IMS	PET 7				18th	970
Source:[36]

^† Points only counted towards the Michelin Endurance Cup, and not the overall LMP2 Championship.

• Colton Herta driver statistics at Racing-Reference