Andretti INDYCAR Grand Prix of Alabama Race Report
Barber Race Notes
The Andretti INDYCAR team took on the Children’s of Alabama Grand Prix this afternoon at the famed Barber Motorsports Park where the eventful race saw the drivers fighting for strong finishes after yesterday’s qualifying session. The 90-lap race saw four yellow flags, creating on-track commotion and twists with every restart.
Starting today’s race in 15th, Colton Herta held his mid-pack position for the first half of the race before a slow final pit stop saw the Gainbridge Honda drop back to 22nd. With fresh tires and fuel, Herta charged forward in the final stint of the race, making up the lost positions and more, to come away with his fourth top-10 finish at the Alabama track. After today’s result, Herta now leads the INDYCAR Championship Standings.
Rolling off the grid as the highest-qualifying Andretti car, Kyle Kirkwood lost a few spots on the opening laps of the race before working the AutoNation Honda back into the top 10 prior to his first pit stop of the day. Kirkwood held strong in the middle of the pack before jumping up to P6 around the mid-race mark. Despite falling as low as 19th as the field approached the final pit cycle, Kirkwood was able to charge forward in the late stages of the race to come away with another Andretti top-10 and his best finish at Barber Motorsports Park.
Taking the green flag in 18th, Marcus Ericsson quickly moved up seven spots in the opening laps of the race where the Delaware Life Honda would remain knocking on the door of the top 10 until finally moving into P10 28 laps in. The No. 28 remained in the top 10 until contact with the No. 20 disrupted the team’s strategy. Unfortunately, the mid-race contact and untimely yellows were too much to recover from and Ericsson would take the checkered flag where he started the 90-lap race.
The NTT INDYCAR SERIES will head to the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway next to set up shop for the month of May. The action will kick off on May 11 on the IMS Road Course for the Sonsio Grand Prix followed by a week of oval practice and qualifying in preparation for the 108th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge on May 26.
Race Results
Colton Herta No. 26 Gainbridge Honda
P8
Started: P15
Standings: 1st (101pts)
“Overall, it was a solid day from where we started. We always want more, but in order to do that we need to qualify a little bit better. I still think we had an opportunity to show what we’re capable of considering the circumstances, and we were able to move up quite a bit. The Gainbridge Honda was fast today, we just had to pass a lot of cars to get up there and show our skills.”
Kyle Kirkwood No. 27 AutoNation Honda
P10
Started: P9
Standings: 7th (67pts)
“We finished up at Barber with my third top 10 of the season, although I feel like we could have done a variety of things to move a little higher up there. Although, I’m still happy with the performance of the car and we definitely made strides throughout the weekend. So we’ll take it and roll into the Indy GP with a fresh start. It’s a track that I feel really confident on, so I’m looking forward to getting out to our home race in Indianapolis.”
Marcus Ericsson No. 28 Delaware Life Honda
P18
Started: P18
Standings: 14th (49pts)
“The race started extremely well. I was overtaking a lot of cars, and the Delaware Life Honda felt the best it’s been all weekend. Then we started settling in and there was a lot of portions throughout the race where things just didn’t fall our way and we had to try our best to make the right decisions given the situation. It’s a shame because the No. 28 car felt really strong out there, so it was just a lot of work for little reward. There’s still quite a bit of positives to bring from the race pace we had, but hopefully we can turn that into better results at the next one.”
Rob Edwards Chief Operating Officer
“Hopefully the action from today made an exciting race for the fans. For our cars, it’s super unfortunate for Marcus that he got punted off track because he had a good race going, and Kyle and Colton were both executing the strategy they were given. We just needed to be quicker today, but we executed what we had. I can say that I’m happy that we’re leaving Barber with a Championship lead for Colton.”
