Believing Herta is surprised by a car that is “just impossible”

Although it only started at 14^thhe eventually led by 50 out of 75 laps, beating two racers – Simon Pagno and Will Power – who in between won eight of 11 IndyCar races on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“The most interesting thing is that you never have a car that runs on wet and dry – it’s just impossible,” said Herta, “but it happened today.

“It was very interesting. I felt comfortable in any conditions. “

Hertha, who also won his first IndyCar season for Andretti Autosport and Honda, said his decision to take the pit early in lap 3, to replace wet tires with red Firestone sidewalls, was crucial in order to jump lead.

“The call for excesses in wet substances has made a difference,” he said. “I think we scored 15 [actually 13] spots on this transition. We got to the 3rd round. All passed on the 4th or 5th. We won [13] places in this transition to move from the 14th to the first.

“Yes, it was very cool. The team worked tremendously. They gave me such an incredible car. “

Hertha had a long discussion with her strategist and father Brian Hertha before the last stop as to whether to go for more reds or switch to wet as the rain came back and heavy showers were soon expected. Eventually they went for the Reds, but all of their major rivals did the same, so when the rain got heavier, almost everyone dived into the pits.

He explained: “We talked about what I said: ‘Given the conditions on the track now it’s probably wet, but if you think it’s going to get drier or wetter, it will change my mind.’ We thought it would dry up a bit, so we went for the pictures. As soon as I got out of there, I knew it was going to be hard, but said, “If you think it’s going to be dry, then we’ll stay here.”

“I think they saw that something appeared on the radar that it would stay wet. We made the wrong choice, but thankfully everyone followed our directions and also did wrong! So we didn’t lose much. “

Hertha admitted that part of his protection against Pegno in wet conditions came from watching TV screens on the side of the track and dazzling the pursuer with spray.

«Maybe I shouldn’t tell you about it, guys, but I saw Simon come forward [of the spray] on one of the restarts on TV, ”he said. “I was watching TV because I didn’t see anything in the mirrors. Every time he stuck out, I dipped a little more [to the right] so he couldn’t see anything happening in turn 1. I giggled a bit in my helmet while looking. He would push a little more, so I’ll go a little more. Funny.

Hertha also saved significantly on the wet section at turn 8, chasing Pat O’Ward for the lead, № 26 Gainbridge performed a long opposite drift lock before returning to the line and allowing Hertha to catch and bypass Arrow McLaren SP drivers.

“I was on the rack,” he said, “and I was pushing so hard to get more of the wheel, but I couldn’t. I need to watch a video of what happened, but I think it happened, it dried up, but maybe I went a little wider at the entrance to the corner than it was and got the left back on a wet stretch or something. That’s what I felt because I applied and he just lost everything at once.

“I would be upset if I spun there, but I would be upset even more because I didn’t know it was for leadership in the race. I thought maybe I was 10th or 11th. Maybe got a few places out of it, so I had no idea where I was on the way.

“Yeah, I guess that was one of the only mistakes we made today.”