How old was Colton Herta when he became the youngest IndyCar race winner in 2019?

At the 2019 Circuit of The Americas, Colton Herta made history by winning his first IndyCar race at the age of 18 years, 359 days. When Herta won the race, he broken the record of the youngest person to win an Indy race which was previously held by Graham Rahal at the age of 19 years, 93 days, which was set during the 2008 St. Petersburg race. Herta led the race for the final 15 laps and had an advantage of 2.7812 seconds over Josef Newgarden.

NTT IndyCar Series PPG 375 - Practice - Qualifying - Source: Getty

Herta started the race in 4th position. Throughout the race , the race leader Will Power comfortably led the field. He led every lap up until the contact between James Hinchcliffe and Felix Rosenqvist on Lap 44 which brought out the yellow flags. The strategy worked well for Herta as he just pitted a lap prior under green-flag conditions which enabled him to stay out, while the top three consisting of Will Power, Alexander Rossi and Scott Dixon were forced to pit under the yellow flag conditions. This helped Herta is taking up the race lead. During the restart Herta had to battle to keep Josef Newgarden behind him. Herta said :

On the restart, we were quick, We kind of sprinted off. I know we got the quickest lap on that first lap, which was pretty crazy to have the tires up to temp and everything ready.

Winning this race not just made Herta the youngest to win an IndyCar race, but he also became the first driver to win an IndyCar series race conducted at the Circuit of The Americas (COTA).

Colton Herta drove the car number 88 to victory while Josef Newgarden had to settle for the second position. Ryan Hunter-Reay finished in third position completing the podium.

Herta not just made a name for himself but rather a significant win for his team Harding Steinbrenner Racing as it was their first win since becoming a team co-owner by Mike Harding and George Michael Steinbrenner IV. Steinbrenner had previously provided Herta with a car during his Indy Light run in 2017 and 2018.

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Colton Herta's journey leading up to the historical moment.

Colton Herta's racing career like the others began with single seater racing. Later he switched to BRDC F3 and the F3 masters race in Zandvoort. He raced there for a few seasons which turned out to be quite successful, Herta returned to the US and competed in the Road to Indy series IndyCar Lights, where he clenched a total of six wins and 20 podiums in two years.

Herta has also won the Rolex 24 At Daytona class twice, once in 2019 with BMW Team RLL and then in 2021 with DragonSpeed.

Colton Herta is the youngest driver in American history to have won major events at two of America's most iconic circuits, one being the Indianapolis Motorspeedway and the other being Daytona Speedway.