Despite starting only 14th, he ended up leading 50 of the 75 laps, beating two drivers – Simon Pagenaud and Will Power – who between them have won eight of the 11 IndyCar races on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course.
“The most interesting thing is you never have a car that works in the wet and the dry – it's just not possible,” said Herta, “but it happened today.
“It was very interesting. Felt comfortable in all conditions.”
Herta, who also earned the first victory of the IndyCar season for the Andretti Autosport team and the Honda engine said his decision to pit at the start of Lap 3, to swap his wet tires for red sidewalled Firestone slicks had been crucial to vaulting himself into the lead.
“The call for slicks to wets that made the difference,” he said. “I think we gained 15 [actually 13] spots on that transition. We pitted on Lap 3. Everybody pitted on lap 4 or 5. We gained [13] spots in that transition to go from 14th to first.
“Yeah, it was really cool. The team did a tremendous job. They gave me such an incredible car.”
Herta was in a long discussion with his strategist and father Bryan Herta before the final stint regarding whether to go for more reds or switch to wets as rain had returned and heavier showers were expected imminently. In the end they went for more reds, but all their principal rivals did the same, so when the rain became heavier, almost all ducked back into the pits.
He explained: “What we were talking about is, I said, ‘With the track conditions right now it's probably wets, but if you think it's going to get dryer or wetter, that will change my decision.’ We thought it was going to dry out a little bit, so we went on slicks. Immediately when I got out there, I knew it was going to be tough, but I said, ‘If you guys think it's going to be dry, then we'll stay out here.’
“I think they saw something pop up on the radar that it was going to stay wet. We made the wrong choice, but luckily, everyone followed our direction and did the wrong thing also! So we didn't actually lose that much.”
Herta admitted that part of his defense against Pagenaud in the wet conditions came from watching the TV screens at the side of the track, and blinding his pursuer with spray.
“Maybe I shouldn't tell you guys this, but I saw Simon poking out [of the spray] on one of the restarts on the TVs,” he said. “I was watching the TVs because I couldn't see anything out of the mirrors. Every time he would poke out, I would go down a little bit more [to the right] so he couldn't see anything going into Turn 1. I was giggling a little bit in my helmet looking. He would poke out a little bit more, so I would go a little bit more. Funny.”
Herta also had a major save on a wet patch at Turn 8 while pursuing Pato O’Ward for the lead, the #26 Gainbridge performing a long opposite lock drift before snapping back into line and allowing Herta to catch and pass the Arrow McLaren SP driver.
“I was on the rack stops,” he said, “and I was shoving so hard to get more wheel, but I couldn't. I need to see the video of what happened, but what I think happened is it was drying, but maybe I went out a little bit wider on the entry of the corner than I had been and got that left rear on a damp patch or something. That's what it felt like because I turned in and it just lost everything immediately.
“I would have been upset if I spun there, but I would have been even more upset because I didn't know that it was for the lead of the race. I thought maybe I was, like, 10th or 11th. Maybe gained a few spots from that, so I had no clue where I was on track.
“Yeah, I guess that was one of the only mistakes we made today.”
