Herta leads Rossi, McLaughlin in IndyCar test at Gateway

Listen to this article

The 1.25-mile track on the Missouri/Illinois border will feature the 2021 NTT IndyCar Series’ 13^th of 16 rounds, and the fourth and last oval race of the season.

Herta, who finished fourth – his best oval finish in IndyCar – and sixth in last year’s double-header at WWTR, topped the speeds in Tuesday’s test with a 180.990mph lap. That was a mere 0.235mph faster than his teammate, 2016 Indy 500 winner Alexander Rossi.

Rookie McLaughlin was the only Team Penske-Chevrolet driver present, and he wound up third, around 0.6mph adrift of Herta. The New Zealander has taken well to ovals since moving across from Supercars, outqualifying his illustrious teammates in the Indianapolis 500, and scoring his first podium finish at Texas Motor Speedway.

Ed Jones took time out early in the day to check the setup of his Dale Coyne Racing teammate Romain Grosjean, set to make his oval race debut at WWTR next month, before turning in fourth-best time of the day in the DCR with Vasser-Sullivan entry.

Ryan Hunter-Reay made it five cars in the 180mph bracket with fifth quickest in his #28 Andretti Autosport entry, ahead of the fourth AA car of James Hinchcliffe.

Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevy’s Rinus VeeKay, who like Herta scored a sixth and a fourth at Gateway last year, was seventh fastest after turning more laps than anyone, while Grosjean was eighth in the DCR with Rick Ware Racing entry, managing to spin without hitting anything.

The two AJ Foyt-Racing-Chevys were ninth and tenth ahead of Ed Carpenter.

RANK	DRIVER	TEAM	ENGINE	QUICK LAP (mph)	DIFF (mph)	TOTAL LAPS
1	Colton Herta	Andretti Autosport	Honda	180.990	——	114
2	Alexander Rossi	Andretti Autosport	Honda	180.755	-0.235	118
3	Scott McLaughlin	Team Penske	Chevy	180.395	-0.595	169
4	Ed Jones	Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan	Honda	180.123	-0.867	103
5	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti Autosport	Honda	180.062	-0.928	111
6	James Hinchcliffe	Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport	Honda	179.397	-1.593	108
7	Rinus VeeKay	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevy	179.042	-1.948	171
8	Romain Grosjean	Dale Coyne Racing w/Rick Ware Racing	Honda	177.427	-3.563	166
9	Sebastien Bourdais	AJ Foyt Enterprises	Chevy	176.758	-4.232	91
10	Dalton Kellett	AJ Foyt Enterprises	Chevy	176.046	-4.944	170
11	Ed Carpenter	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevy	175.672	-5.318	159