Colton Herta was very impressive at points during the IndyCar season, finishing second in the championship.
The American driver finally won his first race on an oval, winning at the final round of the season at Nashville Superspeedway.
This was an impressive drive for Herta amongst the drama of the IndyCar championship battle between Alex Palou and Will Power.
The Andretti Autosport driver has made a few mistakes this year, including on the Streets of Detroit where he took himself out of contention after an unforced error.
Herta undertook a test at Iowa Speedway, which was a productive day, but the 24-year-old warned RACER the running wouldn’t be the clearest indicator of good speed at the track in 2025.
Colton Herta feels the low track temperature means the Iowa test needs to be taken with a ‘grain of salt’
The Iowa Speedway is a very difficult circuit on the calendar as the short oval punishes mistakes, with little margin for error.
At Iowa, the high line can also be difficult to use, which creates a narrow groove of grip towards the apron of the circuit, making overtaking difficult.
This also puts an extra emphasis on qualifying at the doubleheader event to start at the front of the field as passing is so tricky.
The air temperature was also much lower at the test compared to the IndyCar race, at just 10 degrees celsius, which is why Herta feels the test isn’t completely representative.
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He explained: “We didn’t even really test many other things outside of that [the downforce package], just because we were happy with what it was. But we’re taking everything with a grain of salt, right?
“The high was 50 degrees out there, so we’re running outside the normal window so it’s hard to create as much tyre deg. But with the thick air, I can say we probably did the first laps ever in this era’s DW12 that were flat around Iowa.”
Colton Herta needs to reduce the errors he makes to challenge for the championship
Herta has been blisteringly fast throughout his IndyCar career, taking his first win during his first full season in 2019 at COTA.
The American stood on the podium six times over the 2024 season on all three types of circuit on the IndyCar calendar.
Herta suffered a difficult day at the Indy 500 as well as the mistake while battling for the win in Detroit, which cost him points.
By contrast to Herta, the reigning champion has been clinical over the past few years. He has made minimal errors and maximising the road and street circuits, Palou also feels he’s close to winning on an oval.
The victory at Nashville Superspeedway could provide a boost for the driver of the No. 26 car heading in 2025, after taking his first oval win.