By Rory Carroll
LONG BEACH, Calif. (Reuters) – Colton Herta roared to victory at the COVID-19 delayed Grand Prix of Long Beach just six months ago and said the quick turnaround gives him an advantage heading into Sunday’s IndyCar competition.
The 21-year-old Andretti Autosport driver emerged as the victor after 85 laps in his Long Beach debut and sees no downside to returning to the challenging street course so soon.
“If anything it’s probably better for us because teams don’t have as much time to work on their street course cars through the year and come back,” Herta told Reuters.
“So instead of a work period of a year, it’s only six months, so it should help us.”
He expects his car to be very similar to the one that helped him finish ahead of Josef Newgarden of Team Penske and Scott Dixon of Chip Ganassi Racing in September.
Those two drivers, as well as 2019 winner and team mate Alexander Rossi, could prove to be his stiffest competition.
Herta, the son of retired race car driver Bryan Herta, said he is eager to put to rest any suggestion that he benefited from beginner’s luck or the unusual timing of the event the first time around.
“We’ll have to go and prove it wrong if people think that,” the soft-spoken Herta said with a smile.
“But I’m really confident. We’ve got a quick car and a really good team. We know how to win here, we just need to go do it again.”
No matter who crosses the line first, long-time Grand Prix Association of Long Beach CEO Jim Michaelian said fans can expect a fun weekend of races after the event was cancelled in 2020 and pushed back in 2021.
“We’re back to our traditional date in April and that in itself is a going to create a lot of excitement,” he said of the grand prix, which will feature six races over three days and is expected to take place amid a Southern California heat wave.
“We’ve always been a sort of a Spring Break, vacation time, come out and enjoy yourself event.
“And that’s what the Grand Prix is all about.”
(Editing by Ed Osmond)
