NTT IndyCar Series Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey Results

The NTT IndyCar Series continued its west coast swing at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca for Sunday afternoon’s Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey.

Qualifying took place on Saturday, and Colton Herta won his second consecutive pole. His teammate Alexander Rossi qualified second.

On the race’s second lap, Alexander Rossi lost control and went onto the sand that brought out the race’s only caution.

The only time Herta lost the lead was when had to pit, which on both occasions, Romain Grosjean was the new leader. He led four laps.

Late in the race, Romain Grosjean passed Graham Rahal for third place. Meanwhile, Takuma Sato got loose at the corkscrews. Scott Dixon tried to avoid him and made contact with Sato. No caution came out, and the race stayed green.

Late in the race, Colton Herta ran over a rabbit trying to cross the track. Herta asked his crew to check the front wing for damage. His front wing did not suffer any damage.

Colton Herta dominated the race, leading 91 of the 95 laps to win his second straight race at Laguna Seca by 1.9747 seconds over Alex Palou. It was his first win of the season and fifth of his career, passing his dad Bryan Herta.

During the post-race celebration, Colton Herta “I enjoy racing here so much. It’s an amazing track for me and my family. It’s been so good to us. To go two-for-two so far is great. We were fast all weekend, and I was happy we could pull it off in the race.”

When asked about his tough challenge, he referred to his teammate, “Always pressure from Alex (Rossi) behind me. Even at the beginning of the sense when I was better, he was still there, and he closed it back up. I think he was a little better at lap time. I’m just to have done it. This place is awesome. This is my favorite track in North America.”

The second-place finisher Alex Palou leaves with a 35-point lead over Pato O’Ward with one race remaining in the season. “It was amazing. I was surprised we were really competitive in comparison to qualifying with Herta. We didn’t have it today for the win. It was a bit exciting with Grosjean catching us at the end. I think it was an awesome race. The guys did an amazing pit stops, and we go to Long Beach now.”

The fifth-place finisher Pato O’Ward said his car didn’t have it this weekend. “All weekend, we didn’t have it. I truly feel like we used every single ounce of energy and pace that this car had. We pulled off a near-miracle in qualifying to start in the first three rows. In the race, honestly, that was as much as I had.”

The rest of the top ten finishers were Romain Grosjean third, Graham Rahal fourth, Pato O’Ward fifth, Marcus Ericsson sixth, Josef Newgarden seventh, Simon Pagenaud eighth, Oliver Askew ninth, and Ed Jones tenth.

The NTT IndyCar Series 2021 season comes to a close next Sunday, September 26^th, from Long Beach, CA, at 3 pm on NBC.