In Mid-Ohio Alexander Rossi collided with Romain Grosjean and Devlin DeFrancesco, and Grosjean nudged Herta off the track.
But today in Toronto the team bounced back, with Herta and Rossi taking first and fourth in qualifying, while Grosjean – who hit the wall in the morning – salvaged 11th alongside DeFrancesco in 12th, who survived two incidents in qualifying.
“Last [race] weekend was a bit of a nightmare for us as an organisation, pretty embarrassing,” Herta said. “But good to kind of get it behind us. Nice that everybody’s kind of made up and no longer are in that mindset.
“It’s a good way to kind of regroup. We had a great test in Iowa last week, then came here and obviously are having really good sessions. Everyone is very fast. All the Andretti cars in the top 12. I’m sure we’re all happy.”
Herta was surprised to set his fastest time in Q3, when everyone is running used sets of the Firestone alternate compound red tyres.
“We had a great race car in the morning. Kind of did a little bit to it to adjust it and ended up being very fast this afternoon. I think overall on the new reds [tyres] we lacked a little bit of pace. We were fourth, fifth, sixth.
“On the used reds, the car came alive which is intriguing and interesting for tomorrow. We’ll have to wait and see.”
Colton Herta, Andretti Autosport w/ Curb-Agajanian Honda
Photo by: Phillip Abbott / Motorsport Images
Herta said this wouldn’t, however, alter the team’s strategy for the race.
“I think what was surprising is in a lot of street course qualifying in IndyCar in the last few years, I’ve seen that guys can usually match their time in the third round of qualifying to the new red set [from Q2]. It’s very rare when guys can go faster.
“It wasn’t just me, it’s a lot of guys. Most of the field went faster than their new tire run. It was something that was interesting.
“[But] as far as strategy, I don’t think that really changes much for what people are planning to do or not planning to do with the red tyres.”
Herta credited the Andretti Autosport engineers with the quartet’s qualifying performance, stating: “I think the team’s doing an amazing job. It’s one place where damping is so important.
“All the bumps and bits at a place like Toronto where it’s incredibly bumpy and smooth, so you kind of [need] a mixture of both the balance and the damping.”