Herta leads pack of rookies at opening practice at WeatherTech Raceway

Colton Herta led a rookie 1-2-3 sweep of the final opening practice session of the 2019 NTT IndyCar Series season at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

The 19-year-old Californian lapped the 2.238-mile road course in 1 minute 10.7335 seconds on his penultimate lap of the 45-minute session. His solid practice run went upside-down a lap later as he spun heading into the track’s famous Corkscrew and got stuck in the gravel.

IndyCar officials ended the session one-minute shy of the scheduled time as the AMR Safety Crew retrieved his stranded No. 88 Harding Steinbrenner Racing Honda.

Herta’s flyer displaced the Chip Ganassi Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist by .0719s after the Swede led much of the session.

Dale Coyne Racing rookie Santino Ferrucci recovered from an off-track excursion to clock the third quickest time of 1:10.8837s.

The quickest from the Penske Chevrolet camp came by way of Australian Will Power while Andretti Autosport rookie Zach Veach completed the top five.

Varied results hit the four championship contenders as Indy 500 winner Simon Pagenaud fared the best in sixth at 1:11.1519s. His points-leading teammate Josef Newgarden slotted in three spots behind in ninth.

The remaining title contenders Scott Dixon and Alexander Rossi had less than memorable runs. Dixon logged an unspectacular 12th quickest lap while runner up Alexander Rossi ended the day dead last, nearly 2.25 second behind Herta's time.

His run was cut short by hardware issues and fought to control his No. 27 NAPA Auto Parts Honda throughout his four meager practice laps.

The session was stopped one additional time midway through for Tony Kanaan’s spin into the gravel trap in Turn 11.