Брайан Херта: От гонщика до стратега в IndyCar

American race car driver

Bryan John Herta (born May 23, 1970) is an American race strategist and former race car driver. He currently runs his own team, Bryan Herta Autosport in the NTT IndyCar Series and is the strategist for the #27 Andretti Autosport in the same series. His team won the 2011 Indianapolis 500 with driver Dan Wheldon and the 2016 Indianapolis 500 with driver Alexander Rossi. He is the father and former strategist of IndyCar driver Colton Herta.

Herta enjoyed considerable success in the lower formulae, winning the Barber Formula Ford and Barber Saab Pro Series, and dominating the 1993 Indy Lights championship with Tasman Motorsports, race engineered by Gerald Tyler. He graduated to IndyCar racing in 1994 with team owner A. J. Foyt, where he had several promising races before suffering a season ending injury at Toronto. In 1995, Herta was hired to drive for Chip Ganassi Racing. Despite a pole at Phoenix, the association was unsuccessful, with Herta managing only a 20th place in the series standings while his teammate Jimmy Vasser finished 8th. Even so, Herta landed a top ride with Team Rahal for the 1996 season. During the next few years, Herta developed a reputation for his prowess on road courses, especially at Laguna Seca Raceway. In 1996, he was the leader until the last lap, when Alex Zanardi made a pass through the "Corkscrew" chicane and took the victory. Herta, who rarely qualified below the first row at Laguna Seca, won two events at the circuit in 1998 and 1999. At the height of Herta's career, fan interest in the Shell sponsored driver was dubbed "Hertamania" by team owner David Letterman. In the opening laps of the 1998 event at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin's Road America circuit, Herta was involved in a major accident. In the 4 mile (6 km) road course's fifth turn, Herta got too close to the back of the car of co owner Rahal, and spun out into a paved runoff area, facing oncoming traffic. A few seconds later, Alex Barron slid into the front of Herta's car and rode up on top of it. Both drivers were uninjured; Herta reported that Barron's car had actually hit his hands, only inches from his face. From 2000 to 2003, Herta drove for a variety of Champ Car teams including Forsythe Championship Racing, Mo Nunn Racing, and PK Racing, but never quite regained his form from the late 1990s. In 2002 Herta drove an F1 car for the first time, piloting a Minardi at the "Thunder in the Park" event held at Donington Park. This led to speculation that he would test and even race for Minardi in F1.

After dabbling in sports cars, he revitalized his open wheel racing career by substituting for an injured Dario Franchitti halfway through the 2003 IRL season. In just his third IRL start, Herta picked up his first IndyCar Series win at Kansas Speedway for Andretti Green Racing. He was retained in an expanded four car squad in 2004, usually running development engines. On July 31, 2005, Herta took his second IndyCar Series win, defeating AGR teammate Dan Wheldon in a close finish in the Firestone Indy 400 at the Michigan International Speedway. In early 2006, he drove at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and Fundidora Park for A1 Team USA in the A1 Grand Prix series before returning to Andretti Green for the IRL season. As of 2006, Herta has started in the Indianapolis 500 five times (1994–1995, 2004–2006) with three top ten finishes, including a best of 3rd in 2005. Bryan has his helmets painted by AliveDesignCo. com

On October 31, 2006, Herta was confirmed as a driver for Andretti Green Racing's new Acura Le Mans prototype program for the 2007 American Le Mans Series season. He shared the car with Marino Franchitti, brother of his former teammate Dario Franchitti. On January 3, 2007, it was announced that Dario would also drive a limited ALMS programme with both Marino and Herta. Herta finished the season 7th in driver points with 1 class win. He also drove for A1 Team USA. At the event in Australia, Herta scored a 10th place finish.

Since retiring from racing, Herta served as a driver coach for Vision Racing and founded a Firestone Indy Lights Series team named Bryan Herta Autosport, which has a technical alliance with Vision Racing's Indy Lights team. In 2009, the team fielded a full time entry for Daniel Herrington. The team campaigned Sebastián Saavedra for eleven races of the 2010 Firestone Indy Lights season and the Indianapolis 500. In 2011 the team fielded a car for Dan Wheldon in the 2011 Indianapolis 500 which resulted in a stunning victory, and a full time entry in Indy Lights for Duarte Ferreira. For the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series season, Alex Tagliani ran the 500. The team switched to a Honda powered DW12 in May 2012 for the remainder of the season. In 2016 Herta partnered with Michael Andretti as a co owner and won the 2016 Indianapolis 500. Their car was driven by series rookie Alexander Rossi. Herta's son, Colton, is also a racing driver, and made his IndyCar debut in 2019 with Harding Steinbrenner Racing. In March 2019, Colton became the youngest ever IndyCar winner in the second round at the Circuit of the Americas.

Herta and his wife Janette Michele (née Fountaine) have three children: Calysta, Colton, and Caden.

Year Team Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Rank Points Ref 1994 A. J. Foyt Enterprises Lola T94/00 Ford XB V8tSRFPHXLBHINDYMILDETPORCLETORMISMDONHMVANROANZRLS23rd11 1995 Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard 95i Ford XB V8tMIASRFPHXLBHNZRINDYMILDETPORROATORCLEMISMDONHMVANLS20th30 1996 Team Rahal Reynard 96i Mercedes Benz IC108C V8tMIARIOSRFLBHNZR500MILDETPORCLETORMISMDOROAVANLS8th86 1997 Team Rahal Reynard 97i Ford XD V8tMIASRFLBHNZRRIOSTLMILDETPORCLETORMISMDOROAVANLSFON11th72 1998 Team Rahal Reynard 98i Ford XD V8tMIAMOTLBHNZRRIOSTLMILDETPORCLETORMISMDOROAVANLSHOUSRFFON8th97 1999 Team Rahal Reynard 99i Ford XD V8tMIAMOTLBHNZRRIOSTLMILPORCLEROATORMISDETMDOCHIVANLSHOUSRFFON12th84 2000 Walker Racing Reynard 2Ki Honda HR 0 V8tMIALBHRIOMOTNZRMILDET 18th 26 Mo Nunn Racing Mercedes Benz IC108F V8tPORCLETORMISCHIMDOROAVAN Forsythe Championship Racing Ford XF V8tLSSTLHOUSRFFON 2001 ZakspeedForsythe Championship Racing Reynard 01i Ford XF V8tMTYLBHTXSNHNZRMOTMILDETPORCLETOR 22nd 28 Forsythe Championship RacingMISCHIMDOROAVANLAUROCHOULSSRFFON 2003 PK Racing Lola B02/00 Ford XFE V8tSTPMTYLBHBRHLAUMILLSPORCLETORVANROAMDOMTLDENMIAMXCSRF 25th 2

Year Team Chassis No. Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Rank Points Ref 2003 Andretti Green Racing Dallara IR 03 27 Honda HI3R V8HMSPHXMOTINDYTXSPPIRRIRKANNSHMISSTLKTYNZRCHIFONTX2 13th 277 2004 Dallara IR 04 7 Honda HI4R V8HMSPHXMOTINDYTXSRIRKANNSHMILMISKTYPPIRNZRCHIFONTX2 9th 362 2005 Dallara IR 05 Honda HI5R V8HMSPHXSTPMOTINDYTXSRIRKANNSHMILMISKTYPPIRSNMCHIWGLFON 8th 397 2006 Dallara IR 05 Honda HI6R V8HMSSTPMOTINDYWGLTXSRIRKANNSHMILMISKTYSNMCHI 11th 289

Year Chassis Engine Start Finish Team 1994 Lola T94/00 Ford XB V8t 22 9 A. J. Foyt Enterprises 1995 Reynard 95i Ford XB V8t 33 13 Chip Ganassi Racing 2004 Dallara IR 04 Honda HI4R V8 23 4 Andretti Green Racing 2005 Dallara IR 05 Honda HI5R V8 18 3 Andretti Green Racing 2006 Dallara IR 05 Honda HI6R V8 16 20 Andretti Green Racing

Year Entrant Class Chassis Engine Tyres 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Rank Points 2002 Panoz Motor Sports LMP900 Panoz LMP01 Evo Élan 6L8 6.0L V8 SEBovr:8cls:7 SONovr:3cls:3 MIDovr:4cls:4 AMEovr:Retcls:Ret WASovr:6cls:6 TROovr:4cls:4 MOSovr:5cls:5 MONovr:6cls:6 MIAovr:11cls:8 PETovr:5cls:5 10th 153 2003 Team Nasamax LMP900 Reynard 01Q Cosworth XDE 2.6L Turbo V8(Bio ethanol) SEBovr:Retcls:Ret ATL SON TRO MOS AME MON MIA PET NC 0 2007 Andretti Green Racing LMP2 Acura ARX 01a Acura 3.4L V8 SEBovr:2cls:1 STPovr:21cls:7 LNBovr:6cls:6 TEXovr:2cls:2 UTAovr:Retcls:Ret LIMovr:7cls:6 MIDovr:10cls:7 AMEovr:9cls:7 MOSovr:5cls:3 DETovr:19cls:8 PETovr:Retcls:Ret MONovr:6cls:4 13th 98 2008 Andretti Green Racing LMP2 Acura ARX 01b Acura 3.4L V8 SEBovr:18cls:6 STPovr:6cls:5 LNBovr:6cls:4 UTAovr:8cls:7 LIM MID AME MOS DET PET MON 24th 38