Herta Powers Honda to 10th Manufacturers’ Title
・Honda drivers Colton Herta, Alex Palou and Romain Grosjean sweep the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey podium
・Win clinches Honda’s fourth consecutive INDYCAR Manufacturers’ Championship
・Other Honda titles came in 1996, 1998-99, 2001, 2004-05 and 2018-20
・Palou closes on Drivers’ Championship with one race remaining
Honda clinched its 10th overall, and fourth consecutive, NTT INDYCAR SERIES Manufacturers’ Championship today at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca with a podium sweep today in the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey.
Today’s title clinch comes on the 25th anniversary, of Honda’s first IndyCar Manufacturers’ championship, recorded on Sept. 8, 1996, with a 1-4 result for Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Alex Zanardi and Jimmy Vasser. Vasser claimed Honda’s first drivers’ title in the same event.
The Honda one-two-three result was led by Andretti Autosport’s Colton Herta, winning from pole for the second consecutive time – just as he did in the series’ last visit to Laguna Seca in 2019. Herta would lead all but four laps in today’s 95-lap event en route to his second victory of 2021.
Championship points leader Alex Palou finished second, extending his points lead over Pato O’Ward to 35 with one race remaining. Former F1 driver Romain Grosjean advanced from 13th on the grid, and surviving late-race contact, to round out the podium in the #51 Dale Coyne with RWR Honda.
Graham Rahal finished just off the podium in fourth position, completing a Honda sweep of the top-four positions of the day. For Rahal, it was his seventh top-five finish of the year.