Colton Herta is in elite company after Saturday’s overall victory in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Series at Sebring Int’l Raceway.
Co-driving the No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura alongside Louis Deletraz and Jordan Taylor, Herta became the fourth NTT IndyCar Series driver to win an overall crown at the historic 12 Hours of Sebring in the last 30 years.
The only other drivers to reach the top step of the podium have been four-time IndyCar champion Sebastien Bourdais (2021), Indianapolis 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay (2020, 2015) and nine-time IndyCar winner Scott Sharp (2016).
Prior to that, Arie Luyendyk (1989), A.J. Foyt (1985), Al Holbert (1976) Mario Andretti (1972, 1970 and 1967) and Dan Gurney (1959) are the other American open-wheel racers to score the overall win at the 3.74-mile Florida road course.
Fellow Indy car star Kyle Kirkwood won in the GTD Pro class alongside Ben Barnicoat and former Indy car racer Jack Hawksworth. Ryan Dalziel, also a former open-wheel driver, scored a victory on Saturday in the LMP2 class.
For Herta, it’s not the first time he’s experienced success in some of IMSA’s most prestigious events. The 23-year-old owns two Rolex timepieces from winning the Rolex 24 at Daytona (2022 in LMP2, 2019 in GTLM).
“It feels incredible to finally win this one,” Herta said. “I got close in 2020 with BMW. Ended up getting taken out with five minutes to go. Ever since then, I really wanted to come back and try to win this. Luckily we were able to do that.
“Can’t say enough about what Louis (Deletraz) did in the last stint to bring it home, what type of pressure he was under, able to perform through it and put on a pretty spicy move on Seb (Sebastien Bourdais).
“Yeah, I think everybody did an amazing job on the team, drivers, every aspect of it was pretty perfect from us.”
Having the opportunity to wheel a sports car while chasing an IndyCar title has been a challenge for Herta, but a rewarding one in a multitude of ways.
The second-generation racer noted how he enjoys the differences between the two disciplines and feels he’s a better race car driver because of it.
“It’s just so enjoyable, so different then the IndyCar racing,” Herta said. “There are a lot of aspects that are very different. I enjoy it so much. I love those kind of midnight stints at the 24 hours, the 3 a.m. stints, really pushing the car when you feel like nobody’s there. It’s a really cool feeling.
“It’s just a different aspect to the IndyCar stuff. There are so many things that cross over and there are so many things that don’t. You really do become a much more well-rounded racing car driver.”