Colton Herta gets blunt about "slow" Andretti car as team suffers triple knockout in Sonsio GP qualifying

Colton Herta voiced his disappointment after getting knocked in Round 1 of qualifying for the Sonsio Grand Prix on March 9. This was the Andretti Global driver's worst qualifying performance of the season so far.

For the first four races, Herta had qualified in the top five each time, with P4 being his worst result. However, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, IndyCar's youngest race winner had a tough time in qualifying, with his No. 26 Honda lacking the optimum grip for a good fast lap.

He was only seventh-quickest in Group 1, the easier group of two, where there were no Team Penske cars or Chip Ganassi Racing's championship-winning duo. His Andretti Global teammate, Kyle Kirkwood, was even slower in the group, 11th-fastest out of 13.

After the session. Colton Herta spoke about the team's double disappointment in Group 1. He said (via IndyCar on X):

"The balance hasn't been a problem. It's a weird thing. This weekend, I have been generally happy with the car, (but) we've just been slow. The thing is just lack of overall grip. It's just not giving us the ultimate grip that we need."

"We're finding a nice balance in the racecar. That's nice for the race, but I still need that ultimate grip that we're kind of missing. We've kind of been chasing our tails all weekend so far, and it's really disappointing for both me and Kyle not to make it."

Andretti Global's third driver, Marcus Ericsson, who was in Group 2, also suffered a Round 1 exit. He was the 10th-quickest driver out of 14.

Kyle Kirkwood's reason for qualifying failure at the IMS wasn't the same as Colton Herta

Kyle Kirkwood at the NTT IndyCar Series Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey - Source: Getty

Kyle Kirkwood sounded more disappointed than teammate Colton Herta after Round 1 of qualifying at the IMS. However, the reason for his exit stemmed from a "gamble" his No. 27 Andretti Global took in the practice sessions.

Kirkwood, who is IndyCar's only race winner in 2025 not named Alex Palou, explained his situation, saying:

"I didn't get a chance to run the reds (red tires) this morning. We kind of took a gamble with that. I don't think it worked out perfectly in our favor. We wanted to have the best tires for the race, right? So we didn't use as many of them."

He elaborated, saying how he had no reference for a good lap on the soft tires, and a lock-up at Turn 7 cost him more time.

"I don't really have any positive things to say right now, if I'm being honest," Kirkwood added.

Colton Herta will start 13th on the grid for the Sonsio Grand Prix on Saturday, while Kyle Kirkwood will be 21st. Marcus Ericsson will be in P20, one position ahead of Kirkwood. Alex Palou won pole as he looks to make it four wins in five races this season.