Herta ‘Treasuring’ His Time in Sports Car Racing

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

Colton Herta says he’s been ‘treasuring’ his time in sports car racing, as the NTT IndyCar Series star gets ready for a season of racing in Europe ahead of a possible step into Formula 1.

The 25-year-old Californian has been reunited with Wayne Taylor Racing for a three-race IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship campaign next year in the team’s No. 40 Cadillac V-Series.R alongside Jordan Taylor and Louis Deletraz.

The trio were victorious at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in 2024 with Acura, when Herta was driving a Honda-powered car in IndyCar.

However, Herta, who was named Cadillac F1’s test and reserve driver for next year, will also shift his full-time racing to Europe, taking part in his rookie season of Formula 2 competition with Hitech TGR.

“It’s good to be back with Wayne Taylor and new for me, with the Cadillac. It’s exciting to be back here,” Herta told reporters during the recent IMSA-sanctioned test at Daytona International Speedway.

“It’s a fun car to drive for sure. It sounds just as good on the inside as it does from the outside.

“It’s just a joy to be back because these cars and this race is so much fun. Sports car racing is so different to all the racing that I do. I really do treasure my time here.

“I feel very fortunate to be able to do this.”

The Cadillac is the third LMDh car that the second-generation racer has so far driven, after appearances in the BMW M Hybrid V8 and Acura ARX-06.

“There’s still a lot for me to learn about the Cadillac, so it’s hard for me to judge completely. But it’s good,” said Herta.

“It’s great to have so many competitive manufacturers in a series like this. Coming from IndyCar where we have two, it’s really cool and exciting to be able to race against all these different cars with different engines and models.”

While set to take on a new challenge in F2 next year, Herta said he’ll particularly be looking forward to racing on home soil for at three times, with planned outings at the Rolex 24, Sebring and Motul Petit Le Mans in the No. 40 WTR Cadillac.

“It’s great to be with Cadillac, especially with all the other stuff that I’m doing with them,” he said.

“But it’s also nice to come home too. It’s going to be nice when I’ll be spending so much time in Europe, it will be nice to come back to America at some point and be able to race cars here.”

When asked to compare the environment at WTR from two years ago, just as the team expanded into a two-car operation, Herta admitted that a lot of the core staff have remained.

“The people in the main roles that I would interact with are the same,” he said. “The engineers are the same; the main car engineers are the same.

“Obviously there’s a whole lot of different personnel from the systems side. I don’t think I’ve worked with any of these guys before from Cadillac.

“As a Honda driver before, it was always a big head-to-head.

“It’s cool and great to meet a lot of smart people and try to pick their brain and see what this car can do.”

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John