Colton Herta 𒈔set the pace for Harding Steinbrenner Racing on the opening day of IndyCar's spring test running at the Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas, finishing half a second clear of tᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚhe field.

In the maid♔en collective IndyCar running at COTA ahead of March's IndyCar Classic race, Herta managed to lead the 25-strong field with a fastest lap time of 1m46.6258s in the 𓃲#88 Honda entry, headin🎀g Penske drivers Will Power and Helio Castroneves at the top of the timesheets.

The ꦬson of US racing legend Bryan Herta, 18-year-old Colton will make his IndyCar debut this year after spending the last two years racing in Indy Lights.

"I'm super happy with how the day went," said Herta. "We did some great things to thꦓe car and I'm very happy with how the boys got everything together in t𝐆ime for this test.

"Everyone did a fantastic job and there were no issues with the car; it was perfect. We kept chipping away and kept finding time. By the end of the day, we we📖re quickest by quite a margin. I can't wait for tomorrow now."

Fellow rookie Felix Rosenqvist managed to finish the test fourth-fastest for Chip Ganassi Racing ahead of🌊 teammate Scott Dixon, with Simon Pagenaud and Alexander Rossi following in sixth and seventh for Penske and Andretti Autosport respectively. Graham Rahal took P8 overall ahead of Santino Ferrucci, while Spencer Pigot rounded out the top 10.

Recent Formula 1ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ driver Marcus Ericsson finished the test 1✃1th-fastest for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports.