2019 Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey explained

The 2019 Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey was the seventeenth and final round of the 2019 IndyCar season. The race was held on September 22, 2019, in Monterey, California at the WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and marked the return of open-wheel racing to the track for the first time since Champ Car's 2004 race. The race consisted of 90 laps & was won by rookie Colton Herta.

At the end of the race, Josef Newgarden won his second IndyCar championship in three years, while Felix Rosenqvist narrowly won rookie of the year honors, fending off Colton Herta.^[1]

Entry list

Key	Meaning
	Rookie
	Past winner

align=center	!	Driver	Team	Engine
2			Chevrolet
4			Chevrolet
5			Honda
7	Marcus Ericsson		Honda
9			Honda
10	Felix Rosenqvist		Honda
12			Chevrolet
14			Chevrolet
15			Honda
18			Honda
19	Santino Ferrucci		Honda
20			Chevrolet
21			Chevrolet
22			Chevrolet
23			Chevrolet
25			Honda
26			Honda
27			Honda
28			Honda
30			Honda
59			Chevrolet
60			Honda
88	Colton Herta		Honda
98			Honda
Source:^[2]

Practice

Practice 1

		Driver	Team	Engine	Lap Time
+ Top Practice Speeds
1	88	Colton Herta	Harding Steinbrenner Racing	Honda	01:10.7335
2	10	Felix Rosenqvist	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	01:10.8054
3	19	Santino Ferrucci	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda	01:10.8837
Source:^[3]

Practice 2

		Driver	Team	Engine	Lap Time
+ Top Practice Speeds
1	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti Autosport	Honda	01:09.9105
2	10	Felix Rosenqvist	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	01:09.9305
3	88	Colton Herta	Harding Steinbrenner Racing	Honda	01:09.9317
Source:^[4]

Qualifying

Qualifying started at 4:35 PM ET on September 21, 2019.

Qualifying classification

		Driver	Team	Engine	Time
					Round 1		Round 2	Round 3
					Group 1	Group 2	Round 2	Round 3
1	88	Colton Herta	Harding Steinbrenner Racing	Honda	N/A	01:10.2892	01:09.9828	01:10.1405	1
2	9	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	01:10.3256	N/A	01:10.0845	01:10.1831	2
3	27	Alexander Rossi	Andretti Autosport	Honda	01:10.3097	N/A	01:10.2332	01:10.2105	3
4	2	Josef Newgarden	Team Penske	Chevrolet	01:10.3081	N/A	01:10.2674	01:10.6719	4
5	5	James Hinchcliffe	Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	Honda	N/A	01:10.6462	01:10.4387	01:10.8003	5
6	22	Simon Pagenaud	Team Penske	Chevrolet	01:10.4809	N/A	01:10.6031	01:10.8616	6
7	12	Will Power	Team Penske	Chevrolet	N/A	01:10.4489	01:10.6086	N/A	7
8	15	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda	N/A	01:10.7920	01:10.6296	N/A	8
9	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti Autosport	Honda	01:10.5860	N/A	01:10.6919	N/A	9
10	59	Max Chilton	Carlin	Chevrolet	01:10.5276	N/A	01:10.7257	N/A	10
11	7	Marcus Ericsson	Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	Honda	N/A	01:10.5296	01:11.1666	N/A	11
12	19	Santino Ferrucci	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda	N/A	01:10.7253	01:12.4137	N/A	12
13	25	Conor Daly	Andretti Autosport	Honda	01:10.7787	N/A	N/A	N/A	13
14	10	Felix Rosenqvist	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	N/A	01:10.5649	N/A	N/A	14
15	21	Spencer Pigot	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet	01:10.8275	N/A	N/A	N/A	15
16	30	Takuma Sato	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda	N/A	01:10.8393	N/A	N/A	16
17	26	Zach Veach	Andretti Autosport	Honda	01:10.8407	N/A	N/A	N/A	17
18	20	Ed Jones	Ed Carpenter Racing Scuderia Corsa	Chevrolet	N/A	01:10.9806	N/A	N/A	18
19	18	Sébastien Bourdais	Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan	Honda	01:11.0095	N/A	N/A	N/A	19
20	23	Charlie Kimball	Carlin	Chevrolet	N/A	01:10.9865	N/A	N/A	20
21	14	Tony Kanaan	A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Chevrolet	01:11.2454	N/A	N/A	N/A	21
22	98	Marco Andretti	Andretti Herta Autosport w/ Marco Andretti & Curb-Agajanian	Honda	N/A	01:11.0527	N/A	N/A	22
23	4	Matheus Leist	A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Chevrolet	01:11.5180	N/A	N/A	N/A	23
24	60	Jack Harvey	Meyer Shank Racing with Arrow Schmidt Peterson	Honda	N/A	01:11.2710	N/A	N/A	24
Source:^[5]

Notes

Bold text indicates fastest time set in session.

Warmup

		Driver	Team	Engine	Lap Time
+ Top Practice Speeds
1	27	Alexander Rossi	Andretti Autosport	Honda	01:10.0988
2	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti Autosport	Honda	01:10.8926
3	88	Colton Herta	Harding Steinbrenner Racing	Honda	01:10.8950
Source:^[6]

Race

The race started at 3:15 PM ET on September 22, 2019.

Race classification

		Driver	Team	Engine	Laps	Time/Retired	Pit Stops	Grid	Laps Led
1	88	Colton Herta	Harding Steinbrenner Racing	Honda	90	01:53:56.9845	3	1	83	104
2	12	Will Power	Team Penske	Chevrolet	90	+0.5878	3	7	6	81
3	9	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	90	+6.2404	3	2		70
4	22	Simon Pagenaud	Team Penske	Chevrolet	90	+6.3545	3	6	1	65
5	10	Felix Rosenqvist	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	90	+9.5206	3	14		60
6	27	Alexander Rossi	Andretti Autosport	Honda	90	+10.3637	3	3		56
7	18	Sébastien Bourdais	Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan	Honda	90	+10.6831	3	19		52
8	2	Josef Newgarden	Team Penske	Chevrolet	90	+19.0447	3	4		48
9	5	James Hinchcliffe	Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	Honda	90	+22.8186	3	5		44
10	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti Autosport	Honda	90	+24.7944	3	9		40
11	7	Marcus Ericsson	Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	Honda	90	+25.7806	3	11		38
12	15	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda	90	+26.6517	3	8		36
13	59	Max Chilton	Carlin	Chevrolet	90	+27.0743	3	10		34
14	98	Marco Andretti	Andretti Herta Autosport w/ Marco Andretti & Curb-Agajanian	Honda	90	+54.4314	3	22		32
15	23	Charlie Kimball	Carlin	Chevrolet	90	+56.5862	3	20		30
16	14	Tony Kanaan	A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Chevrolet	90	+65.8739	3	21		28
17	4	Matheus Leist	A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Chevrolet	90	+66.5640	3	23		26
18	26	Zach Veach	Andretti Autosport	Honda	90	+67.9267	3	17		24
19	60	Jack Harvey	Meyer Shank Racing with Arrow Schmidt Peterson	Honda	90	+70.7956	5	24		22
20	21	Spencer Pigot	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet	89	+1 Lap	3	15		20
21	30	Takuma Sato	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda	89	+1 Lap	5	16		18
22	25	Conor Daly	Andretti Autosport	Honda	89	+1 Lap	4	13		16
23	20	Ed Jones	Ed Carpenter Racing Scuderia Corsa	Chevrolet	51	Mechanical	4	18		14
24	19	Santino Ferrucci	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda	48	Contact	2	12		12
Fastest lap Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing) – 01:12.2310 (lap 5)
Source:^[7]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

		Driver	Points
	1	Josef Newgarden	641
1	2	Simon Pagenaud	616
1	3	Alexander Rossi	608
	4	Scott Dixon	578
	5	Will Power	550
Source:

Engine manufacturer standings

		Manufacturer	Points
	1	Honda	1436
	2	Chevrolet	1387

Note: Only the top five positions are included.

Notes and References

Web site: September 22, 2019 . Newgarden Wins Second IndyCar Title, Herta Wins Laguna Seca . Indycar.com . August 30, 2023.
Web site: September 17, 2019 . IndyCar: 2019 Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey entry list . Fair . Asher . beyondtheflag.com . August 30, 2023.
Web site: September 20, 2019 . Practice - Results . August 30, 2023 . indycar.com.
Web site: September 20, 2019 . Practice - Results . August 30, 2023 . indycar.com.
Web site: September 21, 2019. Qualifications - Results. August 30, 2023. indycar.com.
Web site: September 20, 2019 . Practice - Results . August 30, 2023 . indycar.com.
Web site: September 22, 2019. Race - Results (11inch) - Final. August 30, 2023. indycar.com.