Colton Herta is looking to reset at this weekend’s Indy GP on the IMS road course after two bad outings in succession at Barber and Long Beach.

The surprise COTA winner struggled with a fuel pickup problem in Barber that left him classified 24th, and then crashed at Turn 9 at Long Beach after spending most of the afternoon running in the top 10.

The four-week break between Long Beach and the GP gave Herta plenty of time to reflect on what went wrong, and he said he’s embracing the opportunity to get things back on course when the green flag waves on Saturday.

“[The past month has] been crap for me,” he admitted. “I crashed at Long Beach. It’s a long time not to be in a car in between, [after] having two back-to-back bad results.

“We did get a lot of testing in. We got to do a test here on the Speedway, then the Honda manufacturer day on the road course. I think a lot of the Honda cars will be very well-prepared for this weekend.

“It’s always nice to get back in the car. That’s the best thing to get your mind off of a bad weekend. Yeah, it was a long time of no racing, but we kind of kept busy in between with testing.”

The last time Herta raced at IMS he won, triumphing in the 2018 Freedom 100 after a battle with Pato O’Ward. This year, he’s arriving at the GP with his IndyCar season to focus on – and his first Indianapolis 500 to build towards.

“This is a cool event to kickstart May,” he said. “Obviously, the anticipation builds up to the 500 from this event.

“It’s cool for me because after so many years of looking up to all these guys that have been able to race in it, finally to be able to race in it is something that I hold really dearly into my heart. I’m really excited for it.”