Wednesday Wrap-Up: Bryan Herta Autosport's 2014 Season

The fourth of eleven 2014 Verizon IndyCar Series team reviews is the only single car team that featured a rookie driver.

After replacing Alex Tagliani midseason in 2013, Bryan Herta Autosport split the #98 Honda between Luca Filippi and JR Hildebrand for the remaining rounds. Both had respectable outings and were thought to be the leading candidates to become the team's full time driver in 2014. However the loss of their Barracuda sponsorship put a toll on the team, leaving the team's future in question heading into the new year. Right when it seemed either Filippi or Hildebrand were a lock to land the the seat, Jack Hawksworth got the promotion from Indy Lights. The Briton Hawksworth won the 2012 Star Mazda championship and won three races in Indy Lights while finishing fourth in the 2013 championship, just behind Carlos Muñoz, who was also making the full-time switch to IndyCar.

Jack Hawksworth
The first two races of Hawksworth's IndyCar career ended in incidents that were not of the rookie's fault. At St. Petersburg he started eighth and was running toward the front all day but on the first restart of the day, Hawksworth got caught up as the field bunched up and contact with Muñoz and Marco Andretti ended a promising debut. Two weeks later at Long Beach he qualified fifth and once again found himself running in the top ten only to be collateral damage in the Josef Newgarden-Ryan Hunter-Reay accident. At Barber, Hawksworth started second-to-last but worked his way up to twelfth in wet conditions.

The month of May was a breakout month for Hawksworth. He started second for the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and took the lead from Ryan Hunter-Reay on lap ten and opened up a respectable lead. He would lead 31 laps but full course cautions did not play into his favor as the likes of Simon Pagenaud and Ryan Hunter-Reay were able to use fuel mileage to their advantage, dropping Hawksworth from contention for a victory to settle for seventh, his first career top ten finish. Despite struggling on ovals in Indy Lights, Hawksworth was the second highest rookie qualifier for the Indianapolis 500, behind Kurt Busch as the 2004 NASCAR Cup Series champions started 12th with the Brit right behind him in 13th. Hawksworth held his own in his debut Indianapolis 500, finishing 20th, the final driver on the lead lap.

He started third at Belle Isle 1 but a broken rotor ruined his day during the first round of pit stops. He was able to get back out on track but he would finish 19th, five laps down and would have contact with Aleshin on the last lap. In the second Belle Isle race, Hawksworth started 19th and would cycle around to lead one lap but wasn't a factor, coming home in 14th. Texas was a struggle as he started 20th but the Brit was able to complete laps and finished 15th, four laps down. Houston appeared to be another weekend heading up stream without a paddle for BHA as Hawksworth started 21st for race one but worked with his strategy to get him up to a sixth place finish. In Houston 2, Hawskworth started dead last on the grid but once again worked his way to the front and on this occasion finished third, his first career IndyCar podium, after a fierce battle with Juan Pablo Montoya.

The second half of 2014 started with Hawksworth on the sidelines after suffering a heart contusion in a practice accident at Pocono. He would return the following weekend at Iowa and repeated his Texas performance: Started 20th, finished 15th, four laps down. Race one from Toronto was mediocre as he finished 13th but he went from 18th to sixth as he benefited from jumping to slick tires at the right time on a drying track and had some help as plenty of front runners got caught in accidents. Mid-Ohio saw another run at the back of the field as all he could manage was 16th from 18th on the grid. At Milwaukee he went from 18th to tenth, his first career top ten on an oval and only a lap back of race winner Will Power.

Hawksworth would end the 2014 season with back-to-back finishes of 15th at Sonoma and Fontana, finishing only one lap down in the season finale.

Jack Hawksworth's 2014 Statistics
Championship Positions: 17th (362 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 1
Top Fives: 1
Top Tens: 5
Laps Led: 32
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 3
Fast Twelves: 4
Average Start: 15.647 (20th in IndyCar)
Average Finish: 13.611 (17th)

With reports Jack Hawksworth might be off to AJ Foyt Racing for 2015, it poses to be a big loss for Bryan Herta as Hawksworth has shown a lot of potential for a developing driver. The team struggled all of 2014 for funding and they are looking to struggle again in that department in 2015. The team won it's second IndyCar race with Dan Wheldon in 2011 Indianapolis 500 but they have yet to catch lightning in a bottle again as they have only two top five finishes since then, one of which being Hawksworth's podium at Houston.

IndyCar teams have done the best they can in recent years to hire drivers or select drivers with respectable amounts of talent and who aren't solely in motorsports because they have a large checkbook. However, BHA needs money to stay alive. It's a damned if you do, damned if you don't type offseason for BHA. Do you hire a driver who we know has the funding but won't be racking up results and will likely cost you a lot in spare parts (A Sergio Canamasas/Rodolfo González-tpye)? Or do you keep Hawksworth or hire someone like Hawksworth who has shown promise but you will have to scratch and claw for every dime to keep them on the grid (A Sam Bird/Jack Harvey-type)?

As for Hawksworth, he was improving on ovals throughout the season and showed he can run with the best on road and street circuits. A teammate would be beneficial for the Brit and that is something I highly doubt BHA could provide if he stays. These two could be going their separate ways in 2015 and they both could be entirely different directions.