Category: NTT Indy

LEXINGTON, Ohio (Sunday, July 2, 2023) – Things could not be going better for Alex Palou, who at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course won his third consecutive NTT INDYCAR SERIES race to extend his championship lead to a staggering 110 points.

Palou’s victory in The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Presented by the 2023 Accord Hybrid helped him become only the second driver since the 2016 season to score a three-peat. That other driver was Scott Dixon, the six-time series champion who opened 2020 with such a streak.

And if Palou needed more confidence as the season moves to its second half, he should know that the last three times an INDYCAR SERIES driver won three races in succession – Dixon in 2013 and ’20, Simon Pagenaud in 2016 – the Astor Challenge Cup followed at year’s end.

Yes, Palou is on a major roll, having won four of the past five races. He even could be riding a five-race winning streak if not for contact on pit road midway through the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge. The incident with Rinus VeeKay dropped the pole sitter to 27th place, and he stormed back to finish fourth.

Palou is humble, but he conceded this stretch of success is “the best moment of my career so far.”

Palou won this race by 5.0242 seconds over Dixon, but it was another Chip Ganassi Racing teammate that helped the series lead swell so large. Marcus Ericsson, who had been second in the standings, ran over the Arrow McLaren car of fellow Swedish driver Felix Rosenqvist on the opening lap, effectively ending his race.

Ericsson’s crew was able to make repairs to the front suspension of the No. 8 Huski Ice Spritz, but it was too much too late. Ericsson finished last in the 27-car field, losing 48 points to the series lead, and he fell to fourth in the standings.

The incident also ended Ericsson’s streak of eight consecutive top-10 finishes to start the season. Guess who is the only driver with a streak that long: Yes, it’s Palou. Considering he won last year’s season-ending race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, the 26-year-old Spaniard has compiled 10 straight top-eight finishes with nine of them record in the top five.

And it could continue. Palou finished third in last year’s Honda Indy Toronto, the next race on the schedule (July 16).

“I know we can have some good couple of races coming up now, and we’ll still try and maximize (points), do the best we can and win when we can,” the driver of the No. 10 The American Legion Honda said. “So, yeah, try and get (the car) on top.”

Palou trailed NTT P1 Award winner and Andretti Autosport driver Colton Herta (No. 26 Gainbridge Honda) and fellow front-row starter Graham Rahal (No. 15 Fifth Third Bank Honda of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing) through the first segment of the race, but he swiped the top position during the first pit exchange. Herta went to pit road first, on Lap 28, and while Rahal waited a lap to make his stop, Palou conserved fuel behind him.

Herta and Rahal came out of the pits with new primary tires, but Palou switched to the faster alternative compound, allowing him to rocket past them to the lead.

Palou had the field covered the rest of the way. His only difficulty came during a sequence when he took several laps to overhaul the No. 55 AJ Foyt Racing/Sexton Properties Chevrolet of series rookie Benjamin Pedersen. In that stretch, Palou’s 8-second lead was cut in half, but he quickly regained all of that advantage once clearing Pedersen on Lap 55.

After Palou made his second and final pit stop on Lap 54, Herta and Rahal came to pit road on consecutive laps, and both had trouble. Herta’s car nearly got away from him at pit entrance, and the errant momentum caused him to exceed the speed limit, drawing a drive-through penalty. Rahal arrived at his pit box without concern, but trouble mounting the left rear tire led to a slow stop. As a result of those bobbles, the fastest two cars in qualifying dropped to the eighth (Rahal) and 12th (Herta) positions.

Rahal finished seventh, Herta 11th as Palou continued on without incident.

“I had a good car and good strategy, honestly,” Palou said. “We’ve got a really fast car, (but) we knew we needed to try something different to the guys starting up front – that’s why we started on primary (tires). Everything went well. The strategy, the pit stops and our pace was pretty good.”

Honda won its sixth race of the year in nine tries.

Dixon did everything he could to remain in contention for a championship that would tie A.J. Foyt’s al-time record. With Pato O’Ward (No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet) finishing eighth after a difficult three-stop charge from the 25th starting position, Dixon jumped to second in the standings. Josef Newgarden (No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet) and Ericsson are 116 and 122 points out of the lead with eight races remain. O’Ward is fifth, 127 points in arrears.

Palou’s competitors will need a lot to happen to catch him.

“Anything’s possible,” Dixon said of overcoming the deficit. “Like we’ve always seen, you’re never out of it until you’re out of it. So, we’ll keep trying as hard as possible.

“I know we tied (in points) with (Juan Pablo) Montoya in 2015, and we thought we were possibly out of it (entering the final race). That’s what’s funny about the INDYCAR SERIES and all of the competition, but you’ve got to give them credit, they’re doing a hell of a job.”

Dixon has won six of these Mid-Ohio races, but this was his first second-place finish. The result also was his best of the season as he seeks to extend his series records for seasons with at least one win (currently 20) and consecutive seasons with a win (18).

Will Power (No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet) has similar streaks in play – 18 and 16 years, respectively — and he earned his third podium finish of the season in third place.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Christian Lundgaard (No. 45 Vivid Clear Rx Honda) and last year’s Mid-Ohio winner, Scott McLaughlin (No. 3 Good Ranchers Team Penske Chevrolet), finished fourth and fifth, respectively, with David Malukas (No. 18 HMD Truck Honda of Dale Coyne Racing with HMD) sixth.

The 27 cars ran a mostly clean race with the exception of Ericsson’s contact with Rosenqvist, which drew a penalty for avoidable contact. Andretti Autosport’s Kyle Kirkwood (No. 27 DHL Honda) tried to challenge Palou in Turn 4 on Lap 19 and lost six positions. He finished 17th.

Conor Daly finished 20th while driving the No. 60 AutoNation/SiriusXM Honda as Meyer Shank Racing asked him to stand in for Simon Pagenaud, who endured a wild ride without injury in an accident in Saturday morning’s practice. Pagenaud will be re-evaluated in advance of the Honda Indy Toronto.

The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio
Presented by the 2023 Accord Hybrid
Race Results

1. (4) Alex Palou, Honda, 80, Running
2. (6) Scott Dixon, Honda, 80, Running
3. (7) Will Power, Chevrolet, 80, Running
4. (5) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 80, Running
5. (8) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 80, Running
6. (12) David Malukas, Honda, 80, Running
7. (2) Graham Rahal, Honda, 80, Running
8. (25) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 80, Running
9. (18) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 80, Running
10. (13) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 80, Running
11. (1) Colton Herta, Honda, 80, Running
12. (15) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 80, Running
13. (14) Romain Grosjean, Honda, 80, Running
14. (24) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 80, Running
15. (16) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 80, Running
16. (20) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 80, Running
17. (3) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 80, Running
18. (11) Jack Harvey, Honda, 80, Running
19. (17) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Chevrolet, 80, Running
20. (27) Conor Daly, Honda, 80, Running
21. (19) Helio Castroneves, Honda, 79, Running
22. (22) Sting Ray Robb, Honda, 79, Running
23. (21) Agustin Canapino, Chevrolet, 79, Running
24. (26) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 79, Running
25. (10) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, 79, Running
26. (23) Benjamin Pedersen, Chevrolet, 79, Running
27. (9) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 5, Contact

Race Statistics
Winners average speed: 111.125
Time of Race: 01:37:31.9887
Margin of victory: 5.0242
Cautions: 1
Lead changes: 7

Lap Leaders:
Herta, Colton 1 – 26
Rahal, Graham 27
Palou, Alex 28
Dixon, Scott 29 – 30
Palou, Alex 31 – 53
Power, Will 54
Rahal, Graham 55 – 56
Palou, Alex 57 – 80

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
HONDA INDY 200 AT MID-OHIO
LEXINGTON, OHIO
TEAM CHEVY RACE RECAP
JULY 2, 2023

WILL POWER AND TEAM PENSKE PUT CHEVROLET ON THE PODIUM AT MID-OHIO

• Starting seventh, Will Power finished third to earn Chevrolet their 14th podium of the 2023 NTT INDYCAR Series season.
• Additionally, Power’s third-place finish gives Team Chevy their 298th podium since 2012 in the V6 2.2-liter twin turbo direct injected era.
• Scott McLaughlin, driver of the No. 3 Good Ranchers Team Penske Chevrolet, earned a top-five finish, with Pato O’Ward (eighth) and Alexander Rossi (10th) rounding out the top-10 for the Bowtie brand.
• Both Rossi and O’Ward also represented Chevrolet in Sunday morning’s warm up top-10, with fastest lap times at 1:09.1161 (Rossi, seventh) and 1:09.2125 (O’Ward, eighth) respectively.

LEXINGTON, Ohio (July 2, 2023) – Under threatening, overcast and humid skies at the green flag, the rain held off at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course just as Chevrolet raced to a podium finish with Will Power, driver of the No. 12 Verizon 5G Team Penske Chevrolet taking the checkered flag third. Additionally, Power’s Team Penske teammate Scott McLaughlin, driver of the No. 3 Good Ranchers Team Penske Chevrolet, represented the Bowtie brand in the top-five.

Reflecting on the race, Power said, “Yeah, very solid day. I had no clue where I finished, actually. I saw P3, but thought, ‘Oh wow, third!’ I thought I was like eight or something. There’s no mistakes all day. We drove really hard. Got the fuel when we needed it and had a fast car. Maybe I was a bit slow on my out laps. So, I’ll take a podium any day in this series.”

“Pretty solid day,” noted McLaughlin. “I think we were capable of a podium today. The car was really strong. Just picked our way through the fight. Got held up on our last exchange there, but, annoyingly, but I think we’re in a good spot. I think we’re only 30 points out of second in the championship. [Alex] Palou’s doing a really good job at the moment. It’s up to us and Chevy and everyone else to work hard and catch up to everyone. Really proud of the hard work, but we just need a little more and we’ll be right there. Good day.”

Additionally, Chevrolet was represented in the top-10 by Arrow McLaren INDYCAR teammates Pato O’Ward and Alexander Rossi, finishing eighth and 10th respectively.

“I was comfortable and happy in the car today, a great job by the entire team to fight from 25th to eighth,” reflected O’Ward. “We didn’t have help from anybody today. No yellows, no lappers, no nothing. I’m happy with our result considering that we truly had to fight for every single position. We passed nearly every single car on the track, so there wasn’t one lap that went through that we weren’t pushing to the absolute maximum, so I’m pleased with that and congratulations to Alex Palou.”

The 10th round of the 2023 NTT INDYCAR Series season takes Team Chevy next to the streets of Toronto for the Honda Indy Toronto Sunday, July 16. With 85 laps, or 151.81 miles determining the victor on the 11-turn, 1.786-mile temporary street circuit, the race broadcast airs live Sunday starting at 1:30 pm ET on Peacock. Additional radio coverage is available from INDYCAR Radio and SiriusXM Channel 160.

TEAM CHEVY TOP-10 RACE RESULTS:

Pos. Driver

3rd Will Power

5th Scott McLaughlin

8th Pato O’Ward

10th Alexander Rossi

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING (QUOTES):

Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Chevrolet at Team Penske:

“It was just a tough day. Not what we wanted on the No. 2 car. Great fight for everybody. Great hustle all weekend trying to figure out what this track and road course package needs to be. Proud of our effort for working through it this weekend, but we just didn’t quite get there. Had a tough Saturday, which led a little bit into a tough race. But for us, it’s just keeping going, and trying to work on it one race at a time. Proud of everyone at Team Chevy and PPG, and we’ll go to the next one and try to be better.”

Will Power, No. 12 Chevrolet at Team Penske:

On the heat and humidity as well as being at a physical racetrack…

“Even though it was hot, I never seem to suffer physically these days. I think it’s because I’m just so attuned to it because I’ve been racing for so many years. It’s just, I rarely feel pain in the car. I probably feel it, but just tune it out.”

Felix Rosenqvist, No. 6 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:

“It was a frustrating race for us. We got taken out on Lap One by Ericsson. I gave him a lot of room, but I think he misjudged a corner. He came up to say sorry, and he took on the responsibility, but it doesn’t help, you know. We tried to get it back. We tried to run long every stint, hoping for a yellow so we could get a lap back, but it just didn’t work out. We had really good pace in the car, but it just wasn’t our day.”

Alexander Rossi, No. 7 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:

“The race was probably our best session of the weekend, which just goes to show how much of a struggle it was. The team did a good job overnight with a lot of changes to get the car more in the window. It’s disappointing to only have a 10th-place finish, but we’ll move on to Toronto.”

Ryan Hunter-Reay, No. 20. Chevrolet at Ed Carpenter Racing:

“We had a really good start, we were up three positions in the first few corners. We pitted early on reds on the first stop and that just handcuffed us to fuel strategy the rest of the day. I’m not really sure what happened on the pit sequences, I didn’t get passed on track once but we got leapfrogged all day and ended up falling back a bit. We will go back and look at it, learn from it, grow from it and be better in Toronto.”

Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 Chevrolet at Ed Carpenter Racing:

“It was a tough race, a lot of work. We were not fast enough. It is tough to pass here and track position is so important. We finished around where we qualified and I think it was that way for the majority of the field. We maximized what we had, but it was a day full of a lot of work with a pretty hard fuel save at the end. I am pretty happy with my execution, but not the result. We have to start doing better.”

Santino Ferrucci, No. 14 Chevrolet at AJ Foyt Racing:

“Long day in the office. I thought we obviously had found a better race car than it looked, also wrong strategy trying to run the three (pit stops) instead of the two, but at the end of the day we took a gamble hoping for a later yellow and it just never came. So either way, we need to go and understand why we were so quick at Road America and not so quick here at Mid-Ohio and bring that into Portland and Laguna.”

Benjamin Pedersen, No. 55 Chevrolet at AJ Foyt Racing:

“When you look at the weekend as a whole, we as a team with both cars struggled quite a lot actually most of the weekend with our actual pace and we actually made the car feel a lot better throughout the weekend but we’re just struggling as a team to get pace out of the car here. Gave it everything I had in the race to fight for position for the team and yeah, just gave it everything I could. We’re working really hard to figure out how we can get more pace at tracks like this and understand why we happen to have on the other hand why we have very strong pace at places like Road America and other places like that. All in all, we’re working really hard to get better.”

Callum Ilott, No. 77 Chevrolet at Juncos Hollinger Racing:

“P16 overall. Probably could’ve got a little bit more out of that. I had a tough time after the first pit stop, and it wasn’t easy to maintain track position. But after that, once we were going, pace was good, and I was able to move forward a little bit. It’s P16. But, on to the next one. We’ve got Toronto coming up. Last year we were strong there. We have to take these points when we can get them and learn what we can.”

Agustin Canapino, No. 78 Chevrolet at Juncos Hollinger Racing:

“We finished our race in Mid-Ohio. Unfortunately, it’s not the race we wanted. Anyway, we finished the race, and now we will focus on the next.”

WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON 5G TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – Post-Race Press Conference:

THE MODERATOR: Also joining us finishing third today, Will Power, driving the No. 12 Verizon 5G Team Penske Chevrolet. Third podium of the season for Will. Of course, the defending INDYCAR SERIES champion. 97th podium of his career. He is one shy now of the late great Al Unser for fifth great all-time in that category.

Will, you said on the TV broadcast you looked up and heard at the very end you finished third. A little surprised by it?

WILL POWER: Yeah, I didn’t know where I was the whole race because the last I knew at the start I was P9 and then obviously the whole sequences went on.

Yeah, real fast. Solid day. No mistakes. I think if I got a bit better start, I could have been — it’s hard to say. Obviously Palou is very quick.

Yeah, not much more we could have got out of the day. That was kind of what we had.

THE MODERATOR: Feel good about it? Did you guys need this, need a podium?

WILL POWER: Yeah, obviously everyone needs to beat Palou, but I don’t think — that’s going to be a very tough challenge to beat him in a championship this year. He is so on point in every respect, in every respect.

He is not missing a thing, which is very difficult in this series to be extremely fast, which there are a lot of guys that are, but then being able to do all the disciplines as well plus the intricacies of fuel save, tire conservation, in-and-out laps, the qualifying.

It’s bloody hard to have that all nailed, and he is doing it.

Q. For both of you, the last time a driver won three in a row was you in 2020. You started the season with three victories in a row, and you have had some pretty good seasons. The last year you won with consistency. When you look at a situation where a driver is not only winning the most races, but he is also the most consistent, isn’t that almost an unbeatable combination?

SCOTT DIXON: Definitely. Yeah, it does make it tough. As Will commented, and it’s not just Alex, but Julian, the whole 10 car group are just doing a phenomenal job. Even with Barry as well.

It’s never a single person. The effort is big I think on all the cars in Chip Ganassi right now, but they’re firing on all cylinders.

It’s hard. I think we had a pretty good race today, but obviously we still didn’t have enough to overcome that. I think had a few things changed, same as with Will, same as anybody out there, could have been a bit more racier.

Yeah, it’s going to be tough to beat.

WILL POWER: Yeah, like Scott said, he has a — just from a strategy standpoint as well, which I know it’s the first time he won a championship. That group on that car is very smart. Like, they’re putting it all together. Yeah, it’s an absolute team effort, but he is also nailing it.

I think Ganassi in general seems to have a very good package right now all-around. So they’re a tough group, tough group. All good drivers. Obviously a very strong team. I think we all have a little bit of work to do.

Q. If both of you could talk about the peace of the race, other than the first lap incident between the two drivers from Sweden. It was fast, and it was green all the way until the end. What’s it like out there from the driver’s standpoint to where you’re just out there running all the way to the checkered flag without stopping?

SCOTT DIXON: It was still really tough. I think to get your laps right for me actually and I think talking to Alex, we got pretty loose towards the end of the race, which is a little bit unusual, but lap traffic was pretty tough.

Some of the people seemed tougher than some of the others, but I actually had a couple of pretty good runs on most of them, and it wasn’t too much of an issue.

I know Alex got held up pretty heavily there by the 55. I think we closed about a 10-second gap with him there on that situation.

Yeah, trust me, it’s not easy, man. You’re flat out trying to get as much as you can every lap, and it’s hard work, hard work.

WILL POWER: Yeah, I think that the blue flag rule, it’s crazy. You use push-to-pass up and have to race somebody that’s going to be a lap down like you’re racing for position.

The series is so tight and competitive, and everyone is so good now that I think we could have a blue flag rule. It’s not like we have yellows constantly, and you’re going to get your lap back.

Maybe they do it in the second half of the race, but it’s ridiculous when a leader gives up 10 seconds. I mean, I think you were five seconds down the road, closed it right up. Probably would have overtaken you if I didn’t get held up on going a couple of laps longer.

Yeah, there should be — we should have a talk about it, I think. I don’t know what you think.

SCOTT DIXON: We do every year.

WILL POWER: We tell them every year. They’re, like, yeah, yeah, no, we hear you. Crickets.

THE MODERATOR: It’s better than not hearing it at least.

Q. What is the simple solution there because the car you’re talking about held up quite a few guys today as you are alluding. Is there a solution in the sense of if you’re doing it to everybody, maybe it’s time to move? How do you go about that, Will?

WILL POWER: I think that’s actually the problem is it takes a lot of people to police that because if there’s a blue flag rule and the first guy passes and then you’ve got to have a command blue for everyone, but I think if everyone just understood, if you get the blue flag, you have to let the driver go within the lap.

That I think is their issue is the amount of people in race control that would have to police that. It becomes — I think that’s the thing. It becomes a bit difficult, but we’re at the stage where this competition is so tough maybe we have to add some people to do that.

SCOTT DIXON: I think disabling the OT would be the first kind of…

WILL POWER: The disabling of the OT, and that was the one they say, well, how do we police? Do we disable it for everyone after that? It sounded like that was a big problem, but not like a ton of people go a lap down anymore anyway.

Yeah, disabling the push-to-pass would be a big step if you are going to be a lap down, yeah.

About Chevrolet

Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in 79 countries with more than 3.2 million cars and trucks sold in 2020. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

LEXINGTON, Ohio (Sunday, July 2, 2023) – The pass for the lead was bold and risky amid a track getting wetter by the lap, but INDY NXT by Firestone rookie Louis Foster knew he had to make it.

Foster locked up his right front tire in the bid to overtake race leader Christian Rasmussen approaching Turn 4 late in the INDY NXT by Firestone Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio, and he made it stick. Foster then had to hold off a couple of challenges in the four-lap shootout that followed to win his first series race.

Driving the No. 26 Copart/USF Pro Championship entry of Andretti Autosport, Foster became the sixth driver in the season’s first seven races to reach victory lane.

“It’s been a long time coming, for sure,” Foster said of his first series win. “I’m so thankful to get it finally.”

Of the pass on Rasmussen, the 19-year-old English driver said the increased dampness was a factor.

“I think it was starting to rain a little bit or something,” he said. “It was slicker in the back (part of the track). That made Christian make a mistake and then (the hard braking approaching Turn 4) destroyed my front right (tire). Going down the straights and (the car) was shaking.”

Kyffin Simpson finished second with Rasmussen third as HMD Motorsports took the other steps on the podium. Simpson’s No. 21 program is backed by Chip Ganassi Racing, Rasmussen’s No. 6 car is connected to Dale Coyne Racing.

Rasmussen started on the pole and led the first 26 laps of the 35-lap race, but falling to third cost him a chance to draw even closer to Nolan Siegel for the series lead as the season reached its halfway point. Siegel, the winner of the past two races, was running fifth with eight laps to go when he couldn’t keep his No. 39 HMD Motorsports entry on the track in Turn 10. After a long slide through the wet grass, Siegel’s car was stuck and the necessary extraction cost him a lap to the field. He finished 15th of the 17 competitors.

The result of the late incidents helped Rasmussen close to within 17 points of Siegel. Hunter McElrea (No. 26 Smart Motors) finished fourth, and he is now only 39 points out of the series lead. Foster’s victory allowed him to jump to the fourth position in the standings, 42 points behind Siegel.

Jamie Chadwick finished 10th in the No. 28 DHL entry of Andretti Autosport to become the first female driver in INDY NXT to finish in the top 10 since Pippa Mann finished fifth in the final race of the 2010 season at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Rasmussen, who won at Barber Motorsports Park in the season’s second race, couldn’t help but think he should be even closer to the series lead.

“Obviously, not the (finish) that we wanted today,” he said. “It was tricky with the conditions – it was dry and then there was rain and then there was dry. When the rain first came it felt like the car never really came back to me. We were sitting pretty good (prior to that) with a good gap and then the rain came.”

The race started amid dry conditions, but there was contact in Turn 4 just past the backstretch starting line. Contact between the cars of James Roe (No. 29 Topcon of Andretti Autosport) and Danial Frost sent Frost’s No. 68 HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing machine into a full spin. Frost was able to resume without assistance.

On Lap 6, Christian Bogle spun into the gravel trap at the exit of Turn 2. With the No. 7 HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing entry beached, a full-course caution period was necessitated. No such stoppage was needed when Matteo Nannini, who won the series race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in May in the No. 75 Juncos Hollinger Racing machine, pulled off the track at the exit of Turn 5 on Lap 17. The other incident involved Jagger Jones going off course in Turn 10 in the No. 98 Lead Sled car of Cape Motorsports. Jones was able to return to the track without assistance.

The series’ next race, the eighth of 14 this season, is the INDY NXT by Firestone at Iowa Speedway on July 22 (11 a.m. ET, Peacock, INDYCAR LIVE, INDYCAR Radio Network).

INDY NXT by Firestone Grand Prix at Mid-Ohio Race Results

1. (2) Louis Foster, 35, Running
2. (3) Kyffin Simpson, 35, Running
3. (1) Christian Rasmussen, 35, Running
4. (4) Hunter McElrea, 35, Running
5. (5) Reece Gold, 35, Running
6. (7) Jacob Abel, 35, Running
7. (8) Rasmus Lindh, 35, Running
8. (11) Enaam Ahmed, 35, Running
9. (13) Josh Pierson, 35, Running
10. (12) Jamie Chadwick, 35, Running
11. (17) Danial Frost, 35, Running
12. (14) James Roe, 35, Running
13. (15) Ernie Francis Jr., 35, Running
14. (9) Jagger Jones, 35, Running
15. (6) Nolan Siegel, 34, Running
16. (10) Christian Bogle, 19, Mechanical
17. (16) Matteo Nannini, 15, Off Course

Race Statistics
Winners average speed: 99.515
Time of Race: 00:47:38.9456
Margin of victory: 0.4385
Cautions: 2
Lead changes: 1

Lap Leaders:
Rasmussen, Christian 1 – 26
Foster, Louis 27 – 35

LEXINGTON, Ohio (Saturday, July 1, 2023) – One second-generation NTT INDYCAR SERIES driver edged another Saturday in qualifying at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, and both had Honda behind them.

In fact, all six drivers in the Firestone Fast Six round were powered by Honda, the first time one manufacturer has swept the final qualifying group since 2016 when Chevrolet did at Watkins Glen International. It was Honda’s first such sweep since the format was implemented more than a decade ago.

Andretti Autosport’s Colton Herta, the son of four-time race winner Bryan Herta, scored the NTT P1 Award in dramatic fashion, turning a lap tantalizingly quicker than Graham Rahal, whose father, Bobby Rahal, was a three-time INDYCAR SERIES champion. Their best laps were distinguished by just .0432 seconds, with Herta’s pole-winning time 1 minute, 6.3096 seconds.

For Herta, it was the 11th pole of his still-young career and second in as many races as he also earned the top starting position for last month’s Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America presented by AMR. He will seek his first race win of the season Sunday in The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Presented by the 2023 Accord Hybrid.

“Really happy to get two in a row,” Herta said, smiling.

For Rahal, it was a mixed emotional bag. Being second in qualifying was his best effort in four-plus years – since early in the 2019 season — and he reached the Firestone Fast Six for the first time since late in 2021. But he very much wanted the pole at his home track.

“I’m not going to lie — it was a good lap, and I knew it was solid,” Rahal said. “I was bummed to not get a pole.”

Rahal was born an hour south of the 13-turn, 2.258-mile permanent road course, attended many races here with his father, and scored the signature win of his career in the INDYCAR SERIES race in 2015.

Herta is also a former INDYCAR SERIES race winner at Mid-Ohio, reaching victory lane in 2020. He will be driving for his eighth career series win, which would give him five consecutive winning seasons.

Also working in the favor of Herta and Rahal, along with Honda, is that seven of the past series races at this track have been won by drivers starting on the front row. Rahal hasn’t won anywhere since sweeping the Detroit weekend midway through the 2017 season.

Unique to this Firestone Fast Six were the decisions to use different tire compounds. Herta and series leader Alex Palou (No. 10 The American Legion Honda) of Chip Ganassi Racing opted to finish the session with new primary tires while Rahal and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing teammate Christian Lundgaard (No. 45 Vivid Clear Rx Honda) went with used alternate tires.

Herta’s teammate, Kyle Kirkwood (No. 27 AutoNation Honda), wasn’t even sure Herta made the right choice as Kirkwood earned the No. 3 starting position with used alternates.

“I think it was the right call to split the strategy a little bit,” Kirkwood said. “But honestly, I don’t think that (Herta) made the right call. He still put it on pole and drove super well.”

Said Herta: “It was a tough call. Reds and blacks were pretty close on the second run and new, so it wasn’t an easy (decision). But (the team) gave me a car that was good on both tire compounds, so we had the option to run (either).”

While it was difficult to discern which tire choice was preferred, qualifying proved that both compounds should be close in performance in Sunday’s 80-lap race. Airtime for the 40th such event in Mid-Ohio history is 1:30 p.m. ET on USA Network, Peacock and the INDYCAR Radio Network.

Not only did Rahal and Lundgaard reach the Firestone Fast Six for the first time this year, teammate Jack Harvey (No. 30 Permco Honda) qualified 11th, which meant all three team cars got to the second round of qualifying. That made Rahal happy.

As the season reaches its halfway point this weekend, Palou, a winner of three of the past four races, holds a 74-point lead over Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Marcus Ericsson, who drives the No. 8 Huski Ice Spritz Honda. Palou will start fourth Sunday with Ericsson ninth and teammate Scott Dixon (No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) sixth.

Team Penske did not place a driver in the Firestone Fast Six, and the remarkable aspect is Will Power has yet to qualify in the top group this season. Roger Penske’s organization still does not have a pole this season in nine attempts.

Power, who had the fastest car in the morning practice and finished third in last year’s Mid-Ohio race, will start seventh in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet. Defending race winner Scott McLaughlin will line up eighth in the No. 3 Good Ranchers Team Penske Chevrolet and Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge winner Josef Newgarden will be 15th in the No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet.

“The car felt very good, but it’s ultra, ultra tight,” Power said of the field.

Pato O’Ward led 28 laps from the pole in last year’s race but dropped out early due to a mechanical failure with the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. Saturday, he created his own issue, spinning off Turn 2 in the first qualifying group to necessitate a 25th-place starting position.

“It was all on me on that one,” O’Ward said. “I lost the rear and (the car) got to an angle where I couldn’t save it, and then I stalled it as soon as I got in the grass. It frickin’ (stinks).”

Meyer Shank Racing’s Simon Pagenaud was held out of qualifying as a precaution following his Turn 4 incident early in Saturday morning’s practice that saw the No. 60 AutoNation/SiriusXM Honda roll through the gravel trip nearly seven times. The one-time series champion was evaluated and released by the INDYCAR Medical team, although per protocol he was not cleared to return to action Saturday. He will be evaluated Sunday morning. The team has asked series veteran Conor Daly to be on standby in the event Pagenaud can’t drive in the race.

Sunday’s schedule leads off with a 30-minute pre-race warmup at 10:30 a.m. ET.

he Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio
Presented by the 2023 Accord Hybrid
Qualifying Results

Click HERE to view the results of The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Presented by the 2023 Accord Hybrid Qualifying.

LEXINGTON, Ohio (Saturday, July 1, 2023) – Qualifying Saturday for the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio NTT INDYCAR SERIES event on the 2.258 mile(s) Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, with qualifying position, car number in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine, time and speed in parentheses:

1. (26) Colton Herta, Honda, 01:06.3096 (122.589)
2. (15) Graham Rahal, Honda, 01:06.3528 (122.509)
3. (27) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 01:06.3693 (122.478)
4. (10) Alex Palou, Honda, 01:06.4166 (122.391)
5. (45) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 01:06.6277 (122.003)
6. (9) Scott Dixon, Honda, 01:06.9281 (121.456)
7. (12) Will Power, Chevrolet, 01:06.1121 (122.955)
8. (3) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 01:06.1926 (122.805)
9. (8) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 01:06.2289 (122.738)
10. (6) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, 01:06.2455 (122.707)
11. (30) Jack Harvey, Honda, 01:06.7309 (121.815)
12. (18) David Malukas, Honda, 01:06.7596 (121.762)
13. (7) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 01:06.6010 (122.052)
14. (28) Romain Grosjean, Honda, 01:06.1870 (122.816)
15. (2) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 01:06.6307 (121.998)
16. (21) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 01:06.2891 (122.626)
17. (20) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Chevrolet, 01:07.0095 (121.308)
18. (11) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 01:06.2915 (122.622)
19. (06) Helio Castroneves, Honda, 01:07.0503 (121.234)
20. (77) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 01:06.3487 (122.516)
21. (78) Agustin Canapino, Chevrolet, 01:07.0816 (121.178)
22. (51) Sting Ray Robb, Honda, 01:06.5157 (122.209)
23. (55) Benjamin Pedersen, Chevrolet, 01:07.3960 (120.612)
24. (29) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 01:06.5834 (122.084)
25. (5) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 01:11.3655 (113.904)
26. (14) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 01:07.2807 (120.819)
27. (60) Simon Pagenaud, Honda, No Time (No Speed)

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
HONDA INDY 200 AT MID-OHIO
LEXINGTON, OHIO
TEAM CHEVY FIRESTONE FAST SIX REPORT
JULY 1, 2023

THREE CHEVYS TO START IN THE TOP-10 AT MID-OHIO SUNDAY

• Chevrolet will be represented by three drivers in the top-10 when taking the green flag in tomorrow’s Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio, with Will Power seventh, Scott McLaughlin eighth, and Felix Rosenqvist 10th.
• Power, driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet, topped the leaderboard in second practice that kicked off Saturday morning with a fastest lap of 1:06.4905.
• Four Chevrolet drivers, including Power, Pato O’Ward (fourth), McLaughlin (sixth), and Rosenqvist (10th), represented the Bowtie brand in the NTT INDYCAR Series second practice top-10.
• Chevrolet commanded the first and second positions on the combined practice leaderboard from the first two sessions, with Team Penske’s Power, and Arrow McLaren INDYCAR’s O’Ward leading with their fastest laps of 1:06.4905 (Power, Practice 2) and 1:06.4935 (O’Ward, Practice 1), respectively.

TEAM CHEVY TOP-10 QUALIFYING RESULT:
Pos. Driver
7th Will Power
8th Scott McLaughlin
10th Felix Rosenqvist

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING (QUOTES)

Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Chevrolet at Team Penske:

“Not the day we were looking for with the PPG Chevy, and we’ll have to do a deep dive to see what we missed. It’s not ideal, for sure, but look at what Will (Power) was able to do from the back last year. No one thought he could drive to a podium, but that’s what happened. We’ll need to be super aggressive from the drop of the green. That’s what we’ll work on between now and then.”

Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 Chevrolet at Team Penske:

“Overall, okay day for the Good Ranchers Chevy. A P8 starting spot for us tomorrow on race day. We’ve got a great race car. Looking forward to the race; it could be wet or dry. Could be a mix of changeable conditions and I enjoy that. There is no doubt we can win from eighth, so we’ll do our best to do that.”

Will Power, No. 12 Chevrolet at Team Penske:

“Car felt really good. It’s obviously ultra, ultra tight. Everyone in front of us are Hondas, so maybe just [this condition] is suiting their engine being very humid. I could’ve done a bit better with the tire prep on the first lap. I didn’t anticipate having to back up in [turns] 4, 5, and 6. But man, not me. I was quicker in the first round; maybe the track slowed up. That’s everything I had.”

“What am I off? Like three-tenths. I’m off not even three-tenths and I’m seventh. Just INDYCAR. It’s so bloody tough. It’s no joke. It’s great, really. Still haven’t cracked that top-six this year, if you can believe it.

Are you close enough you can find something tomorrow and contend for a win?

“I think our race car, our race, will be good. I think we had the ultimate pace as well. We had a theoretical as P3, but I just didn’t get a good enough prep lap on the tire there. Maybe we would have got through, but yeah. It’s been an interesting qualifying year for me.”

Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:

I feel bad for the team. We have a really strong car but that doesn’t mean we can’t go forward tomorrow. So yeah, it was all on me there. I lost the rear and got off on an angle that I couldn’t save it. I stalled it as soon as I got into the grass. It sucks. You are taking these cars to the limit and sometimes things happen. It’s probably not the last time it’s going to happen. You just have to look forward. At least it’s not the race; it is just qualifying. The race is super, super long so we can make a lot of spots up when you have a comfortable car underneath you. We will go forward tomorrow. I have no about it. Tomorrow will be a good race for us and we’ll just we’ll just keep on pushing through cars.”

Felix Rosenqvist, No. 6 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:

“A little bit bummed. Top-10, but couldn’t get my tires up to temp. I had traffic and had to follow the guys in front of me. Started my lap with cold tires. The timing wasn’t right. I had more in it. I think we had a top-six car. It’s a good starting place. It’s not bad. We’ll have to figure out how to put the car in race mode and go from there.”

Alexander Rossi, No. 7 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:

“I mean really everything. I mean, we’re trying to figure it out. It’s disappointing. I don’t know that we thought we had a car for gold, but I think we should have gotten out of Q1.”

”It’s been a tough weekend. We just haven’t quite found a good balance with the car. I don’t really know what tomorrow holds from a weather standpoint or a race standpoint. It was just a disappointing day overall for everyone, and we’re going to have to be pretty aggressive with the race and strategy tomorrow.”

Ryan Hunter-Reay, No. 20. Chevrolet at Ed Carpenter Racing:

“We’ve been together such a short amount of time so still obviously we’re both learning together. They’re trying to come to me and what I need grip wise. It’s still kind of the same scenario Road America. I’m just lacking mid-corner front grip which is a big lap time robber here and in this series in general on road and street circuits. We’re working on that. The good thing is we have a direction we made the car a lot better from where we started. So we’re trending in the right direction on that. Just head down, focusing on our own task list. And yeah, having a good time doing it.”

Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 Chevrolet at Ed Carpenter Racing:

“Well, I think we have a really fast race car. I finished fourth here last year. We made steps from practice to qualifying. I think we made improvements so I’m happy with that. It’s very tough out there. The track changes consistently and it’s just really hard to get it perfect. But I think we fixed our biggest troubles and balances in some corners, so I think we improved. We do want to comfortably advance, and we’re not doing that yet. But I think we have made a step. I think Ryan (Hunter-Reay) has really helped the team understand stuff better and you know, his approach is a lot different than mine. He also could be my dad, so I learned a lot from him. He has a lot of INDYCAR experience and I think that’s also helping me get more prepared for qualifying sessions and everything. So, a step in the right direction and baby steps for now, but I think the BITNILE.COM team is making good changes. Ryan (Hunter-Reay) is extremely serious. He writes everything down. Really serious and of course, he has a lot of he can take away from a team that performed really well with him with Andretti, so I think he can carry that forward with us. We’re going to make forward progress from here.”

Santino Ferrucci, No. 14 Chevrolet at AJ Foyt Racing:

“Trying to go in a certain direction from practice and trying to chase a balance and we found a balance that we like but we just have zero pace. So back to the drawing board to understand why that’s happening so we can actually move through the field tomorrow. With the cars being set up the same, I think it’s very clear to see what’s wrong with them and just hope we can manage to adjust in the correct direction to find the second that we lost from practice.”

Benjamin Pedersen, No. 55 Chevrolet at AJ Foyt Racing:

“Qualifying all wrapped up and we’re just missing speed as a team. Obviously we have very similar setups to what we thought was going to be the fastest for qualifying and we’re just both struggling to make the car go fast. The feedback is very similar. The car feels pretty balanced, just struggling to get the tires activated we think and get the lap time out of it. Regardless, we’re working really hard and the race strategy tomorrow will be really exciting with weather. We’ll work hard with the whole team here and Team Chevy to be the most prepared for tomorrow.”

Callum Ilott, No. 77 Chevrolet at Juncos Hollinger Racing:

“I think the result, the position, didn’t really do us justice. We improved the car quite a lot from Practice 2. We were reasonably close to the top, but unfortunately it was a very tight group. We ended up P10 in the group. That put us back in P20. I think if I were in the other group, probably would’ve transferred to the Fast 12. It’s like that. We’ve been a bit unlucky with the group so far this year. Still a few things to improved, so we’ll see what we can do for warm up tomorrow and prepare for the race.”

About Chevrolet

Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in 79 countries with more than 3.2 million cars and trucks sold in 2020. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

LEXINGTON, Ohio (Saturday, July 1, 2023) – Christian Rasmussen is eager to keep an INDY NXT by Firestone trend going Sunday at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Since 2013, 13 of the 16 pole winners have won the race, including six of the past seven. Saturday, Rasmussen earned the prized starting position for the INDY NXT by Firestone Grand Prix at Mid-Ohio (11:40 a.m. ET, Peacock, INDYCAR LIVE, INDYCAR Radio Network).
However, Rasmussen didn’t have much breathing room in the qualifying session, completing his best lap just .0107 seconds faster than that of second-place Louis Foster.

“It’s awesome,” said Rasmussen, the driver of the No. 6 HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing car. “It was kind of a wild session. It was about getting a free lap and then people started to go by each other – it’s kind of a gentleman’s agreement in this series that you don’t do that – but we managed to pull it off.

“On my second-to-last lap I managed to pull a gap but even though I created a gap I caught up to (a slower car) by so much. So, the last bit of the lap I had aero wash. But yeah, we pulled it off. That’s half the battle around here. So, let’s go finish it tomorrow.”

Rasmussen’s victory this season came April 30 in the INDY NXT by Firestone Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park.

Rasmussen could be in for an important day relative to the series championship. He stands 40 points behind pacesetter Nolan Siegel, who starts sixth in the No. 39 HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing entry following a best lap of 1:11.9676. Siegel has won the past two races in the series.

If Rasmussen doesn’t win his second race of the season, history suggests the winner will be a driver starting in the first two rows as Mid-Ohio’s other series winners over the past decade have started in the second, third and fourth positions. That bodes well for Foster, Kyffin Simpson and Hunter McElrea, respectively, who will occupy those positions when the green flag waves.

Foster will start alongside Rasmussen on the front row after posting a lap of 1:11.5105 in the No. 26 Copart/USF Pro Championship car of Andretti Autosport. Simpson, who drives the No. 5 HMD Motorsports with Chip Ganassi Racing entry, will grid third (1:11.5905) with McElrea fourth in the No. 21 Smart Motors car of Andretti Autosport.

McElrea won last year’s race from the pole, leading all 35 laps. Kyle Kirkwood, Oliver Askew and Pato O’Ward are other recent INDY NXT drivers to win Mid-Ohio from the pole.

Sunday’s race will be the seventh in the 14-race season.

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
HONDA INDY 200 AT MID-OHIO
LEXINGTON, OHIO
TEAM CHEVY PRACTICE REPORT
JUNE 30, 2023

PATO O’WARD TOPS FRIDAY NTT INDYCAR SERIES PRACTICE AT MID-OHIO

• Topping the leaderboard after 75 minutes of practice at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Pato O’Ward, driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR, led the session with his fastest lap of 1:06.4935.
• Chevrolet showed strength early in the session, with Arrow McLaren’s Felix Rosenqvist, and Team Penske’s Will Power and Josef Newgarden occupying the top-three positions 15 minutes into the session.
• Chevrolet occupied four of the top-10 NTT INDYCAR Series Friday practice session results, with the top-10 separated by 0.7231 seconds and continuing to show how tight the field is in the series.

TEAM CHEVY TOP-10 PRACTICE RESULT:
Pos. Driver
1st Pato O’Ward
7th Josef Newgarden
8th Scott McLaughlin
9th Alexander Rossi

Qualifications and the Firestone Fast Six for Sunday’s Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio take place Saturday, starting at 2:45 p.m. ET. A final warm-up will start race day Sunday at 10:30 a.m. ET. All practice and qualifying will be live on Peacock, INDYCAR Radio, and SiriusXM Channel 160. The 80-lap, 180.64-mile race Sunday, July 2 will take the green flag at 1:30 p.m. ET live on USA Network.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING (QUOTES):

Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 Chevrolet at Team Penske:

A good start to the weekend for the No. 3 Good Ranchers Chevy team. It’s tight racing around Mid-Ohio and we had one of our best – if not our best – laps disrupted by some traffic early in the session. It happens, but I think we have a Chevrolet that can qualify in the Firestone Fast Six and run up front. We need a win to jumpstart the second half of the season for us and this is a place where we know that we can make that happen.”

Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:

“Good start here at Mid-Ohio. We made some good changes to the car and end up from the practice in a really nice spot. Looking forward to tomorrow. It will be interesting to see if the rain decides to make an appearance or not, but so far, so good.”

ALEXANDER ROSSI, driver of the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet – End of Day Press Conference:

Q. Alex, you talked about having a fast teammate out there in Pato. Is it surprising to see? Is that about the speed you thought we might be seeing?

ALEXANDER ROSSI: I don’t know that I actually knew what we predicted. I think it was certainly surprising how quick, like, Josef went. Usually this track takes a while to evolve and come in. It’s kind of very rubber and temperature sensitive. With no Firestone rubber, hot day, he was the first car out, like to do a 7.3, we were like that’s pretty quick.

I don’t think turn one is that much faster. Obviously they repaved turn one. It’s certainly a chunk quicker. I don’t know that I know. It was a surprise, for sure.

Q. Last race at Road America was not what you were wanting. When you had the strong practices that started off that weekend, a couple weeks to digest that, do you feel like you continued to make some progress, trying to figure out a way to piece a whole weekend together?

ALEXANDER ROSSI: Yeah, I think so. We had some issues in the race that we were kind of able to identify. Yeah, for the most part I think the big priority prior to Road America was really qualifying and figuring that out.

I think we certainly unlocked a little bit in the test and the subsequent race weekend we had there. It’s tough. Like just because you were good last weekend doesn’t mean you’re going to be good this weekend.

The car started off in a good enough spot that we don’t feel like we’re playing catch-up. We feel we can continually stay on top of the track as the weekend progresses and it should be okay.

Q. Alex, you got T.K. around now as a special adviser. You got to work with him at Indy. What is it like having him in the role that he has on the team?

ALEXANDER ROSSI: He was really with us from St. Pete. It was Indy we obviously shared the track with him.

But, no, he’s a huge asset for the organization. Just being someone who obviously has recent experience in the car. It’s not really that. It’s just him as a team leader and someone who really understands how to make relationships and differing dynamics within motorsports work together. He’s pretty much an expert at that.

To have him in the position that he’s in, to have him around at the racetrack for the foreseeable future is a great thing for us as drivers. We all get along really well with him and enjoy the time with him. I think it will only help us in terms of our performance on and off the track.

Q. Alex, tomorrow there’s a chance of rain. Can you explain to people that don’t understand when you put all these laps in, all of a sudden it’s raining, you put on rain tires, but do you throw a lot of downforce on the car? Explain what you do.

ALEXANDER ROSSI: It really depends on, like, team philosophy. You’ll have teams that never change a car from wet to dry. They’ll kind of adjust brake balance, aero balance, that’s really it. You have other teams that kind of make mechanical adjustments.

It also depends on is it going to be wet for the entire day or just start wet and go dry. There’s a lot of variables in it.

Ultimately the rain is an equalizer. It’s more the driver that can make the difference versus the car performance, right? We don’t get a lot of wet races in INDYCAR, wet sessions in general. I think it would be a cool wild card to throw into the season this year. Yeah, maybe Alex Palou isn’t good in the wet. I’m sure he is, but maybe not (smiling). It could help the rest of us.

About Chevrolet

Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in 79 countries with more than 3.2 million cars and trucks sold in 2020. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

LEXINGTON, Ohio (Friday, June 30, 2023) – Pato O’Ward is eager to finish what he couldn’t last year at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

In 2022, the NTT INDYCAR SERIES driver with four career wins captured the pole and led 28 early laps before helplessly retiring from the race when his No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet failed him. O’Ward was reduced to finishing 24th among 27 drivers, a disappointment that was one of his biggest of the year.

O’Ward did more than return to Mid-Ohio form on Friday, he drove even faster. His lap of 1 minute, 6.4935 seconds was more than two-tenths of a second quicker than last year’s pole-winning speed. Part of that was due to amendments to the 13-turn, 2.258-mile permanent road course, including new curbing.

O’Ward easily cleared this weekend’s 27-car field, too, putting more than three-tenths of a second between him and series leader Alex Palou (1:06.8558). Third-place Marcus Ericsson was nearly a half-second off O’Ward’s pace in preparation for Sunday’s The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Presented by the 2023 Accord Hybrid.

“A good start here at Mid-Ohio,” O’Ward said after the session. “We made some good changes to the car and ended up the practice in a really nice spot. Looking forward to tomorrow.”

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Christian Lundgaard (No. 45 Vivid Clear Rx Honda) and Andretti Autosport’s Kyle Kirkwood (No. 27 AutoNation Honda) rounded out the top five at 1:07.0262 and 1:07.0269, respectively, as Mid-Ohio hosts its 40th series race.

If the field is aimed at O’Ward when practice resumes Saturday, it is Palou being chased for the season championship. The driver of Chip Ganassi Racing’s No. 10 The American Legion Honda holds a 74-point lead over teammate Ericsson and is 81 points in front of Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden, who won last month’s Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge in the No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet. O’Ward is fourth in the standings, 98 points out of the lead. Scott Dixon (No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) has the same number of points as O’Ward.

Palou leads the series in momentum, too, having won three of the past four races. He might also have won the “500” had his car not taken pit road contact from Rinus VeeKay’s car, but Palou responded by driving from the 27th position to finish fourth.

Palou has proven strong at this track as well, finishing second to Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin by .5512 seconds in last year’s race. This also is the track where Palou auditioned for his first INDYCAR SERIES opportunity, driving a car of Dale Coyne Racing the day following the 2019 series race.

McLaughlin, who led 45 of last year’s 80 laps, was eighth in Friday’s practice at 1:07.1531 in the No. 3 Good Ranchers Team Penske Chevrolet.

The field spent Friday’s practice testing the track’s new limits created by the modifications. Alexander Rossi, the driver of the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet who won the 2018 race, crossed the track in Turn 11 during a harried moment and later went wide in Turn 1, which has been slightly widened. Andretti Autosport’s Romain Grosjean (No. 28 DHL Honda) drove deep in the grass in Turn 4 while Helio Castroneves (No. 06 AutoNation/SiriusXM Honda) got sideways and off track exiting Turn 5. None of the cars took contact.

The challenge the rest of the weekend could be weather and wet conditions.

“It will be interesting to see if the rain decides to make an appearance or not,” said O’Ward, referencing local forecasts. “But yeah, so far so good (for us).”

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Graham Rahal (No. 15 Fifth Third Bank Honda) is participating in his 17th series race at what he considers his home track, and that’s one more than his father, three-time series champion Bobby Rahal, made in his career. The younger Rahal was born in New Albany, Ohio, which is 50 miles south of Mid-Ohio. In emotional fashion, Rahal won a series race here in 2015.

With this start, Rahal ties Tony Kanaan for most series starts (251) driving a Honda-powered car. Rahal’s first start with the manufacturer, in the 2008 Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, resulted in a victory. Honda drivers have won 11 of the 17 races at Mid-Ohio since 2007.

Action resumes Saturday with the weekend’s second practice at 9:45 a.m. ET. Qualifying for the NTT P1 Award will be at 2:05 p.m. with both sessions available on Peacock and the INDYCAR Radio Network.

Sunday’s race, the ninth of 17 races this season, will be at 1:30 p.m. on USA Network, Peacock and the INDYCAR Radio Network.

LEXINGTON, Ohio (Friday, June 30, 2023) – A single-car team bested its larger counterparts Friday in the opening practice for the INDY NXT by Firestone Grand Prix at Mid-Ohio.

Driving the No. 51 Abel Motorsports entry, Jacob Abel turned the fastest lap of the 45-minute session at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course at 1 minute 11.3899 seconds. Following him were Christian Rasmussen and rookie Nolan Siegel, members of HMD Motorsport’s eight-car program, and rookie Louis Foster, who drives one of Andretti Autosport’s four entries.

It certainly was a competitive session, with 11 drivers within a second of Abel’s best lap time on the 13-turn, 2.258-mile permanent road course. Rasmussen (1:11.4291), Siegel (1:11.4583) and Foster (1:11.5715) turned a lap within two-tenths of a second of the pace setter.

Mid-Ohio is the track where Abel first completed a racing school, and this weekend he hopes it will be where he scores his first INDY NXT by Firestone victory.

“I’ve got a lot of experience at this track – I consider it my home track,” Abel said. “It’s the first place I ever drove a race car, (and) I used to work at the (driving) school here.

“It’s good to start (the weekend) off well. The track is ever-changing and the conditions here change a ton for how you set up a car and how you drive it a lot throughout the weekend, so to be ahead of that and on top of that is really important for qualifying and in the race on Sunday. We could have a completely different formula there.

“Yeah, I think it will be a pretty good weekend. (This is) definitely a good start.”

Siegel, who has won the past two races in HMD’s No. 39 car, holds a 40-point lead over Rasmussen, the driver of the No. 6 entry. Andretti Autosport’s Hunter McElrea, who was sixth in Friday’s practice, is third in the standings, 56 points in arrears. Abel is fourth, trailing Siegel by 61 points.

McElrea won last year’s Mid-Ohio race from the pole, leading all 35 laps.

There was one red flag in Friday’s practice, as Ernie Francis Jr. spun at the entrance of Turn 9 and slid backward into the sand trap. The driver of HMD Motorsport with Force Indy’s No. 99 car, who is still rehabbing a broken wrist from earlier in the season, said he was “trying to come to grips with the track pretty quick” when the incident began.

INDY NXT will stage the weekend’s second practice Saturday at 8:35 a.m. ET followed by qualifying at 2:05 p.m. ET. Both sessions will air on INDYCAR LIVE and the INDYCAR Radio Network.

Sunday’s 35-lap race, the seventh in a 14-race season, is set for 11:40 a.m. (Peacock, INDYCAR LIVE, INDYCAR Radio Network).

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
HONDA INDY 200 AT MID-OHIO
LEXINGTON, OHIO
TEAM CHEVY RACE ADVANCE
JUNE 30-JULY 2, 2023

MID-OHIO NEXT ON TEAM CHEVY INDYCAR CALENDAR

With 109 wins since 2012 in the 2.2-liter twin turbo direct injected era in 190 events, Team Chevy seeks a fourth victory of the 2023 NTT INDYCAR Series season at Mid-Ohio

DETROIT (June 29, 2023) – The ninth round of the 2023 NTT INDYCAR Series season sees Team Chevy shift to the 13-turn natural terrain Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course near Lexington, Ohio for Sunday’s Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio. Seeing success since 2012 in the 2.2-liter twin turbo direct injected V6 era, Chevrolet has notched to six victories and led the field to the green flag from 10 earned NTT P1 Pole Awards.

With 80 laps on the 2.258-mile track determining the victor, the Bowtie brand aims for a repeat win after Scott McLaughlin, driver of the No. 3 Chevrolet for Team Penske, led 45 of 80 laps last year, and captured the win last season. Additionally, Chevy power commanded all but seven laps in the 2022 event.

Several current Chevrolet-powered drivers have seen success at Mid-Ohio. Josef Newgarden has driven his No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet to victory twice while teammates Will Power and Scott McLaughlin have each taken their Chevrolet mounts to Victory Lane once at the Ohio track.

“Very excited to head back to the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course,” noted McLaughlin looking ahead to the weekend. “Obviously, as the reigning champ of race day last year, it was a big win for us, for Chevy, for everyone on the car – the Thirsty 3’s. For sure, we’d love to go back-to-back. It would really kickstart the second half of the season. We were really strong in 2022, and that’s really where we made a lot of our points. I have no doubt in my mind we have the pace to do it. It’s a matter of putting things together, and we’ve got great fuel mileage from Chevy. Chevy gives us great power. It’s just a matter of us putting the pieces together. It’s hard to do in IndyCar, but there’s no doubt in my mind our team can do it. We’ll see how we go. We’ll have a good frame of mind heading to one of my favorite tracks this weekend.”

Rob Buckner, IndyCar Program Manager at General Motors, notes the technicalities of competing at Mid-Ohio, as also the importance of a successful result with season reaching the half-way point, saying “Heading to Mid-Ohio this weekend means we have reached the midway point of the 2023 season,” said Rob Buckner, Chevrolet Engineering Program Manager for the NTT INDYCAR Series. “While the track has been a little bit of an up-and-down venue for us, I am confident that some of our road-course success this year can pay dividends this weekend. Coming off of a strong showing at Road America and the win earlier at Barber Motorsports Park – two tracks with some similar features and elevation change – should give our teams a pretty good baseline for rolling off at Mid-Ohio.

“The battles for both the Series’ Manufacturers championship and the driver/owner titles are heating up and remain very much up for grabs,” continued Buckner. “The Chevrolet Motorsports engineers are working closely with our teams to ensure we are in the thick of it until we get to Championship weekend at Laguna Seca in September.”

The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio kicks off with Practice 1 Friday, June 30 at 3:05 p.m. ET, with Practice 2 starting Saturday at 9:45 a.m. ET. Qualifications and the Firestone Fast Six also take place Saturday, starting at 2:45 p.m. ET. A final warm-up will start race day Sunday at 10:30 a.m. ET. All practice and qualifying will be live on Peacock, INDYCAR Radio, and SiriusXM Channel 160. The 80-lap, 180.64-mile race Sunday, July 2 will take the green flag at 1:30 p.m. ET live on USA Network.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING (QUOTES):

Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:

“Mid-Ohio is the exact halfway point of the season. As a team, I feel like we have some unfinished business there because of what happened last year with our cars. I can’t wait to get back and keeping building our momentum.”

Felix Rosenqvist, No. 6 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:

“I think we’re all looking forward to getting back to Mid-Ohio to take care of some unfinished business from last year. It was arguably our best weekend of the season leading up to the race; then both cars were struck by unfortunate events. We’re ready to get back and I’m looking forward to enjoying one of the most exciting race tracks in the U.S.”

Alexander Rossi, No. 7 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:

“First and foremost, I’m incredibly excited about the upcoming Mid-Ohio race. It has always been a unique challenge with its elevation and high-speed corners. The speed of the team here last year was phenomenal, and we are in the part of the season where we have to capitalize on our opportunities. We have a strong sense of confidence but remain fully aware of the challenges that lie ahead. As always, our goal is to deliver the best possible performance, and we’ll fight for every possible point.”

Gavin Ward, Race Director at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:

“Back-to-back races at such classic American road courses is pretty cool. Last year, Mid-Ohio brought heartbreaks with our two cars suffering reliability issues after qualifying on pole and running up front. You could say that this year we’re looking for redemption. We’ve had the pace to fight at the front everywhere this year, so we’re quietly confident coming back here with a focus on continual improvement and enjoying the process of building a better race team week-in, week-out.”

Ryan Hunter-Reay, No. 20 Chevrolet at Ed Carpenter Racing:

“We certainly have plenty of positives to build on following the Road America race weekend and the Iowa test. Road America was essentially a multi-day test session for us and the team did a great job considering the circumstances. Mid-Ohio is one of my favorite tracks on the calendar. I’m looking forward to getting back behind the wheel of the No. 20 BITNILE.COM Chevy on a track I know well and have plenty of experience on.”

Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 Chevrolet at Ed Carpenter Racing:

“I am very excited for Mid-Ohio! I was P4 there last year which gives me a lot of confidence, we need a result like that again. Since I am coming back with even more experience, hopefully we can do even better. I can’t wait to drive there. I think we can do well. Being fast is always fun so I am looking forward to having a lot of fun this weekend!”

Santino Ferrucci, No. 14 Chevrolet at AJ Foyt Racing:

“I have raced at Mid-Ohio a lot growing up in FF2000 and have done well here in the past–even in IndyCar with my best start being P2. It’s a really well-flowing track and even more fun in the rain. Mid-Ohio is just hard because there isn’t any room for error. There is no runoff similar to Road America and it’s still a fast track. I think if we have a good car, we should be competitive.”

Benjamin Pedersen, No. 55 Chevrolet at AJ Foyt Racing:

“I love how Mid-Ohio is such a technical track and how much the track changes throughout the race weekend, even from the morning to the afternoon. Mid-Ohio is overall one of the most enjoyable tracks to drive, and you can make a big difference as a driver

through your performance. This track is also very familiar to many of us, as we have been racing here for years through the various ladder systems that compete at Mid-Ohio. So, it’s nice to have had so much experience here throughout my career.”

CHEVROLET AT MID-OHIO (since 2012):

Wins at Road America: 6

2014: Scott Dixon

2016: Simon Pagenaud

2017: Josef Newgarden

2020: Will Power (Race 1)

2021: Josef Newgarden

2022: Scott McLaughlin

Pole Awards at Road America: 10

2012: Will Power

2013: Ryan Hunter-Reay

2014: Sebastian Bourdais

2015: Scott Dixon

2016: Simon Pagenaud

2017: Will Power

2019: Will Power

2020: Will Power (Race 1)

2021: Josef Newgarden

2022: Pato O’Ward

Podiums at Road America by Team Chevy: 14

Laps Led at Road America by Team Chevy: 603

2023 CHEVROLET BY THE NUMBERS:

190: NTT INDYCAR SERIES races as V6 engine supplier since 2012 return to INDYCAR.

109: Wins in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES since 2012.

121: Earned poles since 2012.

7: Manufacturer Championships since 2012.

7: Driver/entrant champions since 2012.

12: Indianapolis 500 victories by Chevrolet at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

5: Indianapolis 500 wins by Chevrolet since 2012 in the V6 2.2-liter twin turbo direct injected era.

26: Wins by Will Power since 2012 – all with Chevrolet power – most of any driver with the same manufacturer.

14: Consecutive seasons with at least one win by Will Power, including the past 11 with Chevrolet power.

9: Wins from the pole by Will Power with Chevrolet power since 2012, most by any driver.

4: Earned NTT P1 Pole Awards by Will Power with Chevrolet at Mid-Ohio since 2012, most by any Chevrolet driver.

44: Pole starts by Will Power since 2012 in a Chevrolet-powered car, most of any driver.

*Will Power’s career total of 68 poles makes him the all-time pole winner in INDYCAR.

About Chevrolet

Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in 79 countries with more than 3.2 million cars and trucks sold in 2020. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.