News, Who to Watch and They Said it…
By Roy J. Akers-www.skyviewsports.net
Mid-Ohio News
Lexington, Ohio- The NTT Indy Car season has passed its halfway point and the Mid-Ohio race course will attempt to identify a clear leader in the points chase as three drivers have led the series in points after the last three races. Looking at Josef Newgarden, he is still 9th in points after his DQ in the series opener at St. Petersburg. Scott Dixon led after winning the Streets of Detroit, Will Power took the torch after the Road American Course and Alex Palou is the current points leader.
The Points Race entering Mid-Ohio
The top nine in the NTT Indy points chase all have a chance to win the NTT title but in reality, how many drivers can make up the points needed to be the 2024 champion? Palou has two wins this season and is expected to be strong at Mid-Ohio. Will Power needs to build on his first victory in a couple of years at Road America. Scott Dixon has won twice in 2024 and sits 32 points out of the lead. Colton Herta has no wins this season but has six top-ten’s on the season. He has to lean hard into the leaders to move up In addition, Josef Newgarden is 9th in NTT points, 104 points behind Palou. He needs multiple victories and the hope the eight drivers ahead of him falter.
It’s about the Hybrid Engine
The Hybrid engine, after a delay is making its debut at Mid-Ohio. Drivers will have to get used to the engine but according to some drivers, the engine is within 2/10’s of a second of the engines already being used on the circuit. Pato O’Ward comments in the “They Said It” section of this article.
The Mid-Ohio track and facility is a favorite of the drivers. The course has a mid town feel with fans, drivers, vendors and the track itself more Midwest than corporate America.
Favorites and Sleepers for the Mid-Ohio 200
It all begins and ends with two teams. Team Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing have won five of the last six races at Mid-Ohio. The debut of the hybrid power unit this weekend could close the gap for the other teams and these two giants on the 2.258-mile course but do not bet on it.
Boasting five Mid-Ohio Sports Car wins in the last six tries, Team Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing drivers are the ones to beat for Sunday’s The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Presented by the 2025 Civic Hybrid. Each has won the annual NTT INDYCAR SERIES race to rural Ohio road course a 12 times.
Favorites
Scott Dixon (No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda)
Dixon has won twice in 2024 and he has taken the checkered flag six times in 18 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course starts. Dixon has finished fourth, fifth and second, at Mid-Ohio in his last three races. Dixon wants to pass AJ Foyt in the all-time Indy Car wins list. Mid-Ohio represents a very good chance for him.
Alex Palou (No. 10 Ridgeline Lubricants Chip Ganassi Racing Honda)
Palou is the defending champion at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and loves the track. The defending race winner has three consecutive podium finishes: third, second and first and the natural progression for Palou is to become the two-time defending champion. Mid-Ohio is a dedicated road course and AP has finished fifth, first, fourth and first. Expect Palou to be leading or the leader looking for Palou in their rear view mirror.
More Favorites…
Scott McLaughlin (No. 3 Sonsio Team Penske Chevrolet)
Are you noticing a trend with the Penske and Ganassi drivers? McLaughlin has two podium finishes, first at Barber Motorsports Park and third at Road America, in four natural road course starts this season. McLaughlin is on this list because he races with Team Penske. He also led 45 laps in his 2022 Mid-Ohio victory and finished fifth last season. With racing luck, this could be McLaughlin’s day.
Will Power (No. 12 Verizon Business Team Penske Chevrolet)
Continuing with the Team Penske trend, Power ranks as the second-best resume on natural road course starts this season behind a third-place average finish. Power’s only win this season was at Road America. Power also finished seventh at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and pair of runner-up finishes at Barber Motorsports Park and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. Qualifying is where Power shines. He has three starts in the top five. As a horse for the Mid-Ohio course. Power has an average finish of sixth in 16 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course starts. He led 206 combined laps to go along with seven top-four finishes in his last nine starts. Power will run in the top-five if he stays out of any poor racing luck.
Sleepers
Colton Herta (No. 26 Gainbridge Honda)
Herta is an enigma. He has as much talent as anyone in NTT IndyCar and won this race in 2019. Since then Herta finished 13th, 15th and 11th, in his last three races. His win gives him a sleeper pick in this article. Also, Herta qualifies well on this track with starting spots of first, second, third and first, respectively. Herta will most likely not have a teammate to help push him through the pack so he will have to stay out of any bad racing luck to have a chance at the checkered flag.
Pato O’Ward has looked extremely good in practice this weekend, outpacing Graham Rahal and Colton Herta in practice laps for the . Speed is the key for O’Ward. PO has five top-tens in 2024 including winning the season opener at St. Petersburg and a second at the Indianapolis 500. He has four top-tens in a row starting with Indy and continuing into Ohio.
Santino Ferrucci (No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing/Sexton Properties Chevrolet)
AJ Foyt finally has himself a driver in Santino Ferucci. Ferucci’s driving and the team behind him have taken six-top ten finishes in three seasons entering the 2024 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season. into sive top-ten finishes in eight starts this season. Ferrucci likes dedicated road course races. Ferrucci finished seventh at Barber Motorsports Park and ninth at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Like O’Ward and Herta, he will most likely not have teammates helping him. He will have AJ and Larry Foyt and his crew chief pushing him along.
Graham Rahal (No. 15 Fifth Third Bank Honda)
Since winning this race in 2015, Rahal has been in the top ten every year but one and he performs well every year. The Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course is considered Rahal’s home track The key to Rahal’s success is he has completed 99.7 percent of his laps (1,441 out of 1,445) and produced 10 top-10 finishes in his last 11 tries. He qualified second last year and finished seventh after a poor final pit stop He has practiced well for the HONDA INDY 200 AT MID-OHIO.
He Said It… Pato O’Ward
O’Ward on the new Hybrid Technology
Q. How does the hybrid — can you sense or feel the hybrid kicking in?
PATO O’WARD: You can feel it. You can definitely feel it when you engage the deploy. It’s obviously not as big as I think people are thinking in terms of lap time. It’s less than two tenths I would say with a perfectly optimized usage of deployment strategy.
Palou Wins Pole… He Said It
Alex Palou on the closest pole of the season as he beat Pato O’Ward by 24/10,000 of a second.
ALEX PALOU: Yeah, it was tight. It was tight all
qualifying. Fortunately we had a really fast car since practice one. Q1 was good, Q2, as well. We made it through, which is the target. Then we saw that Pato did only one push lap on the alternates in Fast 12, and we knew it was going to be too close in the Fast Six. We had to try and gamble a little bit and made a few changes for Fast Six to try and get a little bit, and it worked.
Roy J. Akers is a multi-media reporter and covers several sports for www.skyviewsports.net