When the green flag dropped today at Mid-Ohio, it was the first time one manufacturer has swept the final qualifying group since 2016. Could Honda keep up their dominance?
In what may be his last year with Chip Ganassi Racing, 2021 series champion and current points leader Alex Palou continued his dominance of the 2023 season by winning the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio, making it four wins in the last 5 races.
“It did. We knew that we had the pace, but we needed clean air. Obviously it’s tough at Mid-Ohio to follow cars — well, to overtake cars, I would say.” Palou said. “That’s why we went for the primaries at the beginning, which we thought it was probably a bit risky, but if we were able to cross the first lap on position, we were going to be good for our strategy.”
“So, yeah, made it work. We saved a little bit of fuel. Waited until the 27 struggled a little bit on tires. We were able to pass and then just run a bit longer than Colton and Rahal to get the lead.”
“Yeah, it was fun. The car was really fast obviously. It was great to be able to do everything that we planned, and all the pit stops and everything was fine.”
1. This is Alex Palou’s world, and we’re just living in it
After taking the lead following the first round of pit stops, Palou didn’t look back to capture his third win in a row, fourth win of the year, and eighth of his career. The Spaniard led 48 of the 80 laps of the race. Along with leading over half of the race, Palou is the first driver to win three consecutive races since teammate Scott Dixon, who has done so three times (2007, 2013, and 2020).
2. Can RLL continue the momentum after Mid-Ohio?
After qualifying all three cars in the top 12, is this the beginning of a turnaround at Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing? It’s been a season to forget at RLL with 0 wins along with Christian Lundgaard sitting 10th in points, Graham Rahal 14th and Jack Harvey 23rd respectively, but today’s race might be the light at the end of the tunnel. Lundgaard started fifth and finished P4, Rahal started on the front row and finished seventh and Harvey started 11th and finished P18. Can they turn their season around in the second half?
3. Pato O’Ward drove his tail off
On Friday, Pato O’Ward topped the time charts, but Saturday’s qualifying session was another story. Due to a mechanical failure with his No. 5 Chevrolet, he created his own issue, spinning off of Turn 2 in the first qualifying group, relegating him to start in 25th. Going on a different race strategy than others, O’Ward passed 17 cars, finding himself at times in the top 5 and finishing in the top 10 at P8.
4. Aeroscreens work
On Saturday, Simon Pagenaud went for one of the wildest rides in IndyCar history at Mid-Ohio. Without the invention of the aeroscreen, would he have walked away without a scratch? Sunday was no different. In the opening laps of the race, Marcus Ericsson in his No. 8 Honda failed to give Felix Rosenqvist enough room to make the pass, and Ericsson’s car ended up going over the top of his fellow Swede’s, leaving a huge tire mark on the front of the latter’s car.
5. Conor Daly returns for Meyer Shank Racing
Due to the accident that took place yesterday with Simon Pagenaud, the IndyCar medical staff did not clear him to drive in Sunday’s race. MSR picked former Ed Carpenter Racing driver Conor Daly to drive the No. 60 Honda. While rolling off the grid at P27, Daly did a solid job as Pagenaud’s replacement bringing home a P20 finish.
Up Next: Honda Indy Toronto – Sunday, July 16th on USA
