Pato O'Ward led Arrow McLaren’s first-ever 1-2 on his way to victory in the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
The Mexican capitalized on a mistake by team-mate and polesitter Christian Lundgaard on lap 42 and held on to take his first win of the season, beating the Dane by 0.9877s on the 2.258-mile, 13-turn natural-terrain road course. It was the 10th win of O’Ward’s career, achieved at nine different circuits; with that, he became only the second driver to reach double figures in wins for the team (Johnny Rutherford, 18 victories). It also marks the first time Arrow McLaren has finished 1-2 in IndyCar.
“Yes, it’s been a year. It’s definitely been a tough year,” O’Ward said. “Today is just a perfect example of execution. I waited for the perfect moment to strike. And from there we just controlled it. The boys were great in the pits. I know they’ve worked really, really hard to give me that every weekend and this car was a pleasure to drive all weekend.”
Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood converted a start from 10th place into a strong third place, taking the final step on the podium.
Rinus VeeKay of Juncos Hollinger Racing finished fourth, ahead of reigning and four-time IndyCar Series champion Alex Palou (Chip Ganassi Racing) in fifth.
Lundgaard led the field from pole to the green flag, while O’Ward tucked in behind as they headed from the alternate start line toward Turn 4.
Palou, who started on a set of soft tyres, was on the move in the early stages and climbed to sixth place on the second lap after starting eighth. Kirkwood, who started 10th, climbed to seventh after three laps, directly behind Palou. The two went wheel-to-wheel, but Palou managed to fend off the attack from his title rival.
In the first five laps, Lundgaard had a 1.2s lead over O’Ward, with Malukas in third place.
After starting 23rd and running 20th, Scott Dixon was the first to dive into the pits on lap 8. Kirkwood pitted on lap 10. Dixon’s hopes of clear air to set quick lap times were thwarted by ECR’s Alexander Rossi, who also pitted and came out directly in front of him.
Palou continued to make the softer tyres work better than others and moved up to fourth place while other drivers on that compound had already pitted. He dived into the pits on lap 15 and switched to a set of harder primaries used for one lap.
Palou came out directly in front of Kirkwood, but could not keep him behind on cold tyres.
Lundgaard, O’Ward and Malukas stayed out, each having started the race on the preferred tyre, the harder primary tyres.
On lap 20, Lundgaard had a 1.8s lead over O’Ward, with Malukas 3.9s behind.
Malukas was the first of the top three to pit, on lap 25. O’Ward pitted on lap 27, along with Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden, possibly in an attempt at a two-stop strategy. Lundgaard pitted the following lap to cover O’Ward and took a fresh set of harder primaries.
While Lundgaard held firm at the front with a 1.7s lead over O’Ward, other contenders began their second pit stops shortly afterwards. On lap 37, Kirkwood, Caio Collet and Rinus VeeKay, among others, all dived into the pits.
Meanwhile, Race Control had to review an incident after Rossi and Dixon made contact shortly afterwards in Turn 2. Rossi was deemed at fault by Race Control and had to give up two positions on track.
Palou pitted on lap 41.
It was a tense moment for Lundgaard, who ran wide and picked up marbles on the entry to Turn 2, which was just enough to allow O’Ward to close in - and then pass him in Turn 5 with light contact - for the race lead on lap 42.
At halfway, O’Ward had a 0.7254s lead over Lundgaard.
Lundgaard pitted on lap 47 and switched to a set of alternates, while O’Ward pitted on lap 48 and also took the soft compound; Malukas also pitted. The cycle of stops allowed VeeKay to come out directly behind Lundgaard and be strategically aligned with the leaders. Malukas dropped back to fifth after a long pit stop, with Kirkwood moving up to fourth.
On lap 55, O’Ward’s lead was 0.8208s over Lundgaard, with VeeKay 2.3633s behind in third - and closing on the harder primaries.
O’Ward passed backmarker and rookie Dennis Hauger on lap 63, which allowed him to open a gap over Lundgaard and VeeKay. However, Lundgaard and VeeKay came into the pits shortly afterwards, with VeeKay losing ground at the stop as Kirkwood got ahead in the cycle. Meanwhile, O’Ward still had to pit.
With 25 laps to go, O’Ward finally dived into the pits and switched to a set of alternates. He came out almost a full straight ahead of Lundgaard.
With 20 laps to go, O’Ward’s lead over Lundgaard was 2.5519s.
Five laps later, Lundgaard began to close on O’Ward, with 2.1755s between the two.
With 10 laps to go, O’Ward’s lead over Lundgaard shrank to 1.4655s.
On lap 85, the gap between O’Ward and Lundgaard had shrunk to 1.1640s. Kirkwood remained third, 2.5263s off the leader. VeeKay was fourth, with Palou fifth.
O’Ward was still leading at the white flag, with a 1.0979s advantage over Lundgaard. Ultimately, O’Ward held on and took his first road course victory since his win at Mid-Ohio in 2024 at the debut of the hybrid.
1:43'23.5043
+0.9877
1:43'24.4920
+2.2463
1:43'25.7506
+2.7929
1:43'26.2972
+7.5453
1:43'31.0496
+10.9572
1:43'34.4615
+15.8407
1:43'39.3450
+16.5104
1:43'40.0147
+21.0668
1:43'44.5711
+25.6258
1:43'49.1301
+26.6088
1:43'50.1131
+30.7914
1:43'54.2957
+31.3557
1:43'54.8600
+36.3424
1:43'59.8467
+37.0539
1:44'00.5582
+39.8240
1:44'03.3283
+42.7742
1:44'06.2785
+51.1645
1:44'14.6688
+56.6523
1:44'20.1566
+1'00.4321
1:44'23.9364
+1'01.0731
1:44'24.5774
+1'05.2107
1:44'28.7150
+1'06.4289
1:44'29.9332
+1'07.4209
1:44'30.9252
+1 Ronde
1:43'47.8770
Wat zou jij graag willen zien op Motorsport.com?
- Het Motorsport.com-team
Source: Motorsport