2024 Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio

Race Notes

• The 2024 Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio was 80 laps on the 13-turn, 2.258-mile road course totaling 180.64 miles. The pit road speed limit was 45 mph. The race started the fourth time by the alternate start line on the backstretch. Pole sitter Alex Palou gridded drivers' right.
• All cars but those of Will Power, Josef Newgarden, Graham Rahal, Felix Rosenqvist, Rinus VeeKay and Agustin Canapino started the race on primary black Firestone Firehawk tires. Each car was required to use one new set of alternate red tires and one set of primary black tires during the race, unless rain tires were used in the race due to weather.
• At 1:45 p.m. EDT, eight minutes before the scheduled green flag, the ambient temperature at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course was 82 degrees with 54% relative humidity and party cloudy skies. The track temperature was 118 degrees according to Firestone engineers.
• Also at 1:45 p.m., Cleveland Browns offensive lineman Dawand Jones, the race's grand marshal, gave the commend, "Drivers, start your engines." All 27 cars started and rolled on the grid.
• On the first parade lap, the No. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda of Scott Dixon stopped on course in Turn 5 with an apparent hybrid issue.
• The first race lap was under caution due to Dixon's car still being stopped on track. The first two official race laps were run under yellow-flag conditions and served as the race's only caution period.
• On Lap 3, Race Control started the race on the backstretch using the same double-file procedure that would have been used for the initial start rather than a single-file restart. Palou led the field out of Turn 2 to the start line and continued to lead through the opening two-thirds of the race except during pit stops.
• Palou's lead increased over the first 28 laps, from 1.7582 seconds on Lap 5 to 6.2923 seconds on Lap 25. Palou pitted for the first time on Lap 28, one lap after second-placed Pato O'Ward.
• Scott McLaughlin led two laps until his own pit stop on Lap 31, when Palou returned to the race lead.
• Palou continued to lead until his second pit stop on Lap 55, leading a total of 53 laps. The stop was slow, causing Palou to exit the pits behind O'Ward. At the time, McLaughlin was the leader for one lap but O'Ward quickly took the lead on Lap 57 following McLaughlin's final pit stop.
• O'Ward led the final 24 laps of the race, with his advantage over Palou fluctuating from 1.4498 seconds on Lap 60 to 0.5091 of a second on Lap 66.
• Over the final laps, Palou charged to within a second of O'Ward, trailing by 0.3663 of a second on Lap 77, 0.5947 of a second on Lap 78 and 0.4060 of a second on Lap 79 when O'Ward took the white flag.
• O'Ward crossed the finish line 0.4993 of a second ahead of Palou, earning the Arrow McLaren driver his second win of 2024 and the sixth victory of his NTT IndyCar Series career. While O'Ward was credited for the win in St. Petersburg at the start of the season, the Mid-Ohio win marked the first time he crossed the finish line first since the second race of the Iowa Speedway doubleheader in 2022.
• Points after the 2024 Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio:
  1. Palou 329
  2. Power 281 (-48)
  3. O'Ward 259 (-70)
  4. Dixon 258 (-71)
  5. Herta 249 (-80)
  6. Kirkwood 234 (-95)
  7. Rossi 226 (-103)
  8. McLaughlin 224 (-105)
  9. Rosenqvist 192 (-137)
  10. Newgarden 186 (-143)
      

Session Notes

• Warm-up for the 2024 Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course began on time at 10:25 a.m. EDT and ran for its full 30-minute time allotment. No red flags slowed the action and no penalties were issued.
• At 10:48 a.m., the No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet of Nolan Siegel went off course and stalled in Turn 2. Siegel was able to use hybrid start, engage reverse and rejoin while only causing a local yellow. It was the first instance of hybrid start being used to avoid a full-course caution flag.
• At the conclusion of warm-up, Scott Dixon was fastest with a 1:06.2555 in the No. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Alex Palou was second quick, locking out the top two fastest laps for Ganassi.
  

Qualifying Notes

• Qualifying for the NTT P1 Award consists of three segments. In the first round, each group receives 10 minutes of track time with the clock starting when the first car hits the alternate start-finish line. The fastest six cars from each group advance to Round 2 while the remaining cars are assigned positions 13 to 27. Group 1 drivers occupy the odd-numbered positions from 13 to 25 while Group 2 drivers occupy the even-numbered positions from 14 to 26 and 27 based on their fastest lap times. During Round 2, the 12 advancing cars receive 10 minutes of track time with the fastest six cars advancing to the Firestone Fast Six while the remaining cars are ranked in positions seven through 12 based on their fastest laps. During the Firestone Fast Six, the six cars receive six minutes of guaranteed green-flag time. At the end of session, cars are ranked one through six based on their fastest laps.
• There were no red flags or penalties issued throughout the entirety of qualifying for the 2024 Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio.
• Alex Palou, Pato O'Ward, Colton Herta, David Malukas, Marcus Armstrong and Marcus Ericsson advanced to the Firestone Fast Six.
• At the conclusion of Round 3, Alex Palou's 1:05.3511 earned the Chip Ganassi Racing driver his sixth career NTT P1 Award. The effort marked Palou's third pole of 2024. He was last on pole the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
• Palou and O'Ward were separated by 0.0024 of a second, the tightest front row in the history of the Firestone Fast Six format dating back to 2005.
  1. 2024 Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio 0.0024
  2. 2023 GMR Grand Prix 0.0027
  3. 2021 Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio 0.0031
  4. 2024 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach 0.0039
  5. 2012 Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix 0.0044
  6. 2024 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg 0.0058
  7. 2023 Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey 0.0097
  8. 2012 Edmonton Indy 0.0108
  9. 2016 Chevrolet Dual in Detroit 0.0119
  10. 2018 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama 0.0128
      

Session Notes

• Practice 2 for the 2024 Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course began on time at 10:50 a.m. EDT and ran for its full 45-minute green flag time allotment, with two red flags slowing the action for a total of seven minutes and one second.
• At 11:10 a.m., the No. 26 Andretti Global Honda of Colton Herta made contact with the tire barrier in Turn 12. The car was restarted by the AMR INDYCAR Safety Team and returned to pit lane without its nosecone. The red-flag period lasted for five minutes.
• At 11:21 a.m., the No. 4 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda of Kyffin Simpson spun and stopped on course in Turn 11. The red flag was two minutes in duration.
• At the conclusion of Practice 2, Pato O'Ward was fastest with a 1:05.9862 in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, the only driver with a lap quicker than 66 seconds. Graham Rahal, Herta, David Malukas and Scott Dixon completed the top five with five different teams represented in the group.
  

Session Notes

• Practice 1 for the 2024 Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course started on time at 3:20 p.m. EDT and ran for its full 75-minute duration, with two pauses for red-flag conditions.
• At 3:45 p.m., the session stopped for 15 minutes due to heavy smoke trailing from the No. 78 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet of Agustin Canapino. The incident left fluid on the track which was tended to by the AMR INDYCAR Safety Team.
• At 4:09 p.m., the No. 11 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda of Marcus Armstrong went off course at Turn 8 after a spin. In a separate incident, the No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda of Jack Harvey was off course at Turn 2. The red-flag period lasted for six minutes.
• During the second red flag, rain intensified at Mid-Ohio prompting INDYCAR to declare wet conditions for the session. This allowed teams to use rain tires and required the use of rain lights.
• At the conclusion of Practice 1, Alex Palou was fastest with a 1:07.0650 in the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.