Scott McLaughlin has won the Honda Indy 200 from Mid-Ohio, dominating the second half of the race to take his second IndyCar victory.
The Kiwi drove a flawless race, and was able to continue Team Penske’s strong run in the 2022 season. The historic team has now won two thirds of the races this season, and is showing no signs of slowing down.
McLaughlin gained the lead during the first pit stop cycle, but was helped by the polesitter Pato O’Ward’s engine trouble. His AMSP team tried to manage the situation through different failure modes in the car, but O’Ward’s Chevy engine gave up completely halfway through the race.
Alex Palou crossed the line in second position roughly half a second behind, but could not ever mount a charge against McLaughlin in front.
Will Power had what has to be considered the comeback drive of the day. The veteran made a bold move on the second lap, was squeezed onto the grass, and had to drop to the rear of the field.
He made his way slowly and surely through the field from the 27th and final position, and ended the day on the podium. The strong drive allowed him to maintain his second place in the points standings.
Rinus VeeKay and Scott Dixon ended the day in fourth and fifth respectively, with each able to avoid the multiple on-track incidents to log top 5 finishes.
There was inter-team fighting all throughout the day, but the biggest example was within the Andretti Autosport team.
Romain Grosjean and Alexander Rossi found themselves touching wheels on consecutive laps while driving through the keyhole corner, the second of which left them both sliding through the grass.
A few laps later, Grosjean and Colton Herta touched in the same corner, and Californian was forced to find his way back to the tarmac as well.
The clashes led to some heated moments on the radio, and surely there will be further discussions in person after the race.
Chevrolet engine issues filled the entire afternoon, and they began with Felix Rosenqvist who had his power plant let go a few laps into the race.
Tatiana Calderon and Callum Ilott also had engine issues that caused them to retire before the end of the race, to go along with O’Ward’s failure.
On account of the six caution periods that filled the 80-lap event, only 20 drivers ended up finishing on the lead lap.
Teams will have one week off before heading to Toronto for a street race in Canada for the first time in three years.
| # | Driver | Time / Gap | Laps Led | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Scott McLaughlin | 01:46:43.3290 | 45 | 53 |
| 2 | Alex Palou | -0.5512 | – | 40 |
| 3 | Will Power | -3.8415 | – | 35 |
| 4 | Rinus VeeKay | -11.3742 | – | 32 |
| 5 | Scott Dixon | -12.3194 | – | 30 |
| 6 | Marcus Ericsson | -13.0700 | – | 28 |
| 7 | Josef Newgarden | -13.7717 | – | 26 |
| 8 | Helio Castroneves | -16.8590 | – | 24 |
| 9 | David Malukas | -19.0958 | – | 22 |
| 10 | Simon Pagenaud | -26.1914 | – | 20 |
| 11 | Christian Lundgaard | -27.0849 | – | 19 |
| 12 | Graham Rahal | -28.9183 | – | 18 |
| 13 | Conor Daly | -29.4121 | – | 17 |
| 14 | Takuma Sato | -29.7488 | – | 16 |
| 15 | Colton Herta | -35.6803 | 7 | 16 |
| 16 | Jimmie Johnson | -36.6512 | – | 14 |
| 17 | Devlin DeFrancesco | -39.6556 | – | 13 |
| 18 | Simona De Silvestro | -46.0278 | – | 12 |
| 19 | Alexander Rossi | -46.9341 | – | 11 |
| 20 | Jack Harvey | -65.0242 | – | 10 |
| 21 | Romain Grosjean | -1 lap | – | 9 |
| 22 | Dalton Kellett | -2 laps | – | 8 |
| 23 | Callum Ilott | -23 laps | – | 7 |
| 24 | Pato O’Ward | -28 laps | 28 | 8 |
| 25 | Tatiana Calderon | -29 laps | – | 5 |
| 26 | Kyle Kirkwood | -52 laps | – | 5 |
| 27 | Felix Rosenqvist | -72 laps | – | 5 |
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