Some quick thought on today’s qualifying. A more detailed story will comer later tonight.
Pato O’Ward is the ninth different pole winner in the nine Indycar races in 2022. The last time nine different drivers won poles for the first nine races was 1961.
O’Ward on track
O’Ward thinks that Will Power would have been a threat for the pole had he not received a penaltty in Round 1 for interference.
The top three in points were eliminated in Round 1. Points leader Marcus Ericsson will start 13th, Will Power lines up21st, and Josef Newgarden will stat 14th. O’Ward sits fourth in point, 45 points behind Ericsson. Tomorrow is a hiuge opportunity for the Arrow McLaren SP driver.
Rookies Shine
Three rookies made the second round and two just missed advancing to the final round.
Kyle Kirkwood earned his best starting spot of the season. He starts ninth, justmissing the Fast Six.
Kyle Kirkwood
David Malukas continues to improve and will be eighth on the grid Sunday.
Callum Ilott starts 10th.
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Scott Dixon has his bestb road course starting position in fifth.
Nice to see Simon Pagenaud make the Fast Six. The Meyer Shank team has struggled in qualifying this year.
Back later with more about today’s very interesting qualifying.
Colton Herta turned a lap of 1:07.027 late in this morning’s practice to lead the final practice round before qualifying this afternoon. Herta’s lap came just before the third red flag ot yhe morning halted practie about 90 seconds early.
Rinus VeeKay had led the majority of the practice until the final push by other drivers dropped his time to sixth. Will Power finished second and Josef mewgarden was third. Power’s time was only 0.003 seconds behind Herta. Newgarden was 0.034 seconds off the pace.
Three red flags interrupted the session. Just two and a half minutes into the session, Devlin DeFrancesco went off track in turn 2 and had cintact with the barrier. With about 30 minutes left Dalton Kellett went into the turn 12 tire barrier. The final stoppage happened with only a minute and 23 seconds left. Will Power oulled his car off course in turn 4 and stopped. The carbwas towed back to the paddock.
No external damage to Power’s car
The results set up a fascinating second qualifying group with Herta, Newgarden, Alex Palou, and Pato O’Ward. We could see a three round duel between Herta and Newgarden.
Today is arguably the most crucial day of the weekend for drivers hoping for a good race result. Mid Ohio is a track where qualifying usually determines how the race will go. The last three Hnda Indy 200s have been won from the pole. Drivers I talked to yesterday agreed that qualifying is critical.
Today’s forecast has temperatures in the low eighties for qualifying, about 10 degrees cooler trhan yesterday. Practice leader Josef Newgarden said after practice that the heat caused low grip, which should improve today. newgarden also noted that the new Firestone tire takes longer to come up to temperature.
Notes
The top 19 cars were withiun a secomd of each other in practice Friday.
The 11 and 14 cars for . A. J. Foyt Racing are easier to distinguish this weekend. Tatiana Calderon’s number 11 has a white band across the top of the aeroscreen and a white camera pod. kirkwood’s nmber 14 remainms allblack with a yellow green camera pod.
It is difficult to finsd Marcus Ericsson on track since he is in a green and black car this weekend.
Josef Newgarden led the openeing practcie round for the Honda Indy 200 nwith a lap of 1:07.0549. Alex Palou was second, 0,2061 seconds behind. Newgarden was fastest on both the primary and alternate tires.
Takuma Sato brought ot the only red flag of the session when he spun going into turn 1 about 35 minutes into the session.
The temperature reachede 91 degrees during the practice. Newgarden said he felt it and couldn’t wait to get out of the car. He also felt it affected the grip.
“I think the temp definitely made the track grip low. It felt very difficult to drive the car today, to bring it up to temperature. Firestone has a new tire here from last year, and it’s tougher to bring up to temp. Feels like a little less grip.”
Colton Herta
Colton Herta, who was fifth fastest today, reflected on last year’s pit issue and what the team hopoes tro find this year.
“We were very fast last year. Up until that pit stop we were able to stay with Josef. We just need to find a little bit more time. I think I know what I’m looking for in the race car, and it’s going to be — if we can find it or not.”
David Malkukas, who had the eightth fastest time, is extremely happy wqith his rookie season.
“…, everything has gonebetter than I was expecting to be honest. I’ve been in here, I wasn’t expecting to be in here at all for this season, and the fact that we are and being more consistent, it’s making me very happy, and honestly from start to finish it’s gone better than I was expecting.”
Tomorrow and Siunday the temperatures will be between eight to ten degrees coolere. Newgarden believes the cooler temperatures will increase the grip.
First off, it is very warm. Today is supposed to be the hottest day of the weekend. Rcae Day looks to be the coolest day, which makes me wonder how valuable today’s practice will be. So far the crowd appears to be the typical small typical Friday gathering. More fans might come later for Indycar practice.
Alexander Rossi had the first choice of pit boxes this weekend and chose the fourth stall instead of the first one. Josef Newgarden took the first box before pit out.
Kyle Kirkwood has Sexton Properties on the side of the 14 car this weekend, another sign that Rokit may not be long for the series,
Marcus Ericsson will be in green this weekend. It might take a bit to get used to this.
Photos from the Paddock
Beth Paretta talks to fans as the number 16 waits to go to tech (below)
Only at Mid Ohio can fans get this view of the garages
Indycar returns to Mid Ohio for its 39th race at the track built by the late Jim Trueman. The race is nearing Long Beach longevity territory. Winners at Mid Ohio generally start in the first two rows. The most notable exception was Scott Dixon in 2014, who started last because of a penalty during qualifying yet still mfound a way to win.
Things to look for this weekend.
Qualifying is Key
The last three Honda Indy 200 races have been won by the pole winner. In the history of the race 15 drivers have won from the pole. However, six of those have come in the last 11 years, Bottom line- if you want to have success at Mid Ohio, get into the Fast Six on Saturday.
Lots of Favorites as the Title Fight Continues
Five drivers have the potential to win Sunday.
Dixon has six wins at this track, and he has to be in the conversation as a favorite this year. He has stiff competition from his own team, as points leader Marcus Ericsson and 2021 series champion Alex Palou also have a shot at winning on Sunday.
Josef Newgarden, the 2021 winner, has three wins this season, and is third in the standings. If he doesn’t win Newgarden needs to finish ahead of Ericsson and Palou.
Alexander Rossi has been surging since the Indianapolis 500. Rossi three top fives and a pole in the last three races.
Will the Pole Streak Continue?
Qualifying in the 2022 season has seen something that hasn’t happened since 1961. In that earlier time the season beaqgn with nine different pole winners in the first nine races. In 2022 each of the eight races has had a different driver lead the field to the green flag. Tomorrow we could see the record tied, but I’m not so sure. The second hakf of the year is when the better teams and drivers begin to assert themselves.
Who could be the ninth polesitter? My favorites are Alex Palou, Marcus Ericsson, or Romain Grosjean.
Tatiana’s Last Ride?
There has been talk that funding issues may cause the 11 car of A. J. Foyt Racing, driven b Tatiana Calsderon, to cease operations after Mid Ohio. Rokit, the sponsor apparently is behind in payments. My understanding is nthat Kyle Kirkwood’s seat in the 14 car is not affected.
Tatiana Calderon
It’s always sad to lose a car midseason. This especially hurts since Calderon is the only woman on the grid, although she only does roaqd courses.
The potential end to her season hurts even more as Paretta Autosport with Simona DeSilvestro will make its second appearance of the season this weekend. It has been seven years since multiole women participated in an Indycar race, and Sunday might be the teh last time for awhile.
Scott Dixon heads into this weekends Honda Indy 200 at Mid Ohio still looking for his first win of 2022. Dixon has won at least one race every year since 2005. The Chip Ganassi driver has won six times at Mid Ohio. Dixon currently sits sixth in points, 69 behind leader Marcus Ericsson. He talked about the team’s season at a media availability yesterday.
“I think as a group and as a team, we just haven’t been getting the job done. We’ll keep after it. I think Marcus has had a fantastic run, leading the points right now; Alex has had a little bit of bad luck. Just hoping for the whole team we can get ahead down here and fight for another championship for Chip.”
Some of the results Dixon attributed to overthinking situations.
“There’s been some easy misses. I think we’ve had speed. There’s some areas where we could definitely do a better job in getting more speed out of the car, but even Road America I think from our Q1 time would have got us through to Q3, but we overanalyzed the situation, made a very big shift in balance and that knocked us out of Q2. I think at some points we’re overtrying, and it’s easy in this scenario where it’s not as relaxed or just rolling as smoothly as it could be, that whether it’s me or the team or the adjustments that we make, we just may be going over the top. We’ve just got to find our groove.”
Dixon talked about how thin the margin for error is in setting up the car. “Right now it doesn’t take much to kind of fall out of a cycle or fall out of where you need to be. So we’ve just got to keep doing what we typically do, not try to make a big deal of each situation, and hopefully get on a roll here soon. Yeah, I wouldn’t say it’s one or two big things. I think it’s just us not doing what we normally do well.”
If people are having those conversations I haven’t been a part of them. For me I love doing what I’m doing, I love being a part of the team that I’m with, and who knows what comes in the future, but as of right now just focusing on this season. Yeah, that’s all I’ve got to say really. There’s nothing to it.
Not Going Anywhere
Rumors have been circulating about Dixon going to Arrow Mclaren SP or simply retiring. Dixon was quick to shoot that talk down.
“I think for me, I don’t see giving up anytime soon. I feel like in motorsport it’s hard to make a decision from one year to the next, as opposed to kind of looking five years down the road or more. For me right now, it’s just enjoying INDYCAR, trying to win races, trying to get back to where we need to, so that’s where the focus is. You know, the possibilities after I’m done, trust me, I’d love to still be a part of the sport. What that means and in what capacity, I have really no idea. But I love the sport. It’s been my passion since I was five or six years old, so it’s definitely something I want to be a part of for many more years. As of right now, it’s not on the radar.”
