Tire Selections- Mid Ohio
Tag: NTT Indycar Series
Rahal Fastest in Warm Up
Grahan Rahal’s great weekend continued this morning as he posted the fast time in this miorning’s warm up for the Honda Indy 200. Rahal ‘s lap of 1:08.4255 was 17hindredths of a second quicker than Scott Dixon.
David malukas was third, devlin DeFrancesco fourth, and Marcus Ericsson rcompleted the top five.
Will Power went into the turn 4 sand trap and caused the only red flag of the session.
Conor Daly, substituting for Simon Pagenaud, was 12th. Pole sitter Colton Herta was sixth fastest.
Kyle Kirkwood completed just five laps and had the slowest speed of the morning.
Results
Daly to Drive for Meyer Shank as Pagenaud Not Cleared to Race
From Meyer Shank Racing:
Conor Daly to Substitute for Pagenaud at Mid-Ohio
From Meyer Shank Racing:
Lexington, Ohio (2 July 2023) – Conor Daly will race the No. 60 AutoNation / SiriusXM Honda in Sunday’s Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Presented by the 2023 Accord Hybrid following a practice incident that has sidelined Simon Pagenaud.
On Saturday, a manufacturer brake failure saw Pagenaud unable to slow for the high-speed Turn 4 during the morning practice session. Pagenaud took quick action to initiate a spin to reduce his speed, leaving the track sideways, but going airborne as the car was caught by the run-off gravel outside the corner. The No. 60 entry made a series of rolls at high speed before coming to a stop against the tire wall. Fast work from the AMR Safety team saw him extricated promptly and safely as he was transported to the on-site INDYCAR medical facility.
Pagenaud was evaluated and released by the NTT INDYCAR SERIES medical team, but required to be signed off per protocol to return to action. A follow up test did not provide the clearance for the 2019 Indianapolis 500 winner to race Mat Mid-Ohio on Sunday.
“First and foremost, I have to speak to the safety of these cars,” said MSR Team Owner, Mike Shank. “To walk away from an accident like that is incredible and we cannot thank everyone at INDYCAR, the AMR INDYCAR safety team and the INDYCAR medical team for everything they did to get Simon out and evaluated as quickly as possible.
“This is obviously not a scenario that we had planned for, but everyone at MSR has pitched in to get our backup car ready for Sunday,” continued Shank. “It’s actually Helio’s Indy 500 car and the one he won the 500 with in 2021. We have to thank Conor for being here and stepping into this, he’s been super great through all of the chaos. Now we will get back on our feet and see what we can do in the race.”
Daly steps into the No. 60 AutoNation / SiriusXM Honda with plenty of laps under his belt at Mid-Ohio. This will be his eighth NTT INDYCAR SERIES start at Mid-Ohio with his best finish of sixth in his Rookie season in 2016 which followed a run to the front of the field, leading 22 laps and moving up 16 positions.
“Obviously I have to think about Simon, you hate to see someone wreck like that,” said Daly. “The most important thing is to get him as healthy as possible, as soon as possible. This is his car and his group of folks and I am here to do the best job that I can for this team. I’ve known Mike (Shank) for a long time and I’ve tested for his sports car team many years ago. I’ve always had a lot of respect for this organization. It’s an honor to be a part of this group and fill in – we will just do the best job that we can.”
The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio is set for 1:30pm ET on Sunday, July 2nd. MSR driver Helio Castroneves will start 19th while Daly will start 27th.
Mid Ohio Race Day
Good morning from a wet Mid Ohio. Rain has tapered to sprinkles. @Indycar_Wxman thinks the race will be dry, but we will see. His Latest:
Storms made it through #MidOhio overnight and showers are generally ending this morning…this should open up a drying gap into the afternoon and into the #Honda200 race window..we’ll have to watch for redevelopment late afternoon..but timing leans to dry race for now #INDYCAR
Today’s Schedule: All tumes Eaastern
8 am: Porsche Race
10:30-11 am: INDYCAR warmup Peacock
11:35 am: INDY NXT Command
11:40 am: INDY NXT Green Peacock
1:05 pm: Driver Intros
1:34 pm: Invocation
1:35 pm: Anthem
1:37 pm: Drivers to Cars
1:46 pm: Command
1:53 pm: Green Flag USA; Peacock
We should know in the next couple of hours if Simon Pagenaud will be cleared to drive. If he is not, Conor Daly will take his place..
I think the winner today comes from the second row, and I don’t think his first name is Alex. I have had a good feeling about Kyle Kirkwood since Friday’s peactice.
An interesting thing about front row starters Colton Herta and Graham Rahal- both teams have made personnel changes since the 500. It’s nice to see the changes pay off so quickly.
Today’s race will get veryn intereting very quickly if it begins dry and rain comes later in the race.
The schedule can be quite fluid on a day with a weather forecast like we have today. I wll post upfates on The Pit Window on Facebook and on @tutorindie on Rwitter. Save some of your 500 tweets for late breaking news.
I’ll be back after warmup with tire selections and a weaqther update.
Herta Edges Rahal for Mid Ohio Pole
Colton Herta will start the Honda Indy 200 from the pole tomorrow. He narrowly beat out Graham Rahal on his final lap as time ran out.
Herta decided to go with blacks on his final run, and he nipped Rahal by 0.0432 seconds. The pole is Herta’s second in a rpw as the year of streaks continues. A;ex Palou has won two races in a row going into tomorrow.
Honda Lockout
All six cars in the Firestone Fast Six had Honda power, an unusual happening in this age of competitiveness. Rahal explained that Mid Ohio is an important race for Honda, and they put a lot of effort into this event.
RLL’s Best Day
The Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team put all three cars into the second round, and two afvanced to the Fast Six. Jack Harvey will have his second best start of the season rolling off 11th tomorrow.
Christian Lundgaard will start fifth. Rahal, in second, has his best starting spot of the year.
2023 has been a struggle for RLL, but there havs been slow improvement. Today the3y showeed that they are capable of competing.
Arrow McLaren Stumbles
Once again, Arrow Mcaren missed an oppoprtunity to start up front and finally get a win this year.
Pato O’Ward, fastest in Friday practice, ended up off track in round one and will start 25th.
Felix Rosenqvist starts 10th, and Alexander Rossi lines up 13th.
Today’s qualifying was exactly what Indycar qualifying should be. There was a lot of drama and fierce battling to advance.The Fast Six was arguably the best qualifying round of the season. Anyone in the final round coukld have been on pole.
The Starting Lineup
Qualifying Groups- Mid Ohio
Power Fastest in Practice 2; Pagenaud Involved in Scary Crash
to quaWill Powwr turned the quickest lap this morning in the last practice before qualifying at 2:45 this afternoon. His quick lap came after a red flag for a horrific crash as Simon Pagenaud suffered a brake failure and rolled at least nine times in the turn 4 sand trap. Pagenaud was released from the medical center, but is not cleared to qualify.
Conor Daly is available to qualify if the backuo car is ready. The team has not made a decision as yet.
It is easy in this age of enhanced safety to take it for granted that a driver will walk away from a crash, but to witness an accident like this still makes you hold your breath. Driver safety is never a guven, no matter how many advances in safety the car has.
I’ll be back with qualifying groups in a bit.
Results
Day 2 at Mid Ohio
Today’s schedule: All times Eastern,; Indycar sessions on Peacock
7:55 am: GT3 Qualifying
8:35 am: Indy NXT Practice
9:45 am: INDYCAR Practice
11 am: USF2000 Race
11:55 am: USF Pro2000 Race
1 pm: GT3 Race
2:05 pm: Indy NXT Qualifying
2:45 pm: INDYCAR Qualifying
4:30 pm: USF2000 Race
5:25 pm: USF Pro2000 Race
There was some rain overnight, but the morning practice should be dry. Rain could be a factor during qualifying this afternoon, however. I will provide weather updates on The Pit Window Facebook page and on Twitter @tutorindie throughout the day.
In a media ocnference after yestreday’s pracrice, Alexander Rossi said that rain during the race could be an equalizer. He said that we wkk fuibd our id Alex Palou is good in the rain. Rossi noted that Indycar has so few rain races, it;’s hard to say who would have the advantage in wet conditions.
Track Improvements
I walked around some of the track Friday afternoon, and it was nice to see some changes the facility has made. The paddock area has new blacktop in the areas where the transporters and garages are.
Turn 1 has been repaved.
There is a new viewing stand on the inside of the track between turns 1 and 2. The stand is private for use of team guests and sponsors.
A qwlcone changes for fans who watch drom the esses.
Viewing here has been obstructed the last few years by small shade tents and umbrellas all the way down the hill to the fence next to the track. I am glad to see this change. I’m a bit surprised at how far from the track the boundary is. The esses are my favorite bantage point on race day. I am looking forward to seeing this policy implemented tomorrow.
O’Ward Leads Mid Ohio Practice 1
In a frenzied practice session, Pato O’Ward turned in the fastest lap of Practice 1, 1:06.4935. Alex Palou was second quick, and Marcus Ericsson was third. The htree drivers are in the top four of the points standings heading into the weekend.
Helio Castroneves caused the only stoppage for an off track incident.
As usual, itwas a busy day at Mid Ohio. I will have more later.
Results
The Pit Window by Mike Silver 