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The ninth race of the IndyCar Series season took place on Sunday night at Mid-Ohio Raceway, meaning the year is already halfway through. It was a tight battle between the two drivers, who fought for the win until the very last lap.
Alex Palou started from pole position, with Pato O’Ward on the front row. A surprising David Malukas followed on the second row, just behind Colton Herta, ahead of Marcus Armstrong, Marcus Ericsson, Scott McLaughlin, Alexander Rossi, Christian Rasmussen and Christian Lundgaard – Rinus van Kalmthout could only scrape by in 20th place on the starting grid.
The start was delayed due to Scott Dixon being stopped, but after his car was cleared we could really get going with a typical, amateurish rolling start where the field almost always fails to line up properly. Palau was strong in the opening stages, creating a good gap to O’Ward who in turn left Maloukas, Herta and McLaughlin far behind.
Of the top drivers, O’Ward and Malukas (who had a long pit stop) were the first to switch to fresh tyres, followed by Palu, who also switched to soft tyres. McLaughlin was a little later, overtaking Herta to move up to third place, behind Palau and O’Ward, with Malukas far behind.
With more than 25 laps to go, O’Ward came in for a fresh set of hard tires from behind leader Palou, who also came in a lap later. He just couldn’t get out of pit lane properly, which allowed O’Ward to pass him and take the virtual lead. McLaughlin came in for fresh tires a little later, and O’Ward did take the lead, ahead of both Palau and McLaughlin.
Palu started to move and managed to completely close the gap to O’Ward, almost getting under the rear wing three laps before the end. However, he was no longer able to launch a real attack, so O’Ward took another victory ahead of Palu and McLaughlin. Van Kalmthout eventually crossed the line in 19th place.
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