Yep, you guessed it. Alex Palou won again as the 2023 NTT IndyCar Series took over the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
The Chip Ganassi Racing man mastered the Honda Indy 200 thanks to a smart fuel-saving stint early on which allowed him to jump to the front during the pit cycle and then pound the field with his pace in clean air.
Palou’s championship lead extended even further after his third successive win of the season and his fourth in a row on road and street courses. It’s not like he can’t do the ovals either after pole at the Indy 500 and coming back from a pitlane incident and 32nd to fourth.
The 26-year-old’s worst finish of the season came at the curtain raiser in St Petersburg where he finished eighth and after a poor day for Marcus Ericsson and Josef Newgarden, he pretty much has one hand on the title already and we’re only just at the halfway stage.
2023 seems to be the year of motorsport domination with Max Verstappen cruising towards his third world title in Formula 1 but Palou’s season is arguably more impressive with the parity across the field making the racing and lap times extremely close. It is so hard to be the man to beat at every track and yet Palou is managing it.
Herta heartbreak again
Colton Herta looked set for a top-three finish as he came in for his final stop but the Andretti Autosport car failed him with his pit speed limit button not working on entry. The Californian had to come back to pit lane to serve a penalty and give up third on the road.
It comes just two weeks after he was under-fuelled for the final stint at Road America and had to coast to the flag, seeing multiple drivers go past when he could have gone on to win.
Herta’s woes gave Scott Dixon room to take second with Team Penske’s Will Power recovering a tricky qualifying for the team and Chevrolet in general in third.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan had a much improved weekend with Christian Lundgaard in fourth but Graham Rahal, who qualified on the front row, struggled down in seventh.
The Swedish Civil War
It took only a couple of corners for the first significant contact of the day as Ericsson and Felix Rosenqvist came together, leaving both cars stranded on the sodden grass, although the AMR safety team did get Rosenqvist back on track, albeit last.
Ericsson tried going to the inside of the Arrow McLaren driver but he slid wide in his Huski Ice Spritz Honda and catapulted over the top of his countryman.
The IndyCar aero screen proved crucial in keeping Rosenqvist safe as the floor of Ericsson’s car hit the safety structure and bounced away from the driver rather than heading for a potentially fatal incident.
| Pos | Name | Team |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alex Palou | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 2 | Scott Dixon | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 3 | Will Power | Team Penske |
| 4 | Christian Lundgaard | Rahal Letterman Lanigan |
| 5 | Scott McLaughlin | Team Penske |
| 6 | David Malukas | Dale Coyne Racing |
| 7 | Graham Rahal | Rahal Letterman Lanigan |
| 8 | Pato O’Ward | Arrow McLaren |
| 9 | Marcus Armstrong | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 10 | Alexander Rossi | Arrow McLaren |
