Ganassi Team Leads Honda Effort at Mid-Ohio
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course
・Defending series champion Alex Palou finishes second in Sunday’s Honda Indy 200 Presented by the All-New 2023 Civic Type R
・Scott Dixon runs fifth at Mid-Ohio for Ganassi and Honda, teammate and championship leader Marcus Ericsson finishes sixth
・David Malukas again leads rookie field with ninth-place finish for Dale Coyne Racing with HMD
Defending NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Alex Palou led the way for Honda today at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, finishing second in the Honda Indy 200 Presented by the all-new 2023 Civic Type R.
Palou led a trio of Chip Ganassi Racing Honda drivers to the checkers, with Scott Dixon fifth, and championship points leader Marcus Ericsson sixth. David Malukas scored the first top-10 finish of his young Indy car career, with his ninth-place result once again best among the rookie contingent.
Fast Facts
-
This weekend’s Honda Indy 200, presented by the all-new 2023 Honda Civic Type R, will include the North American public debut of Honda’s newest performance passenger vehicle. The 2023 Honda Civic Type R was featured at the Honda Product Display in the Mid-Ohio Midway throughout the weekend, ran demonstration laps on Friday and Saturday; and led the NTT INDYCAR SERIES field on the parade laps prior to the start of Sunday’s feature event.
-
American Honda has a long history of involvement in central Ohio and at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Honda was the first Japanese company to establish auto manufacturing operations in the United States, opening Honda of America Manufacturing in Marysville, Ohio, in 1982. The company has had an Official Vehicle relationship with Mid-Ohio since 1994, and nearly 10,000 associates and their family members are expected to attend the Mid-Ohio race weekend.
-
Today, Honda operates multiple manufacturing facilities and a major Research & Development center in Ohio. Combined, they employ more than 13,000 associates and have the capacity to produce more than 650,000 vehicles and 1.18 million engines annually.
It was so close at the finish. And it was amazing to see all the fans. Our #10 NTT Data Honda car was fast today, we just missed [a win] by ‘this much’. But really good pit stops and strategy from the team, so I’m super happy to finish on the podium, keep our points lead, and go on to Toronto.
Considering where we started [13th], it was a near perfect day for us. We were really disappointed with our qualifying result yesterday, so we went long on the first stint on ‘Primary’ tires and then two short stints on the “Reds” when we could be more aggressive late in the race and it worked well for us. We had a goal for a top-eight finish, and we did all that and more today. So it’s really, really good.
Early in the race, I thought we had a pace that matched the leaders, but the timing of the yellow [caution] flags really caught us out today. But overall, it was a really good day for us. The ‘Red’ [Alternate] tire pace surprised us, so we got off the ‘primaries’ as quickly as we could. So we went back to used ‘Reds’ for the finish and at the end I had a good battle with some veterans, like Simon Pagenaud, so I had a blast for sure.
It was a tough day at the office. It was a job well done by Chip Ganassi Racing, throughout their lineup with a fine second-place for Alex Palou, fifth for Scott Dixon and sixth for Marcus Ericsson, who maintains the championship lead. I suppose it’s nice when a ‘tough day’ is P2 and leading the drivers’ points. But in other areas there was a lot of ‘self-destruction’ taking place, which is disappointing at this level. But that’s racing. Our sincere thanks to all the fans, and everyone who came out from our many Ohio facilities. And on to Toronto we go.
