Three-in-a-Row Palou Takes Honda to Victory at Mid-Ohio
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course
・Alex Palou scores his third consecutive NTT INDYCAR SERIES victory; fourth in the last five races
・Scott Dixon completes 1-2 result for Honda, Chip Ganassi Racing
・Three Honda-powered teams, six drivers score top-nine finishes in front of home crowd at the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio, Presented by the Accord Hybrid
Alex Palou continued his domination of the 2023 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season, winning the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio aboard his #10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda in front of a large, enthusiastic crowd Sunday at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
Starting fourth as part of a first through sixth qualifying sweep for Honda power, Palou took the lead after the first round of pit stops and never looked back. The result marks his third INDYCAR win in a row in 2023 and fourth in the last five races. It also extends his championship lead to 110 points over teammate and now-second place man in the standings, Scott Dixon.
Dixon came up just short of a record-extending seventh Mid-Ohio win in his 20th race at the track. The strong result moves him up three spots in the championship fight to P2 behind his teammate.
Christian Lundgaard continued his strong run of form on permanent road courses in the #45 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda, scoring a fourth-place finish, and David Malukas bounced back from a tough race at Road America to finish sixth for Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports.
Ganassi's Marcus Armstrong took highest place rookie honors, finishing ninth in the #11 Honda. Previously second place in the championship, the fourth Chip Ganassi Racing car of Marcus Ericsson was involved in a lap one incident, ending his race. The 2022 Indy 500 winner dropped to fourth in the championship standings as a result.
Fast Facts
Honda continues to lead the 2023 NTT INDYCAR SERIES Manufacturers’ Championship, with six victories and eight poles in the first nine races this season. Honda currently has an unofficial 66-point advantage (759-693) over rival Chevrolet. The company is seeking its fifth NTT INDYCAR SERIES Manufacturers’ Championship in the last six years in 2023.
Honda drivers have won 12 of the 18 Indy car races run at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course since the series returned to the circuit under the Honda Indy 200 banner in 2007.
Palou becomes the first four-time INDYCAR SERIES race winner this season. The Spaniard dominated the GMR Grand Prix of Indianapolis in May; came out on top of a fierce battle on the streets of the Detroit Grand Prix and won at Road America two weeks ago. Palou also qualified on the pole for the Indianapolis 500, finishing fourth; and has four additional top-five results this season.
Next
The NTT INDYCAR SERIES now heads north of the boarder to Toronto, Ontario, for the July 16 Honda Indy Toronto, held on a temporary street circuit on the grounds of the Canadia National Exhibition fairgrounds and entertainment district.
All right! So third win in a row for the #10 Honda. It was super special to win here in Ohio. We've been good here in the past [finishing second in 2022] and it's a special weekend for Honda obviously. We had all the power and fuel mileage we needed to make it work. And our strategy – a long first stint so we could run really fast the rest of the day. We did it! Now we just need to keep it going.
The #9 Honda was really good. We just got held up there fighting [for position with Colton] Herta at one point. I think if we would've cleared [Herta] in that exchange, then it would've been ‘on' with the 10 car [for the victory]. But a hell of a job by the #10 guys, and everyone at Chip Ganassi Racing today.
I think we could've had a podium finish today. I think the car was good enough. But we seemed to struggle in traffic today. The car just didn't like dirty air [from cars immediately ahead], which caught me off guard behind Will [Power] at one point. But it's good to get a P4 today for Rahal Letterman Lanigan.
That was probably a near-perfect race for us – on strategy, on push-to-pass [usage], on fuel, everything on the Honda side – we maximized it all. We went from 12th [on the grid] to sixth and with the depth of this field, I feel like that is a very impressive run. The team needed this result so badly. We've had pace [previously], but to come to this race and finally get a result. Everyone [on the team] is finally smiling again, and that's great.
Alex Palou is becoming the Max Verstappen of INDYCAR! What a dominant performance today. Just a great performance by Honda and all of our teams and drivers throughout the weekend: swept the top six in qualifying and six of the top nine at the finish. It was great to see all the Honda associates and fans in the crowd today, I hope we gave them a show to enjoy. Congratulations to Chip Ganassi Racing on a 1-2 finish and everyone at HPD for their continuing hard work. On to Toronto!
