Mid-Ohio IndyCar: O’Ward leads Newgarden in second practice
Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolet’s IndyCar title challenger Pato O’Ward topped second practice for IndyCar’s Honda Indy 200, just ahead of yesterday’s fastest driver, Josef Newgarden of Team Penske-Chevrolet.
Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden, Pato O’Ward, Alex Palou and Rinus VeeKay topped the times on hard tires, Dixon turning a 66.7047sec in the #9 Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda, although the top 10 were covered by half a second.
VeeKay, returning to action this week after missing Road America for a broken clavicle, couldn’t quite beat Dixon’s best primary-tire time but Newgarden was the first who could, eventually getting down to a 66.0993sec.
However, it was O’Ward in the #5 Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolet who went fastest with a 66.0911sec, edging Newgarden by 0.0082sec.
Late in the session, Colton Herta delivered the best lap for Andretti Autosport-Honda, claiming third – again within one tenth of O’Ward.
Local star Graham Rahal was fourth fastest for Rahal Letterman Lanigan-Honda, albeit a quarter second off top spot, while Ryan Hunter-Reay completed the top five.
Will Power and rookie Scott McLaughlin made it three Penskes in the top seven, with Jack Harvey eighth for local team Meyer Shank Racing-Honda.
There were several offs, including for Dixon and Alexander Rossi at Turn 4, for Max Chilton and Simon Pagenaud at Turn 1.
But Chip Ganassi Racing’s six-time Mid-Ohio winner eventually delivered eighth best time ahead of former teammate Felix Rosenqvist, making his return to Arrow McLaren SP after two races away following his Detroit shunt.
Championship leader Alex Palou was down in 12th, just behind Romain Grosjean, while IndyCar debutant Ryan Norman, in a third Dale Coyne Racing car, was 1.4sec off the ultimate pace.
Jimmie Johnson cut his deficit to the lead time from 2.5sec in yesterday’s practice to 2.2sec today.
Qualifying begins as 12 noon local (Eastern) time.
| P | No | Name | FTime | Diff | Gap | FL | Laps | LapTime | LPit | Led | ST | FSpeed | Elapsed | Engine | Tire | Points | Team |
| 1 | 5 | Pato O'Ward | 1:06.0911 | 1:06.0911 | 0.000 | 18 | 22 | 1:06.7998 | 19 | 4 | 122.994 | 44:14.6777 | Chevy | A | 321 | Arrow McLaren SP | |
| 2 | 2 | Josef Newgarden | 1:06.0993 | 0.0082 | 0.0082 | 15 | 19 | 1:07.7158 | 16 | 1 | 122.979 | 44:50.7913 | Chevy | A | 261 | Team Penske | |
| 3 | 26 | Colton Herta | 1:06.1839 | 0.0928 | 0.0846 | 18 | 20 | 1:15.9556 | 16 | 16 | 122.821 | 42:32.1058 | Honda | A | 242 | Andretti Autosport | |
| 4 | 15 | Graham Rahal | 1:06.3348 | 0.2437 | 0.1509 | 18 | 22 | 1:08.4896 | 20 | 11 | 122.542 | 45:49.5555 | Honda | A | 228 | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | |
| 5 | 28 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | 1:06.3657 | 0.2746 | 0.0309 | 21 | 24 | 1:07.0283 | 22 | 18 | 122.485 | 45:17.0481 | Honda | A | 139 | Andretti Autosport | |
| 6 | 12 | Will Power | 1:06.3943 | 0.3032 | 0.0286 | 19 | 23 | 1:08.7530 | 20 | 9 | 122.432 | 45:47.6135 | Chevy | A | 204 | Team Penske | |
| 7 | 3 | Scott McLaughlin | 1:06.4364 | 0.3453 | 0.0421 | 24 | 26 | 1:11.0212 | 21 | 2 | 122.355 | 44:06.1257 | Chevy | A | 180 | Team Penske | |
| 8 | 60 | Jack Harvey | 1:06.4955 | 0.4044 | 0.0591 | 17 | 19 | 1:07.9217 | 18 | 26 | 122.246 | 46:00.7896 | Honda | A | 159 | Meyer Shank Racing | |
| 9 | 9 | Scott Dixon | 1:06.5955 | 0.5044 | 0.1000 | 22 | 24 | 1:06.7832 | 19 | 7 | 122.062 | 45:54.9460 | Honda | A | 296 | Chip Ganassi Racing | |
| 10 | 7 | Felix Rosenqvist | 1:06.6815 | 0.5904 | 0.0860 | 16 | 19 | 1:06.8543 | 13 | 5 | 121.905 | 41:52.5246 | Chevy | A | 87 | Arrow McLaren SP | |
| 11 | 51 | Romain Grosjean | 1:06.7033 | 0.6122 | 0.0218 | 18 | 18 | 1:06.7033 | 15 | 23 | 121.865 | 42:31.7372 | Honda | A | 125 | Dale Coyne Racing w/Rick Ware Racing | |
| 12 | 10 | Alex Palou | 1:06.7670 | 0.6759 | 0.0637 | 22 | 23 | 1:09.0940 | 18 | 8 | 121.749 | 41:18.4038 | Honda | A | 349 | Chip Ganassi Racing | |
| 13 | 21 | Rinus VeeKay | 1:06.7913 | 0.7002 | 0.0243 | 16 | 23 | 1:08.6968 | 20 | 14 | 121.704 | 44:33.1126 | Chevy | A | 243 | Ed Carpenter Racing | |
| 14 | 27 | Alexander Rossi | 1:06.8269 | 0.7358 | 0.0356 | 18 | 19 | 1:07.7390 | 16 | 17 | 121.640 | 45:53.3293 | Honda | A | 171 | Andretti Autosport | |
| 15 | 8 | Marcus Ericsson | 1:06.8550 | 0.7639 | 0.0281 | 24 | 26 | 1:11.2634 | 21 | 6 | 121.589 | 45:09.8263 | Honda | A | 239 | Chip Ganassi Racing | |
| 16 | 14 | Sebastien Bourdais | 1:06.8695 | 0.7784 | 0.0145 | 18 | 23 | 1:07.9454 | 19 | 10 | 121.562 | 46:05.1099 | Chevy | A | 136 | AJ Foyt Enterprises | |
| 17 | 29 | James Hinchcliffe | 1:06.9590 | 0.8679 | 0.0895 | 19 | 21 | 1:07.6445 | 20 | 19 | 121.400 | 45:57.4587 | Honda | A | 118 | Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport | |
| 18 | 22 | Simon Pagenaud | 1:06.9627 | 0.8716 | 0.0037 | 24 | 25 | 1:07.2530 | 19 | 15 | 121.393 | 45:36.2603 | Chevy | A | 255 | Team Penske | |
| 19 | 18 | Ed Jones | 1:07.0458 | 0.9547 | 0.0831 | 14 | 16 | 6:18.7886 | 16 | 12 | 121.242 | 45:04.9941 | Honda | A | 120 | Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan | |
| 20 | 59 | Max Chilton | 1:07.0696 | 0.9785 | 0.0238 | 21 | 22 | 1:27.7973 | 17 | 25 | 121.199 | 45:23.3569 | Chevy | A | 65 | Carlin | |
| 21 | 45 | Santino Ferrucci | 1:07.0829 | 0.9918 | 0.0133 | 19 | 21 | 1:07.4373 | 16 | 21 | 121.175 | 44:20.7750 | Honda | P | 105 | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | |
| 22 | 30 | Takuma Sato | 1:07.3450 | 1.2539 | 0.2621 | 25 | 26 | 1:09.8752 | 21 | 20 | 120.704 | 45:01.7269 | Honda | A | 206 | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | |
| 23 | 20 | Conor Daly | 1:07.3867 | 1.2956 | 0.0417 | 17 | 21 | 1:08.4899 | 20 | 13 | 120.629 | 45:44.5785 | Chevy | A | 127 | Ed Carpenter Racing | |
| 24 | 4 | Dalton Kellett | 1:07.4684 | 1.3773 | 0.0817 | 17 | 25 | 1:08.9181 | 21 | 3 | 120.483 | 46:07.6555 | Chevy | A | 86 | AJ Foyt Enterprises | |
| 25 | 52 | Ryan Norman | 1:07.4920 | 1.4009 | 0.0236 | 19 | 21 | 1:08.0576 | 17 | 24 | 120.441 | 45:19.9518 | Honda | A | 29 | Dale Coyne Racing w/Rick Ware Racing | |
| 26 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | 1:08.2852 | 2.1941 | 0.7932 | 21 | 26 | 1:09.2051 | 22 | 22 | 119.042 | 45:33.6707 | Honda | A | 48 | Chip Ganassi Racing |
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