Palou tightens grip on IndyCar championship with third consecutive win

Alex Palou’s magical mid-summer run in the IndyCar series continues. The 2021 champion won his fourth race of the season – and his third in a row – today in the Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, swelling the Ganassi driver’s already substantial points lead.

Pole-winner Colton Herta was determined to close the deal on his first IndyCar win in over a year, while outside front row starter Graham Rahal was trying to break a six-year win-less run in his home race. But after the first stint, Palou emerged at the front of the field.

He started the race on the harder, primary-compound tyres and was able to close in on the two leaders once he got past third-placed Kyle Kirkwood on track. Kirkwood spun from light contact with Palou and dropped several positions, ultimately finishing 17th.

Any chance Herta had of regaining the lead came apart after his second pit stop when he received a drive-through penalty for speeding at the entrance of pit lane. He went on to finish 11th after leading the first 26 laps in a row.

Meanwhile, Palou cruised at the front of the field, leading 48 laps and taking the win by just over five seconds from his Chip Ganassi Racing team mate, the six-time Mid-Ohio winner Scott Dixon.

Palou became the first driver to win three consecutive IndyCar races since Scott Dixon opened the pandemic-affected 2020 season with three straight wins, in a year where he went on to take his sixth IndyCar title. Palou’s victory gives him a 110-point lead over Dixon, who moved into second place after their team mate Marcus Ericsson crashed out on the opening lap.

Ericsson went wide at the apex of turn six and collided with Felix Rosenqvist. The Ganassi car was launched into the air and across Rosenqvist’s aeroscreen. While Rosenqvist was able to get back on track and finish the race a lap down in 25th, Ericsson had to retire with right-front suspension damage. To their credit, the number eight Ganassi crew tried to send Ericsson back out after 40-plus laps worth of repairs, but he officially retired after completing just five laps. It was his first retirement of the season.

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That meant Ericsson has fallen to fourth in the championship table behind Josef Newgarden, the Indianapolis 500 winner who had an anonymous race – save for a late skirmish at the end with Romain Grosjean, Devlin DeFrancesco, and Rinus Veekay – and finished 12th.

Will Power finished in third place, ahead of Christian Lundgaard, who led a resurgent Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team in fourth – matching his best finish of the season. Scott McLaughlin completed the top five, while sixth-placed David Malukas scored his best finish since the second round at Texas Motor Speedway.

Graham Rahal lost out in the shuffle after the first round of pit stops, and a slow second stop resigned the Ohio native to a seventh-place finish. But considering that Rahal had gone from failing to qualify for the Indianapolis 500, to starting second and running in the top ten for virtually the entire race, this had to be an encouraging sign.

The recovery of the race belonged to McLaren’s Pato O’Ward. After starting 25th due to a spin in qualifying, O’Ward used an alternate three-stop strategy to his advantage. He emerged in the top 10 once all the leaders had made their pit stops, and he came home in eighth to salvage a much-needed result at a venue where passing is difficult.

Marcus Armstrong was the highest-ranked rookie in ninth place, while Alexander Rossi completed the top ten.

Meanwhile, Conor Daly – who filled in for an injured Simon Pagenaud at Meyer Shank Racing – finished 20th and on the lead lap, ahead of team mate Helio Castroneves in 21st. Daly got the call this morning after Pagenaud was ruled out of the race following his spectacular, 80G rollover crash in Saturday morning practice.

The IndyCar series returns in two weeks time to the streets of Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

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Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio race results

Position	Car	Driver	Team	Engine
1	10	Alex Palou	Ganassi	Honda
2	9	Scott Dixon	Ganassi	Honda
3	12	Will Power	Penske	Chevrolet
4	45	Christian Lundgaard	RLL	Honda
5	3	Scott McLaughlin	Penske	Chevrolet
6	18	David Malukas	Coyne/HMD	Honda
7	15	Graham Rahal	RLL	Honda
8	5	Pato O’Ward	McLaren	Chevrolet
9	11	Marcus Armstrong	Ganassi	Honda
10	7	Alexander Rossi	McLaren	Chevrolet
11	26	Colton Herta	Andretti	Honda
12	2	Josef Newgarden	Penske	Chevrolet
13	28	Romain Grosjean	Andretti	Honda
14	29	Devlin DeFrancesco	Andretti	Honda
15	21	Rinus VeeKay	Carpenter	Chevrolet
16	77	Callum Ilott	Juncos Hollinger	Chevrolet
17	27	Kyle Kirkwood	Andretti	Honda
18	30	Jack Harvey	RLL	Honda
19	20	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Carpenter	Chevrolet
20	60	Conor Daly	Meyer Shank	Honda
21	6	Felix Rosenqvist	McLaren	Chevrolet
22	51	Sting Ray Robb	Coyne/RWR	Honda
23	78	Agustin Canapino	Juncos Hollinger	Chevrolet
24	14	Santino Ferrucci	Foyt	Chevrolet
25	06	Helio Castroneves	Meyer Shank	Honda
26	55	Benjamin Pedersen	Foyt	Chevrolet
27	8	Marcus Ericsson	Ganassi	Honda

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