Alexander Rossi, IndyCar, Andretti, Mid-Ohio, 2018

Rossi outwits field for Mid-Ohio victory

IndyCar

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Alexander Rossi scored his second IndyCar victory of 2018 with a superbly-judged strategic drive at Mid-Ohio.

The Andretti driver, who started from pole position, was the only one of the front-runners two make a two-stop strategy work around the undulating road course. He never put a wheel wrong until the victory lap – when an attempt at doughnuts ended with his car beached on the verge of the track.

Rossi briefly lost the lead at the end of his first lap to Josef Newgarden, who passed him in when the leaders hit traffic. But while the rest of Rossi’s rivals hit the pit lane, the Andretti team held their nerve, and stretching his first stint out to lap 29 ultimately won him the race.

From fifth on the grid, Robert Wickens emerged as the closest contender to Rossi on a three-stop strategy, ultimately taking second place. Will Power finished third ahead of Newgarden, despite losing out to another of his team mate’s forceful overtaking moves.

Dixon limited the damage to his championship lead by climbing to fifth from ninth on the grid. But the next driver home came even further: Sebastien Bourdais scorched through the field in tremendous fashion to take sixth, having lined up 24th and last after crashing in qualifying.

Bourdais capped his climb through the field with a daring, round-the-outside move on Ryan Hunter-Reay, who took seventh. Simon Pagenaud rose from 17th on the grid to claim eighth, while Graham Rahal and Zach Veach completed the top 10.

James Hinchcliffe started 10th after crashing in qualifying but slipped to 14th place at the flag. Max Chilton, who started from Carlin’s best-yet grid position of sixth, quickly dropped our of contention. A drive-through penalty for tangling with Takuma Sato was followed by a slop pit stop due to a problem with his front-left wheel, a legacy of his contact with the RLL driver.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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9 comments on “Rossi outwits field for Mid-Ohio victory”

  1. It was a very entertaining race with a lot of action all over the track. I enjoyed it almost more than the F1 race. Rossi’s strategy was magnificent and Bourdais’ performance was excellent.

  2. A fantastic race at a track that’s very hard to pass. Rossi gambled on the two stop strategy that would have killed him if a caution occurred. Bourdais drive through the field was unreal, and the passing from second place back was incredible. Really, really good!

  3. Seabass was the highlight reel, otherwise a surprisingly subdued Mid-Ohio this year (6/10). Miles ahead of the non-race at Hungaroring (3/10)

  4. Great race, but I thought some of the defensive blocking was over the line yet it went unpunished.

  5. If I was calling the shots at Haas, I would poach Rossi or Newgarden away from Indycar. Haas, as the only American team on the grid, needs to have an American driver, and if F1 want to raise its profile in the States (which they have repeatedly stated that they want to do) , then this needs to happen ASAP. I have no doubt that either of the aforementioned drivers could match or exceed the talent of the current Haas lineup.

    1. Hein (@ultrasoft)
      Much as I would like an expansion of F1 in the US, I doubt Rossi Or Newgarden would make a better impression than Grosjean or Magnussen.

    2. Would either of them really want to leave top INDYCAR teams for a midfield F1 team though?

  6. Not at the pinnacle of racing technology like F1 but at least it’s real racing where many have a shot each race at winning.

  7. Rossi wants to avoid the bridesmaid position once again. I hope he still has his super license under the old regulations where he raced the required 5 F1 events before going into the points. If is invalid, then Rossi must win the Indy Car title this year.

    Another scenario is that Red Bull are switching to Honda. But depending how will Honda will stack up with the terrible 2. I also want to see how Renault will perform next year.

    We will see if Rossi and Newgarden get to test out cars right after F1s season’s end.

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