Colton Herta began the race on the pole with Graham Rahal along side. On the opening lap Marcus Ericcson would run wide and into Felix Rosenqvist and over him. The yellow would come out and Rosenqvist and Ericsson would both get refired. Ericsson’s car would have a broken right front.
Prior to the first pitstops, Kyle Kirkwood would loop his machine while racing along side Alex Palou. Kirkwood would manage to keep his car going and the race stayed green.
Though the pitstop cycle Alex Palou would end up ahead of Herta with Scott Dixon and Will Power both making up ground. Pato O’Ward, who started the race 25th, worked his way up to fifth knowing his race strategy varied from that of the others up front.
Palou’s decision to run longer on the blacks placed him a comfortable six seconds ahead of Herta. Rahal’s strong start to the race was thwarted by an issue on his pit stop which dropped him to seventh behind Lundgaard.
As Palou found himself stuck behind Benjamin Pedersen, who was trying to stay on the lead lap, Herta began to real him. Palou’s lead dripped below five seconds by the time he got around. Palou would pit on lap 54 with an eight second lead. Herta would be given a speeding penalty for his entrance onto pit road eliminating any chance of victory that remained.
On Rahal’s pitstop issues with the left rear doomed any chance of a good finish. After coming out seventh he would not move up any positions. Out front Palou would manage a gap of nearly nine seconds ahead of Dixon for much of the second half of the race.
Dixon, Power, Lundgaard and McLaughin rounded out the top five. O’Ward’s strong drive on the day resulted in a eighth place finish. Herta would end up 11th after trying to recover from the speeding violation on pit road.
Palou will expand his point lead with the win, his third straight. All of Palou’s four wins this season have come over the last five events. Palou is now 110 points ahead of Dixson in the point standings with Josef Newgarden 116 back.
Simon Pagenaud would not be cleared to race following a crash in practice on Saturday. Conor Daly replaced him in the No. 60 Honda. After starting last, Daly finished 20th, one place behind Ryan Hunter-Reay in the car he drove earlier this season.
IndyCar Mid-Ohio Results
July 2, 2023
