The 2021 Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio was an IndyCar Series event held at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio. The race served as the 10th round of the 2021 IndyCar Series season.[1] Josef Newgarden won the race from pole position, leading all but 7 laps.[2] The victory ended Team Penske's longest winless streak to start a season since 1999.[3]

United States 2021 Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio
Race details
10th round of the 2021 IndyCar season
DateJuly 4, 2021
Official nameHonda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Presented by the HPD Ridgeline
LocationMid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, Ohio
CoursePermanent racing facility
2.258 mi / 3.634 km
Distance80 laps
180.64 mi / 290.71 km
Pole position
DriverUnited States Josef Newgarden (Team Penske)
Time01:06.6739
Fastest lap
DriverUnited Kingdom Jack Harvey (Meyer Shank Racing)
Time01:08.7341 (on lap 65 of 80)
Podium
FirstUnited States Josef Newgarden (Team Penske)
SecondSweden Marcus Ericsson (Chip Ganassi Racing)
ThirdSpain Álex Palou (Chip Ganassi Racing)

Background

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Entrants

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Ryan Norman made his IndyCar debut at Mid-Ohio.[4]

Key Meaning
 R  Rookie
 W  Past winner
No. Driver Team Engine
2   Josef Newgarden  W  Team Penske Chevrolet
3   Scott McLaughlin  R  Team Penske Chevrolet
4   Dalton Kellett A. J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet
5   Patricio O'Ward Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet
7   Felix Rosenqvist Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet
8   Marcus Ericsson Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
9   Scott Dixon  W  Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
10   Álex Palou Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
12   Will Power  W  Team Penske Chevrolet
14   Sébastien Bourdais A. J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet
15   Graham Rahal  W  Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda
18   Ed Jones Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan Honda
20   Conor Daly Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet
21   Rinus Veekay Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet
22   Simon Pagenaud  W  Team Penske Chevrolet
26   Colton Herta  W  Andretti Autosport with Curb-Agajanian Honda
27   Alexander Rossi  W  Andretti Autosport Honda
28   Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport Honda
29   James Hinchcliffe Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport Honda
30   Takuma Sato Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda
45   Santino Ferrucci Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda
48   Jimmie Johnson  R  Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
51   Romain Grosjean  R  Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing Honda
52   Ryan Norman  R  Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing Honda
59   Max Chilton Carlin Chevrolet
60   Jack Harvey Meyer Shank Racing Honda

Practice

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Practice 1

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Practice 1 took place at 2:30 PM ET on July 2, 2021.[1]

Top Practice Speeds
Pos No. Driver Team Engine Lap Time
1 2   Josef Newgarden  W  Team Penske Chevrolet 01:07.2524
2 5   Patricio O'Ward Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet 01:07.5050
3 60   Jack Harvey Meyer Shank Racing Honda 01:07.5840
Source:[5]

Practice 2

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Practice 2 took place at 9:05 AM ET on July 3, 2021.[1]

Top Practice Speeds
Pos No. Driver Team Engine Lap Time
1 5   Patricio O'Ward Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet 01:06.0911
2 2   Josef Newgarden  W  Team Penske Chevrolet 01:06.0993
3 26   Colton Herta  W  Andretti Autosport with Curb-Agajanian Honda 01:06.1839
Source:[6]

Qualifying

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Qualifying took place at 12:00 PM ET on July 3, 2021.[1]

Qualifying report

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Qualifying group 1 saw Will Power not being able to get out on track until there were only four minutes left in the session, after he pitted on his outlap due to a ECU problem. During the final lap, Jack Harvey spun his car at Turn 9, bringing out a local yellow flag right at the end of the sector on the track. Alexander Rossi and Simon Pagenaud both passed the stopped car of Harvey, with Rossi slowing for the yellow while Pagenaud did not. Pagenaud improved his fastest lap time and was set to advance into Q2, but a decision from race control invalidated all three drivers' fastest lap times. Rossi ended up in 6th with his second-fastest lap, advancing him to Q2 along with leader Josef Newgarden, followed by Álex Palou, Will Power, Sébastien Bourdais, and Graham Rahal.

In qualifying group 2, Patricio O'Ward, who had led the practice sessions and was 2nd in the points standings, missed out on advancing to Q2. Former Formula 1 driver Romain Grosjean failed to make it into Q2 for the first time at a road course since his debut in IndyCar. Rinus VeeKay, who broke his collar bone in a bicycle accident just two weeks prior to the race,[7] edged out rookie Scott McLaughlin by 6 milliseconds for a spot in Q2. Colton Herta led the group, followed by Scott Dixon, Marcus Ericsson, Ryan Hunter-Reay, and James Hinchcliffe. [8][9]

Q2 started with the drivers of the Chip Ganassi Racing Team going out on the track with slightly worn alternate compound tyres, as opposed to the other teams running the primary compound, before they pit for new alternate compound tyres for their qualifying laps. Sébastien Bourdais had to serve a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane and didn't set a fast lap, finishing last in the session. Late in the session, Dixon and Ericsson moved into 5th and 6th respectively, Ericsson setting a lap only 4 hundredths of a second faster than championship points leader Palou, followed out of Q2 by Rahal, Hinchcliffe, Hunter-Reay, and VeeKay.[8][9]

Newgarden led the final 6 drivers going into Q3, behind him was Herta, Power, Rossi, Dixon, and Ericsson. Power fell to 4th after a mistake on his fast lap, promoting Ericsson to 3rd, with Dixon in 5th and Rossi in 6th. Newgarden and Herta both led the field's times by 0.4 seconds, but Newgarden came out on top of the two with an extremely thin margin of 3 milliseconds between their lap times.[8] Newgarden's pole position for Team Penske marked the anniversary of the teams's first win in 1971, where Mark Donohue won at the Pocono 500; it was also the first time a driver achieved three consecutive poles since 2015.[10]

Qualifying classification

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Pos No. Driver Team Engine Time Final
grid
Round 1 Round 2 Round 3
Group 1 Group 2
1 2   Josef Newgarden  W  Team Penske Chevrolet 01:06.0168 N/A 01:06.1630 01:06.6739 1
2 26   Colton Herta Andretti Autosport with Curb-Agajanian Honda N/A 01:06.2685 01:06.2030 01:06.6770 2
3 8   Marcus Ericsson Chip Ganassi Racing Honda N/A 01:06.4587 01:06.4499 01:07.0723 3
4 12   Will Power  W  Team Penske Chevrolet 01:06.5423 N/A 01:06.2386 01:07.1161 4
5 9   Scott Dixon  W  Chip Ganassi Racing Honda N/A 01:06.3232 01:06.2775 01:07.1358 5
6 27   Alexander Rossi  W  Andretti Autosport Honda 01:06.6453 N/A 01:06.2453 01:07.2181 6
7 9   Álex Palou Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 01:06.5130 N/A 01:06.4883 N/A 7
8 15   Graham Rahal  W  Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda 01:06.5603 N/A 01:06.5946 N/A 8
9 29   James Hinchcliffe Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport Honda N/A 01:06.7155 01:06.6134 N/A 9
10 28   Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport Honda N/A 01:06.5961 01:06.7517 N/A 10
11 21   Rinus Veekay Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet N/A 01:06.7250 01:06.7671 N/A 11
12 14   Sébastien Bourdais A. J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet 01:06.6117 N/A 01:06.9232 N/A 12
13 7   Felix Rosenqvist Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet 01:06.7898 N/A N/A N/A 13
14 3   Scott McLaughlin  R  Team Penske Chevrolet N/A 01:06.7313 N/A N/A 14
15 22   Simon Pagenaud  W  Team Penske Chevrolet 01:06.8437 N/A N/A N/A 15
16 18   Ed Jones Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan Honda N/A 01:06.7882 N/A N/A 16
17 59   Max Chilton Carlin Chevrolet 01:06.8473 N/A N/A N/A 17
18 51   Romain Grosjean  R  Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing Honda N/A 01:06.8642 N/A N/A 18
19 30   Takuma Sato Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda 01:07.0951 N/A N/A N/A 19
20 5   Patricio O'Ward Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet N/A 01:06.8679 N/A N/A 20
21 4   Dalton Kellett A. J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet 01:07.5866 N/A N/A N/A 21
22 45   Santino Ferrucci Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda N/A 01:06.9254 N/A N/A 22
23 60   Jack Harvey Meyer Shank Racing Honda 01:07.6740 N/A N/A N/A 23
24 20   Conor Daly Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet N/A 01:07.0704 N/A N/A 24
25 48   Jimmie Johnson  R  Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 01:08.4077 N/A N/A N/A 25
26 52   Ryan Norman  R  Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing Honda N/A 01:07.4714 N/A N/A 26
Source:[11][12][13][14]
Notes
  • Bold text indicates fastest time set in session.

Final Practice

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Final Practice

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Final practice took place at 3:30 PM ET on July 3, 2021.

Top Practice Speeds
Pos No. Driver Team Engine Lap Time
1 9   Scott Dixon  W  Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 01:08.0256
2 26   Colton Herta  W  Andretti Autosport with Curb-Agajanian Honda 01:08.0745
3 51   Romain Grosjean  R  Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing Honda 01:08.1490
Source:[15]

Race

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The race took place at 12:00 PM ET on July 4, 2021.

Race report

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After airing concerns about his engine's performance, Josef Newgarden's engine was replaced before race day.[16] Newgarden got a well-sized jump as the race went under the green flag, with cars bunching up behind him. On the exit of the first turn of the race, James Hinchcliffe clipped the right-side rear of his teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay, sending himself into a spin and Hunter-Reay into the tyre barrier, bringing out the yellow flag. Felix Rosenqvist, who was behind Hinchcliffe, slowed down to avoid his car, but was rear-ended and spun around. All three drivers pitted after the incident, with Rosenqvist and Hunter-Reay's pit crews attempting to repair damage; Hinchcliffe took a new set of tyres and returned to the track. Rosenqvist returned to the track one lap down, and Hunter-Reay 2 laps down.[17]

Racing resumed on lap 3, but would be put under yellow again a lap later when Scott Dixon pressured Will Power on the inside of turn 5, hitting Power's right front and sending him into a spin. Power spun his rear wheels and kicked up a smoke cloud on the blind downhill after turn 5, and his car stopped on track after the engine stalled. Due to visibility issues with all of the smoke Ed Jones crashed into Power's car, taking them both out of the race. Power had his hand bandaged after the incident.[17]

Racing again resumed on lap 9, where Romain Grosjean passed Scott McLaughlin for 10th place, then trying to get around Sébastien Bourdais on lap 10, who blocked the inside of turn 2, with Grosjean nearly going completely off track, sliding his car around the turn.[18] On lap 32, Colton Herta took his regular green flag pit stop, but an issue refueling his car caused the pit stop to be much longer than usual.[16] Herta came out of his pit box after a 25-second stop (average stop is 6-10 seconds), coming out of the pits in 8th, dropping 6 positions down the order, and an additional position dropped after Graham Rahal passed him on the back straight.[19] Herta made his second stop on lap 57, this time stalling his car before coming out of the pit box.[16]

After the final cycle of pit stops for all drivers, Newgarden was leading by 6.5 seconds to Marcus Ericsson, with Álex Palou and the rest of the pack trailing Ericsson by 13 seconds.[20] With 9 laps to go, Ericsson had halved the gap between himself and Newgarden.[21] Ericsson continued to close in on Newgarden as the finish neared, Newgarden using up his remaining push-to-pass power to hold off Ericsson. At the start of the final lap, the gap between the two drivers was less than 1 second, but Newgarden successfully held off the advance, and crossed the finish line after leading 73 of 80 laps of the race.[22]

Herta had to stop again on the last lap due to not having enough fuel to finish the race.[16] Meanwhile, Patricio O'Ward came back from his poor qualifying performance, finishing the race in 8th, gaining 12 positions overall. Grosjean also recovered his qualifying drive, finishing ahead of O'Ward after starting 18th. Despite setting the fastest lap of the race on lap 65, Jack Harvey's three-stop strategy put him down in 19th place.[23]

Race classification

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Pos No. Driver Team Engine Laps Time/Retired Pit
Stops
Grid Laps
Led
Pts.
1 2   Josef Newgarden  W  Team Penske Chevrolet 80 1:39:58.8551 2 1 73 54
2 8   Marcus Ericsson Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 80 +0.8790 2 3 2 41
3 10   Álex Palou Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 80 +22.2350 2 7 35
4 9   Scott Dixon  W  Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 80 +32.3775 2 5 32
5 27   Alexander Rossi  W  Andretti Autosport Honda 80 +33.1414 2 6 30
6 15   Graham Rahal  W  Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda 80 +34.1226 2 8 28
7 51   Romain Grosjean  R  Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing Honda 80 +35.1630 2 18 26
8 5   Patricio O'Ward Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet 80 +35.6929 2 20 24
9 45   Santino Ferrucci Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda 80 +35.9931 2 22 22
10 30   Takuma Sato Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda 80 +50.3316 2 19 20
11 14   Sébastien Bourdais A. J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet 80 +52.0013 2 12 19
12 3   Scott McLaughlin  R  Team Penske Chevrolet 80 +52.4250 2 14 18
13 26   Colton Herta  W  Andretti Autosport with Curb-Agajanian Honda 80 +56.8482 3 2 5 18
14 22   Simon Pagenaud  W  Team Penske Chevrolet 80 +58.3495 2 15 16
15 20   Conor Daly Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet 80 +58.8125 2 24 15
16 21   Rinus Veekay Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet 80 +59.6397 2 11 14
17 29   James Hinchcliffe Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport Honda 80 +1:07.5124 3 9 13
18 59   Max Chilton Carlin Chevrolet 80 +1:08.0533 3 17 12
19 60   Jack Harvey Meyer Shank Racing Honda 80 +1:08.4796 3 23 11
20 52   Ryan Norman  R  Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing Honda 79 +1 Lap 3 26 10
21 4   Dalton Kellett A. J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet 79 +1 Lap 2 21 9
22 48   Jimmie Johnson  R  Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 79 +1 Lap 4 25 8
23 7   Felix Rosenqvist Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet 78 +2 Laps 5 13 7
24 28   Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport Honda 78 +2 Laps 4 10 6
25 12   Will Power  W  Team Penske Chevrolet 3 Contact 0 4 5
26 18   Ed Jones Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan Honda 3 Contact 0 16 5
Fastest lap:   Jack Harvey (Meyer Shank Racing) – 01:08.7341 (lap 65)
Source:[23]

Championship standings after the race

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  • Note: Only the top five positions are included.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio". IndyCar.com. Retrieved March 26, 2022.
  2. ^ Beaver, Dan (July 4, 2021). "After two bitter disappointments, Josef Newgarden wins Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio". NBC Sports. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
  3. ^ Brown, Nathan (July 3, 2021). "Without a win, Team Penske's Tim Cindric says, 'We're not panicked by any means'". Indianapolis Star. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
  4. ^ "Ryan Norman Set for NTT INDYCAR SERIES Debut at Mid-Ohio". Dale Coyne Racing. June 24, 2021.
  5. ^ "Practice 1- Results" (PDF). indycar.com. July 2, 2021. Retrieved March 26, 2022.
  6. ^ "Practice 2- Results" (PDF). indycar.com. July 3, 2021. Retrieved March 26, 2022.
  7. ^ "IndyCar driver Rinus VeeKay injured in cycling accident". ESPN. Associated Press. June 15, 2021. Retrieved May 24, 2022.
  8. ^ a b c Malsher-Lopez, David (July 3, 2021). "Mid-Ohio IndyCar: Newgarden beats Herta to pole". AutoSport. Retrieved May 24, 2022.
  9. ^ a b Schmoyer, Griffin (July 3, 2021). "Newgarden Takes Top Spot in Mid-Ohio Qualifying, Third Consecutive Pole". The Checkered Flag. Retrieved May 24, 2022.
  10. ^ Cavin, Curt (July 3, 2021). "Qualifying Ace: Newgarden makes it three in a row". IndyCar.com. Retrieved May 24, 2022.
  11. ^ "Qualifications - Results Segment 1 Group 1" (PDF). IndyCar Series. July 3, 2021. Retrieved March 26, 2022.
  12. ^ "Qualifications - Results Segment 1 Group 2" (PDF). IndyCar Series. July 3, 2021. Retrieved March 26, 2022.
  13. ^ "Qualifications - Results Segment 2" (PDF). IndyCar Series. July 3, 2021. Retrieved March 26, 2022.
  14. ^ "Qualifications - Results Segment 3" (PDF). IndyCar Series. July 3, 2021. Retrieved March 26, 2022.
  15. ^ "Final Practice Results" (PDF). indycar.com. July 3, 2021. Retrieved March 26, 2022.
  16. ^ a b c d DeHarde, Christopher (July 7, 2021). "What Mattered for IndyCar: Honda Indy 200". Frontstretch. Retrieved May 24, 2022.
  17. ^ a b Brown, Nathan (July 4, 2021). "4 cars involved in separate crashes over first 3 laps in start of IndyCar Mid-Ohio race". Indianapolis Star. Retrieved May 24, 2022.
  18. ^ 2021 RACE FAST FORWARD // Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio. NTT IndyCar Series. July 5, 2021. Event occurs at 5:45. Retrieved May 24, 2022.
  19. ^ 2021 RACE FAST FORWARD // Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio. NTT IndyCar Series. July 5, 2021. Event occurs at 10:35. Retrieved May 24, 2022.
  20. ^ 2021 RACE FAST FORWARD // Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio. NTT IndyCar Series. July 5, 2021. Event occurs at 16:10. Retrieved May 24, 2022.
  21. ^ 2021 RACE FAST FORWARD // Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio. NTT IndyCar Series. July 5, 2021. Event occurs at 18:15. Retrieved May 24, 2022.
  22. ^ 2021 RACE FAST FORWARD // Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio. NTT IndyCar Series. July 5, 2021. Event occurs at 21:50. Retrieved May 24, 2022.
  23. ^ a b "Race - Results (11inch) - Final" (PDF). IndyCar Series. July 4, 2021. Retrieved March 26, 2022.
  24. ^ "Points - Indycar Driver" (PDF). NBC Sports. July 4, 2021. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
  25. ^ "Points - Indycar Engine" (PDF). NBC Sports. July 4, 2021. Retrieved April 5, 2022.


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Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Next race:
2022 Honda Indy 200