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. Josef Newgarden won the race from pole position, leading all but 7 laps. The victory ended Team Penske's longest winless streak to start a season since 1999.
Background Entrants Ryan Norman made his IndyCar debut at Mid-Ohio.
KeyMeaningRookiePast winner DriverTeamEngine2 Josef Newgarden Team PenskeChevrolet3 Scott McLaughlin Team PenskeChevrolet4 Dalton KellettA. J. Foyt EnterprisesChevrolet5 Patricio O'WardArrow McLaren SPChevrolet7 Felix RosenqvistArrow McLaren SPChevrolet8 Marcus EricssonChip Ganassi RacingHonda9 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi RacingHonda10 Álex PalouChip Ganassi RacingHonda12 Will Power Team PenskeChevrolet14 Sébastien BourdaisA. J. Foyt EnterprisesChevrolet15 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan RacingHonda18 Ed JonesDale Coyne Racing with Vasser-SullivanHonda20 Conor DalyEd Carpenter RacingChevrolet21 Rinus VeekayEd Carpenter RacingChevrolet22 Simon Pagenaud Team PenskeChevrolet26 Colton Herta Andretti Autosport with Curb-AgajanianHonda27 Alexander Rossi Andretti AutosportHonda28 Ryan Hunter-ReayAndretti AutosportHonda29 James HinchcliffeAndretti Steinbrenner AutosportHonda30 Takuma SatoRahal Letterman Lanigan RacingHonda45 Santino FerrucciRahal Letterman Lanigan RacingHonda48 Jimmie Johnson Chip Ganassi RacingHonda51 Romain Grosjean Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware RacingHonda52 Ryan Norman Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware RacingHonda59 Max ChiltonCarlinChevrolet60 Jack HarveyMeyer Shank RacingHonda
Practice
Practice 1 Practice 1 took place at 2:30 PM ET on July 2, 2021.
+Top Practice SpeedsDriverTeamEngineLap Time12 Josef Newgarden Team PenskeChevrolet01:07.252425 Patricio O'WardArrow McLaren SPChevrolet01:07.5050360 Jack HarveyMeyer Shank RacingHonda01:07.5840 Source:
Practice 2 Practice 2 took place at 9:05 AM ET on July 3, 2021.
+Top Practice SpeedsDriverTeamEngineLap Time15 Patricio O'WardArrow McLaren SPChevrolet01:06.091122 Josef Newgarden Team PenskeChevrolet01:06.0993326 Colton Herta Andretti Autosport with Curb-AgajanianHonda01:06.1839 Source:
Qualifying
Qualifying took place at 12:00 PM ET on July 3, 2021.
Qualifying report
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, 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.
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.
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. 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.
Qualifying classification Driver Team Engine Time Round 1 Group 1 Group 2 1 2 Josef Newgarden Team Penske Chevrolet 01:06.0168N/A 01:06.1630 01:06.6739 1 2 26 Colton Herta Andretti Autosport with Curb-Agajanian HondaN/A 01:06.2685 01:06.2030 01:06.6770 2 3 8 Marcus Ericsson Chip Ganassi Racing HondaN/A 01:06.4587 01:06.4499 01:07.0723 3 4 12 Will Power Team Penske Chevrolet 01:06.5423N/A 01:06.2386 01:07.1161 4 5 9 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing HondaN/A 01:06.3232 01:06.2775 01:07.1358 5 6 27 Alexander Rossi Andretti Autosport Honda 01:06.6453N/A 01:06.2453 01:07.2181 6 7 9 Álex Palou Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 01:06.5130N/A 01:06.4883N/A 7 8 15 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda 01:06.5603N/A 01:06.5946N/A 8 9 29 James Hinchcliffe Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport HondaN/A 01:06.7155 01:06.6134N/A 9 10 28 Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport HondaN/A 01:06.5961 01:06.7517N/A 10 11 21 Rinus Veekay Ed Carpenter Racing ChevroletN/A 01:06.7250 01:06.7671N/A 11 12 14 Sébastien Bourdais A. J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet 01:06.6117N/A 01:06.9232N/A 12 13 7 Felix Rosenqvist Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet 01:06.7898N/AN/AN/A 13 14 3 Scott McLaughlin Team Penske ChevroletN/A 01:06.7313N/AN/A 14 15 22 Simon Pagenaud Team Penske Chevrolet 01:06.8437N/AN/AN/A 15 16 18 Ed Jones Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan HondaN/A 01:06.7882N/AN/A 16 17 59 Max Chilton Carlin Chevrolet 01:06.8473N/AN/AN/A 17 18 51 Romain Grosjean Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing HondaN/A 01:06.8642N/AN/A 18 19 30 Takuma Sato Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda 01:07.0951N/AN/AN/A 19 20 5 Patricio O'Ward Arrow McLaren SP ChevroletN/A 01:06.8679N/AN/A 20 21 4 Dalton Kellett A. J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet 01:07.5866N/AN/AN/A 21 22 45 Santino Ferrucci Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing HondaN/A 01:06.9254N/AN/A 22 23 60 Jack Harvey Meyer Shank Racing Honda 01:07.6740N/AN/AN/A 23 24 20 Conor Daly Ed Carpenter Racing ChevroletN/A 01:07.0704N/AN/A 24 25 48 Jimmie Johnson Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 01:08.4077N/AN/AN/A 25 26 52 Ryan Norman Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing HondaN/A 01:07.4714N/AN/A 26 Source: Notes Bold text indicates fastest time set in session.
Final Practice
Final Practice Final practice took place at 3:30 PM ET on July 3, 2021.
+Top Practice SpeedsDriverTeamEngineLap Time19 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi RacingHonda01:08.0256226 Colton Herta Andretti Autosport with Curb-AgajanianHonda01:08.0745351 Romain Grosjean Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware RacingHonda01:08.1490 Source:
Race
The race took place at 12:00 PM ET on July 4, 2021.
Race report
After airing concerns about his engine's performance, Josef Newgarden's engine was replaced before race day. 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.
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.
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. 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. 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. Herta made his second stop on lap 57, this time stalling his car before coming out of the pit box.
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. With 9 laps to go, Ericsson had halved the gap between himself and Newgarden. 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.
Herta had to stop again on the last lap due to not having enough fuel to finish the race. 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.
Race classification