FP1 at Mid-Ohio comes to a close with 2025 IndyCar Championship contender Kyle Kirkwood leading Pato O’ward and Alex Palou.
IndyCar returns with the Honda Indy at Mid-Ohio 200. Like Road America, the toughest technical tracks see the highest temperatures. How will the drivers fair this weekend in the july heat?
An early yellow
Rookie driver Jacob Abel was the first to bring out a yellow flag. He dropped a wheel into the grass, and took a small spin before stopping on track
Green flag running resumed, with Kyffin Simpson topping the timing sheets at 1:10.362, followed by Malukas and Lundgaard.
Christian Rasmussen also picked up a 6 place grid penalty for the weekend, for exceeding his allotted engines for the season. The penalty will be applied following the official qualifying classification.
Nolan Siegel went widely off track at Turn 13, drifting almost sideways into the gravel pit as he managed to keep control of his No. 6 Arrow Mclaren car.
Malukus exited the track backwards at Turn 9, and makes serious contact with the barriers on the outside of the turn, bringing out the first red flag of the session. This is a difficult moment for Malukus early on, as the driver looks to be making progress in the positive after a middling start to the season.
Scott McLaughlin also had a moment, going deep and wide after pushing slightly too hard on the tracks new pavement.
Final 10 minutes
Green flag running resumed for the second time with 10 minutes left on the clock. It’s a Mclaren 1-2, with teammates Lundgaard and O’Ward topping the times in the low 1:07’s. Marcus Ericsson sat in third.
Another drivers ran wide at turn 1, as Andretti Global’s Colton Herta runs far off track and kicks up a cloud of dust. He returns to the pits and his team begins to remove the grass and gravel from his car.
The circuit continued to test the drivers, with O’Ward running off track on the downhill at Turn 11.
As the final minutes of the main session ticked away, Will Power rocketed to the top of the time with a 1:06.82.
Colton Herta comes out of turn 5 and exits the corner facing the wrong way, making rear end contact with the barriers. This brought out the second red flag of the session. Many of the drivers seem to be having issues with the rear end of the car across the session.
The main session comes to an end with Power, Ericsson, and Foster rounding out the Top 3.
The short sessions
Practice 1 Group 1 at Mid-Ohio saw a continuation of the main practice, as Pato O’Ward lead with a 1:06.171. O’Ward ended the main practice with a P2 position. One of two winners of the 2025 season, Kyle Kirkwood set the first track time in the 1:05’s, with a 1:05.827
Championship Leader and defending champion Alex Palou, set a time good enough for P3 in the session and returned to the pits after just 2 laps.
The Group 1 short session comes to a close with the Top 3 consisting of Kirkwood, O’Ward, and Palou.
Similarly to Group 1, Group 2’s practice began with 12 minutes on the clock. Daly, Dixon, and Defrancesco all quickly set their first times in the 1:09’s. On a second lap, Christian Lundgaard set a 1:06.375, slightly slower then the times at a similar time in Group 1’s session.
Felix Rosenqvist crawled off the track and brought out a caution with just under 8 minutes remaining in the practice. The cause was an internal technical issue, a voltage issue on his hybrid engine.
After a short pause, Green flag running resumed.
With 5 minutes left in the session, Herta, Lundgaard, and Newgarden topped the running, with times in the low 1:06’s.
The Group 2 session came to a close with the Top 3 being Newgarden, Herta, and Rahal.
Final Combined Classification:
- Palou
- Kirkwood
- O’Ward
- Newgarden
- Ericsson
- Simpson
- Herta
- Rahal
- Lundgaard
- Armstrong
- Siegal
- Defrancesco
- Ferrucci
- Rasmussen
- McLaughlin
- Foster
- Dixon
- Ilott
- Daly
- Rossi
- Power
- Robb
- Abel
- VeeKay
- Malukas
- Shwartzman
- Rosenqvist
