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| Another July ends at Mid-Ohio |
The lucky 13th round of the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series season sees the series head to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for the 33rd time. Last year, Simon Pagenaud won from pole position but not after a pair of cautions mixed up the field twice and a side-by-side battle between the Frenchman and his teammate Will Power that even saw contact between the two Team Penske drivers on the way to a 1-2 finish for the team. The victory helped the Frenchman keep control of the championship before heading into the final portion of the season.
Coverage
Time: Coverage begins at 3:00 p.m. ET on Sunday July 30th. Green flag will be at 3:47 p.m. ET.
TV Channel: CNBC.
IndyCar Weekend Schedule
Friday:
First Practice- 10:00 a.m. ET (45-minute session).
Second Practice- 2:15 p.m. ET (45-minute session).
Saturday:
Third Practice- 9:55 a.m. ET (45-minute session).
Qualifying- 2:05 p.m. ET (NBCSN will have tape-delayed coverage at 6:30 p.m. ET).
Sunday:
Warm-Up- 11:15 a.m. ET (30-miunte session).
Race- 3:47 p.m. ET (85 laps)
Time: Coverage begins at 3:00 p.m. ET on Sunday July 30th. Green flag will be at 3:47 p.m. ET.
TV Channel: CNBC.
Announcers: Kevin Lee is in the booth with Townsend Bell and Paul Tracy in the booth with Jon Beekhuis, Katie Hargitt, Anders Krohn and Robin Miller working the pit lane.
IndyCar Weekend Schedule
Friday:
First Practice- 10:00 a.m. ET (45-minute session).
Second Practice- 2:15 p.m. ET (45-minute session).
Saturday:
Third Practice- 9:55 a.m. ET (45-minute session).
Qualifying- 2:05 p.m. ET (NBCSN will have tape-delayed coverage at 6:30 p.m. ET).
Sunday:
Warm-Up- 11:15 a.m. ET (30-miunte session).
Race- 3:47 p.m. ET (85 laps)
IndyCar Down to Final Five Races
The final race of July marks IndyCar entering the final two months of the season and twenty-two drivers remains mathematically eligible for the championship.
Scott Dixon leads with 423 points and he has a three-point advantage over Hélio Castroneves. Dixon has led the championship since the first Belle Isle race. Despite the small margin between Dixon and Castroneves, this is not the closest the two have been this season. Dixon led Castroneves by two points when he initially took the lead at Belle Isle. Castroneves led the championship after the Indianapolis 500 by 11 points over a three-way tie between Simon Pagenaud, Takuma Sato and Dixon. Dixon has been no lower than fourth in the championship this year while Castroneves was sixth in the championship after each of the first four races and he was fourth after the Texas race.
Pagenaud trails Dixon by 19 points and he is third in the championship with the most recent winner in the Verizon IndyCar Series, Josef Newgarden rounding out the top four, 23 points behind Dixon. Like Dixon, Pagenaud has been no lower than fourth this season in the championship. Newgarden has been no higher than third in the championship this season. Newgarden has led at least one lap in the last five races.
Will Power and Graham Rahal are tied for fifth in the championship on 359 points with Power owning the tie-breaker based on more second-place finishes. Mid-Ohio is the only road/street course on the 2017 IndyCar schedule that Power has not won at in his career. He finished second at Mid-Ohio last year, his third runner-up finish in eight starts. Power has completed all 700 laps in his eight Mid-Ohio starts. Rahal was 15th in the championship after the Indianapolis 500. He has finished in the top five the last three years at Mid-Ohio after his best finish in his first six starts was eighth.
Takuma Sato has dropped to seventh in the championship, 72 points behind Dixon, and he has lost championship positions after the last three races. He had four consecutive top ten finishes from the Indianapolis 500 to Texas but his last three finishes have been 19th, 16th and 16th. Alexander Rossi trails his teammate by 21 points in the championship. Sato has been the top Andretti in the championship since his Indianapolis 500 victory. Rossi picked up his first podium finish since his Indianapolis 500 victory last year at Toronto two weeks ago.
Tony Kanaan and James Hinchcliffe round out the top ten in the championship with the Brazilian 117 points behind his teammate and Hinchcliffe 126 points back. Kanaan's best finish in 15 Mid-Ohio starts was fourth in 2007. Kanaan led 13 laps in that race and that is the only time he has led at the circuit. Hinchcliffe has four consecutive top ten finishes at Mid-Ohio and three of those are top five finishes. He is coming off his 14th career podium finish but his record after podium finishes is not good. He has finished outside the top ten in the race following a podium finish eight times, including finishing 20th in the second Belle Isle race in June after finishing third in the first race of the weekend.
Max Chilton is two points outside the top ten in the championship. He has started and finished in the top ten in three of the last four races. Ed Jones is the top rookie in the championship in 12th on 276 points. This is the lowest Jones has been in the championship all season. Ryan Hunter-Reay is three points behind the Emirati driver with Marco Andretti another five points behind his Andretti Autosport teammate. Hunter-Reay has nine top ten finishes in 11 Mid-Ohio starts while Andretti has six top ten finishes in ten starts but he has never finished in the top five at the track.
J.R. Hildebrand rounds out the top fifteen on 263 points. He is still looking for his first top ten finish on a road/street course this season. His best road/street course finish this season was 11th at Long Beach. He was running in the top ten in that race until Mikhail Aleshin ran into the back of his car on the final lap. Carlos Muñoz is 16th on 224 points. The Colombian's average finish at Mid-Ohio is the fourth-best all-time among drivers with at least three starts at 5.3. He has finished fourth, ninth and third in his three starts. Mikhail Aleshin is three points behind Muñoz despite missing Toronto. Aleshin is scheduled to be back in the #7 Honda for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports this weekend. Charlie Kimball sits on 206 points. He has started in the top ten in four of his five Mid-Ohio starts.
Conor Daly has scored 179 points this season. Daly has been 19th or worse in the championship since after Long Beach. He was 15th in the championship after St. Petersburg. Daly finished sixth in his Mid-Ohio debut last year after starting 22nd and leading 22 laps by going off strategy. Spencer Pigot rounds out the top twenty on 154 points. Ed Carpenter and Sébastien Bourdais are both mathematically eligible for the championship on 142 points and 136 points respectively.
Dixon Heads to His Backyard
Scott Dixon dominates at Mid-Ohio. No driver has won more at the track than the New Zealander. He has won five times at the track. All his victories have come in the last ten years. Before last year's retirement after contact with Hélio Castroneves broke his suspension, Dixon had finished in the top ten in ten consecutive Mid-Ohio starts. He had completed 982 consecutive laps at the track at the time of his accident. Last year's result was his first retirement at the track.
Dixon has made the final round of qualifying eight out of ten times at Mid-Ohio. Eight of Dixon's ten top ten finishes have been top five finishes. He has led 223 laps out of a possible 1,045 laps in his career at the track. That is 21.339% of the laps run in his 12 starts. He trails Michael Andretti by 23 laps for most laps led all-time at Mid-Ohio. The next closest active driver all-time in laps led at Mid-Ohio is Hélio Castroneves, who has led 147 laps at the track. Dixon and Michael Andretti are the only two drivers to have led over 200 laps at Mid-Ohio. Andretti is the only driver with more Mid-Ohio pole positions than Dixon with three pole positions.
His average finish of 5.25 is the best all-time at Mid-Ohio among drivers with at least three starts. He is one top five finish and one top ten finish away from tying Bobby Rahal and Al Unser, Jr. for most all-time at the track in the respective categories at nine top fives finishes and 11 top ten finishes.
Dixon has never gone more than two starts without a victory at Mid-Ohio and he has not failed to lead a lap in consecutive races since his first two starts at Mid-Ohio. He did not lead a lap in last year's race.
Road to Indy
This year's Mid-Ohio weekend once again is jam-packed with on track action as all three Road to Indy series will be present and there will be a grand total of seven races between the three series.
Mid-Ohio marks the final doubleheader of the Indy Lights season as four races and three race weekends remain in 2017. Eleven drivers have a mathematical chance at the championship.
Kyle Kaiser stretched his championship lead at Toronto by sweeping the weekend and the Californian has scored 279 points this season. The Juncos Racing driver is 51 points clear of Carlin's Matheus Leist, who has won three of the last six races. Kaiser and Leist are tied for most victories this season with three apiece however Kaiser has Leist beat on podium finishes by a count of seven to four. Kaiser has not had much luck at Mid-Ohio. In eight starts between Pro Mazda and Indy Lights he has only one top five finish. Colton Herta had a chance to get himself back in the thick of the championship hunt at Toronto but a right rear suspension failure cost him a victory in the second race. The Andretti Steinbrenner Racing driver trails Kaiser by 65 points and since standing on the podium after three of the first four races, Herta has only one podium finish in eight races.
Zachary Claman DeMelo picked up a double podium weekend in his home country with a second and third at Toronto. The Carlin driver has 207 points, 72 points behind Kaiser. Aaron Telitz is coming off his third podium of the season and the Belardi Auto Racing driver rounds out the top five in the championship, four points behind DeMelo. Santiago Urrutia swept the Mid-Ohio weekend last year and this year the Uruguayan finds himself sixth in the championship and six points behind his teammate Telitz. Urrutia has finished outside the top ten in five races this year while he has finished on the podium fives times and he has finished runner-up in four races. Only Kaiser has more podium finishes than Urrutia this season.
Nico Jamin has not finished in the top five in the last six races and he has fallen to seventh in the championship on 189 points. Neil Alberico has not finished in the top five in the last five races and he is ten points behind Jamin. Dalton Kellett and Ryan Norman round out the top ten on 154 points and 150 points respectively. Juan Piedrahita is the final driver mathematically championship eligible but the Colombian would need to score all 132 points remaining and have Kasier not start any of the final four races.
Mid-Ohio marks the final doubleheader of the Indy Lights season as four races and three race weekends remain in 2017. Eleven drivers have a mathematical chance at the championship.
Kyle Kaiser stretched his championship lead at Toronto by sweeping the weekend and the Californian has scored 279 points this season. The Juncos Racing driver is 51 points clear of Carlin's Matheus Leist, who has won three of the last six races. Kaiser and Leist are tied for most victories this season with three apiece however Kaiser has Leist beat on podium finishes by a count of seven to four. Kaiser has not had much luck at Mid-Ohio. In eight starts between Pro Mazda and Indy Lights he has only one top five finish. Colton Herta had a chance to get himself back in the thick of the championship hunt at Toronto but a right rear suspension failure cost him a victory in the second race. The Andretti Steinbrenner Racing driver trails Kaiser by 65 points and since standing on the podium after three of the first four races, Herta has only one podium finish in eight races.
Zachary Claman DeMelo picked up a double podium weekend in his home country with a second and third at Toronto. The Carlin driver has 207 points, 72 points behind Kaiser. Aaron Telitz is coming off his third podium of the season and the Belardi Auto Racing driver rounds out the top five in the championship, four points behind DeMelo. Santiago Urrutia swept the Mid-Ohio weekend last year and this year the Uruguayan finds himself sixth in the championship and six points behind his teammate Telitz. Urrutia has finished outside the top ten in five races this year while he has finished on the podium fives times and he has finished runner-up in four races. Only Kaiser has more podium finishes than Urrutia this season.
Nico Jamin has not finished in the top five in the last six races and he has fallen to seventh in the championship on 189 points. Neil Alberico has not finished in the top five in the last five races and he is ten points behind Jamin. Dalton Kellett and Ryan Norman round out the top ten on 154 points and 150 points respectively. Juan Piedrahita is the final driver mathematically championship eligible but the Colombian would need to score all 132 points remaining and have Kasier not start any of the final four races.
Indy Lights will race at 3:35 p.m. ET on Saturday and at 1:20 p.m. ET on Sunday.
While most of the Road to Indy championships are nearing the end, the Pro Mazda series is just starting the second half of its season after a month off.
No drivers have been mathematically eliminated from the Pro Mazda championship yet but it is looking to be a two-horse race through the final six races. Juncos Racing's Victor Franzoni leads the championship with 174 points and Cape Motorsports' Anthony Martin trails the Brazilian by seven points. It has been nearly equal this year between Franzoni and Martin. Both drivers have three victories, three pole positions and have led the most laps in each of their victories but where they differ is Franzoni has three runner-up finishes while Martin has finished runner-up twice and fourth-place once and Franzoni has three fastest laps while Martin only has two fastest laps.
Last year, both drivers ran at Mid-Ohio in U.S. F2000 and Martin swept the triple-header that weekend while Franzoni finished second, third and fourth. Franzoni made two Pro Mazda starts at Mid-Ohio in 2015 where he finished tenth and fourth.
T.J. Fischer is a distant third in the championship, 59 points behind Franzoni. He finished on the podium in the first four races before finishing 15th and 12th at Road America. Nikita Latstochkin finished third in both Road America races and the Russian is five points behind Fischer in the championship. Carlos Cunha Filho rounds out the top five on 103 points.
No drivers have been mathematically eliminated from the Pro Mazda championship yet but it is looking to be a two-horse race through the final six races. Juncos Racing's Victor Franzoni leads the championship with 174 points and Cape Motorsports' Anthony Martin trails the Brazilian by seven points. It has been nearly equal this year between Franzoni and Martin. Both drivers have three victories, three pole positions and have led the most laps in each of their victories but where they differ is Franzoni has three runner-up finishes while Martin has finished runner-up twice and fourth-place once and Franzoni has three fastest laps while Martin only has two fastest laps.
Last year, both drivers ran at Mid-Ohio in U.S. F2000 and Martin swept the triple-header that weekend while Franzoni finished second, third and fourth. Franzoni made two Pro Mazda starts at Mid-Ohio in 2015 where he finished tenth and fourth.
T.J. Fischer is a distant third in the championship, 59 points behind Franzoni. He finished on the podium in the first four races before finishing 15th and 12th at Road America. Nikita Latstochkin finished third in both Road America races and the Russian is five points behind Fischer in the championship. Carlos Cunha Filho rounds out the top five on 103 points.
Pro Mazda will race at 3:35 p.m. ET on Friday, 1:05 p.m. ET on Saturday and at 10:20 a.m. ET on Sunday.
We are down to the penultimate race weekend in U.S. F2000 and with 99 points left on the table only four drivers remain fighting for the championship.
Oliver Askew has led the championship since the end of the St. Petersburg weekend but the Floridian's championship lead took a hit at Toronto when he was collateral damage after Alexandre Baron and David Malukas collided while battling for the lead. The Cape Motorsports driver has 283 points and he leads Pabst Racing driver Rinus VeeKay by 18 points. Both Askew and VeeKay have finished on the podium in seven of nine races this season with Askew picking up six victories while the Dutchman has only won twice.
Parker Thompson kept his championship hopes alive by sweeping his home race weekend in Toronto. It is an uphill fight for the Canadian as he trails Askew by 77 points. Last year, Thompson's championship hopes squashed after a 17th-place finish in the first race of the Mid-Ohio triple-header. He went on to finish second in the next two races that weekend but it was not enough to best Anthony Martin. Kaylen Frederick of Team Pelfrey is mathematically alive for the championship by one point and he would have to hope Askew fails to start all of the final three races to have a shot at the title.
The first U.S. F2000 race of the weekend will be at 12:30 p.m. ET on Friday. Race two will be at 12:10 p.m. on Saturday.
Pirelli World Challenge
This weekend will also be the penultimate round of the Pirelli World Challenge sprint championship and the proantepenulimate round to the overall championship.
Patrick Long and Michael Cooper are tied for the overall championship on 183 points while Long holds the tiebreaker with three victories to Cooper's one victory. Long has finished on the podium in all five sprint races this season while Cooper's best finish in a sprint race was third in the first Road America race. Long leads the sprint championship with 117 points. Third in the overall championship, 18 points back of Long, is Álvaro Parente. The Portuguese driver won two of the first three sprint races but finished sixth in both Road America races last month.
Daniel Mancinelli is a surprise fourth in the championship with 141 points despite his only victory being the first SprintX race of the season at VIR and his next best finish this season being fourth. Johnny O'Connell rounds out the top five on 135 points. O'Connell is looking for his first victory of the season but he does have three podium finishes this year. Adderly Fong is two points behind O'Connell after a victory and a second-place finish at Road America. Fong will miss the Mid-Ohio round due to China GT Championship duties.
Patrick Long and Michael Cooper are tied for the overall championship on 183 points while Long holds the tiebreaker with three victories to Cooper's one victory. Long has finished on the podium in all five sprint races this season while Cooper's best finish in a sprint race was third in the first Road America race. Long leads the sprint championship with 117 points. Third in the overall championship, 18 points back of Long, is Álvaro Parente. The Portuguese driver won two of the first three sprint races but finished sixth in both Road America races last month.
Daniel Mancinelli is a surprise fourth in the championship with 141 points despite his only victory being the first SprintX race of the season at VIR and his next best finish this season being fourth. Johnny O'Connell rounds out the top five on 135 points. O'Connell is looking for his first victory of the season but he does have three podium finishes this year. Adderly Fong is two points behind O'Connell after a victory and a second-place finish at Road America. Fong will miss the Mid-Ohio round due to China GT Championship duties.
Ryan Dalziel won the second SprintX race at VIR but he has only one other top five finish this season and that was fifth in the first VIR race. His best sprint finish was sixth at Long Beach. The Scotsman sits on 130 points, five ahead of Bryan Sellers, whose best finish was third at Long Beach.
R. Ferri Motorsports returns to competition after an accident at VIR sidelined the team but it will have Kyle Marcelli as its driver instead of Alex Riberas. Jon Fogarty and Gainsco/Bob Stalling Racing is entered for Mid-Ohio after a hard accident at Road America.
Last year, Parente and Cooper split the Mid-Ohio weekend while Dalziel won four consecutive races at the track between 2014 and 2015.
R. Ferri Motorsports returns to competition after an accident at VIR sidelined the team but it will have Kyle Marcelli as its driver instead of Alex Riberas. Jon Fogarty and Gainsco/Bob Stalling Racing is entered for Mid-Ohio after a hard accident at Road America.
Last year, Parente and Cooper split the Mid-Ohio weekend while Dalziel won four consecutive races at the track between 2014 and 2015.
The first GT race is scheduled for 4:45 p.m. ET on Saturday with race two scheduled for noon ET on Sunday.
The GTS championship is more of a runaway than the overall GT title. Lawson Aschenbach has finished on the podium in nine of ten races but he has yet to win in 2017. Despite having yet to ascend to the top step of the podium, Aschenbach has 219 points and he is 68 points clear of Martin Barkey, who has yet to stand on the podium this year. Rodrigo Baptista swept the Lime Rock Park weekend and he is 84 points behind Aschenbach. Ian James swept the Road America weekend, Panoz's first two victories in the series, and he is two points behind Baptista. Nate Stacy rounds out the top five on 131 points.
Aschenbach won the one and only Mid-Ohio race last year after the first race was cancelled due to heavy rain and was later made up at the season finale at Laguna Seca.
GTS will race at 10:55 a.m. ET on Saturday and 9:05 a.m. ET on Sunday.
Fast Facts
This will be the eighth IndyCar race to take place on July 30th and first since 2006 when Hélio Castroneves won at Michigan.
Chip Ganassi Racing has the most victories at Mid-Ohio with ten.
Team Penske picked up its eighth Mid-Ohio victory last year.
The other six IndyCar teams combine for one Mid-Ohio victory. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing won the 2015 race with Graham Rahal.
Josef Newgarden's victory at Toronto was the first time Team Penske had won that race in consecutive years.
Team Penske won four consecutive years at Mid-Ohio from 1992 to 1995 with Emerson Fittipaldi and Al Unser, Jr. splitting those races with each winning in consecutive years. Hélio Castroneves won back-to-back years at Mid-Ohio for Team Penske in 2000 and 2001.
There have been seven spells of teams winning consecutive races at Mid-Ohio and those seven spells consist of twenty of the previous 32 Mid-Ohio races (Truesports 1985-86; Newman-Haas 1990-91; Penske 1992-95 and 2000-01; Chip Ganassi Racing 1996-97 and 2009-14; Forsythe Racing 2002-03).
Simon Pagenaud set the Mid-Ohio track record with a lap of 63.8700 second (127.271 MPH) in the third round of qualifying.
The winners of the last two Mid-Ohio races have each led 23 laps.
The fewest laps led by a Mid-Ohio winner were ten by Bobby Rahal in 1986.
On race day, Esteban Gutiérrez will have gone 1,827 days (five years and one day) since his most recent victory, which was the sprint race of the GP2 weekend at the Hungaroring. Max Chilton won the feature race the day before from pole position. That is Chilton's most recent permanent road course victory.
Mid-Ohio is the only permanent road course currently on the Verizon IndyCar Series schedule where Honda has won majority of the races in the DW12-era. Honda has won three of the previous five Mid-Ohio races.
Chip Ganassi Racing has the most victories at Mid-Ohio with ten.
Team Penske picked up its eighth Mid-Ohio victory last year.
The other six IndyCar teams combine for one Mid-Ohio victory. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing won the 2015 race with Graham Rahal.
Josef Newgarden's victory at Toronto was the first time Team Penske had won that race in consecutive years.
Team Penske won four consecutive years at Mid-Ohio from 1992 to 1995 with Emerson Fittipaldi and Al Unser, Jr. splitting those races with each winning in consecutive years. Hélio Castroneves won back-to-back years at Mid-Ohio for Team Penske in 2000 and 2001.
There have been seven spells of teams winning consecutive races at Mid-Ohio and those seven spells consist of twenty of the previous 32 Mid-Ohio races (Truesports 1985-86; Newman-Haas 1990-91; Penske 1992-95 and 2000-01; Chip Ganassi Racing 1996-97 and 2009-14; Forsythe Racing 2002-03).
Simon Pagenaud set the Mid-Ohio track record with a lap of 63.8700 second (127.271 MPH) in the third round of qualifying.
The winners of the last two Mid-Ohio races have each led 23 laps.
The fewest laps led by a Mid-Ohio winner were ten by Bobby Rahal in 1986.
On race day, Esteban Gutiérrez will have gone 1,827 days (five years and one day) since his most recent victory, which was the sprint race of the GP2 weekend at the Hungaroring. Max Chilton won the feature race the day before from pole position. That is Chilton's most recent permanent road course victory.
Mid-Ohio is the only permanent road course currently on the Verizon IndyCar Series schedule where Honda has won majority of the races in the DW12-era. Honda has won three of the previous five Mid-Ohio races.
The average starting position for a Mid-Ohio winner is 3.6875 with a median of two.
The average number of lead changes in a Mid-Ohio race is 4.53125 with a median of four.
The last three Mid-Ohio races have had seven lead changes.
There has been at least one lead change in every Mid-Ohio race.
The record for most lead changes at Mid-Ohio is eight, which occurred in 1988 and 2007.
The average number of cautions in a Mid-Ohio race is 2.032 with a median of two. The average number of caution laps is 7.967 with a median of nine.
Possible Milestones:
Scott Dixon and Hélio Castroneves are both one top five finish away from tying Michael Andretti for fifth all-time at 139 top five finishes.
Hélio Castroneves needs to lead 28 laps to reach the 6,000 laps led milestone.
Scott Dixon needs to lead 23 laps to reach the 5,000 laps led milestone.
Marco Andretti needs to lead 3 laps to reach the 1,000 laps led milestone.
Simon Pagenaud needs to lead 149 laps to reach the 1,000 laps led milestone.
Scott Dixon needs to lead 23 laps to reach the 5,000 laps led milestone.
Marco Andretti needs to lead 3 laps to reach the 1,000 laps led milestone.
Simon Pagenaud needs to lead 149 laps to reach the 1,000 laps led milestone.
Predictions
I am going against the current and will pick Graham Rahal to win this weekend but Scott Dixon will finish in the top five. Team Penske will have all four of its drivers make the final round of qualifying. Mikhail Aleshin has a solid return but does not finish ahead of his teammate James Hinchcliffe. Spencer Pigot finally makes it to the second round of qualifying and he will finish ahead of at least one Penske driver. At least 80% of the cars finish on the lead lap. Sleeper: Max Chilton.
