2020 24 Hours of Le Mans GTE Preview

After previewing the 29 prototypes for the 88th 24 Hours of Le Mans, we will look over the 30 GT entries for this year's race. The field is split between eight GTE-Pro entries and 22 GTE-Am entries. 

This year's Le Mans was already planned to be without the Ford GT, but due to the covid-19 pandemic, this year's race will not feature Corvette Racing for the first time since 1999. The factory Porsche effort has been cut in half, with the two IMSA based teams not entered. 

Ferrari has the most entries in each class with four of the eight GTE-Pro cars hailing from Maranello and 12 Ferrari 488 GTE Evos populate the GTE-Am grid. There will be ten Porsches between the two classes. Aston Martin will field four cars. Five different manufactures have won the last five years in the GTE-Pro class. 

GTE-Pro

#51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo

Drivers: James Calado (5th), Alessandro Pier Guidi (5th), Daniel Serra (4th)

About This Team: Calado and Pier Guidi are currently third in the World Endurance GT Drivers' championship on 95 points. The #51 Ferrari's only victory was at Shanghai and this car has finished no worse than fourth this season. Its only other podium finish was third at Austin. This is the defending GTE-Pro Le Mans class winners. Calado ran nine of 11 Formula E races in the 2019-20 season with his best finish being seventh. Serra won his third consecutive Stock Car Brasil championship last year.

#63 WeatherTech Racing Ferrari 488 GTE Evo

Drivers: Cooper MacNeil (6th), Jeff Segal (5th), Toni Vilander (12th)

About This Team: This was going to be a GTE-Am entry, but the team moved up to GTE-Pro with the inclusion of Segal and Vilander. MacNeil and Vilander are co-drivers in the IMSA GT Daytona class and their best finish this season was second in the Sebring sprint race. MacNeil has finished third in GTE-Am two of the last three years. Vilander has two Le Mans class victories, most recently in 2014, and the Finn has stood on the podium six times. Segal has finished on the podium in three of his four Le Mans starts, including a GTE-Am victory in 2016. This is the first time Segal is not in the GTE-Am class.

#71 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo

Drivers: Sam Bird (6th), Miguel Molina (4th), Davide Rigon (7th)

About This Team: Molina and Rigon have only stood on the podium after one race this season, a runner-up finish in Bahrain. Their next best finish is fifth. This is the fourth consecutive year Bird, Molina and Rigon have raced together. Their best finish was fifth in 2017. Rigon was runner-up in GTE-Pro in 2015. Bird was third in LMP2 that same year.

#82 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE Evo

Drivers: Sébastien Bourdais (14th), Jules Gounon (2nd), Olivier Pla (13th)

About This Team: The all-French lineup looks to get Risi Competizione its fourth Le Mans victory and first since 2009. Bourdais won in GTE-Pro in 2016 with Ford and he has five podium finishes at Le Mans. Pla was also with the Ford program, like Bourdais, for the last four years. Pla's only podium finish was runner-up in LMP2 in 2013. Gounon ran with Risi last year and was 11th in class. Gounon won the Bathurst 12 Hour earlier this year with Bentley.

#91 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR-19

Drivers: Gianmaria Bruni (12th), Richard Lietz (14th), Frédéric Makowiecki (10th)

About This Team: Bruni and Lietz won the 2019-20 season opener at Silverstone over a year ago. Their only other podium finish was third at Shanghai. Bruni, Lietz and Makowiecki have been GTE-Pro runners-up at Le Mans the last two years. Lietz has three Le Mans class victories, last coming in 2013. Bruni has three Le Mans class victories, last coming in 2014. Makowiecki has zero Le Mans class victories.

#92 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR-19

Drivers: Michael Christensen (6th), Kévin Estre (6th), Laurens Vanthoor (5th)

About This Team: The defending world champions Christensen and Estre are 19 points back in second. The #92 Porsche won the last race at Spa-Francorchamps and it has five runner-up finishes with a seventh in Bahrain. Vanthoor is currently second in the IMSA GT Le Mans championship. These three drivers won the GTE-Pro class at Le Mans two years ago. It is the only time each of these three drivers have stood on the Le Mans podium.

#95 Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR

Drivers: Marco Sørensen (6th), Nicki Thiim (7th), Richard Westbrook (10th)

About This Team: The #95 Aston Martin leads the World Endurance GT Drivers' championship on 127 points. Sørensen and Thiim have won three of six races and finished second at Spa-Francorchamps. Sørensen has not been on the podium at Le Mans, while Thiim's only trip was on debut in 2014 with victory in the GTE-Am class. This is the sixth consecutive year the Danes have paired. Westbrook had run the last four years with the Ford GT progam. He has two podium finishes at Le Mans, both thirds, one on debut in GT2 in 2010 and in GTE-Pro in 2016.

#97 Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR

Drivers: Alex Lynn (4th), Maxime Martin (6th), Harry Tincknell (7th)

About This Team: Lynn and Martin have not finished worse than fourth this year. The problem is they have not finished better than third either with four trips to the podium this season. Lynn has never finished better than 12th in class at Le Mans. Martin's best Le Mans finish was seventh in class in his first two Le Mans starts, first in LMP1 and then in LMP2. Tincknell won on debut at Le Mans in 2014 with Jota Sport in LMP2. He ran the last four years with Ford and was runner-up in GTE-Pro in 2017.

GTE-Am

#52 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo

Drivers: Steffan Görlig (1st), Christoph Ulrich (1st), Alexander West (1st)

About This Team: This lineup is competing full-time in European Le Mans Series this year and it has finishes of fifth, seventh and sixth through the first three races.

#54 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo

Drivers: Francesco Castellacci (5th), Giancarlo Fisichella (11th), Thomas Flöhr (4th)

About This Team: The best finish for the #54 Ferrari this season was fifth at Bahrain. In ten Le Mans starts, Fisichella has two class victories, three runner-up finishes in class and a third in class. One of those runner-up finishes was with Castellacci and Flöhr in 2018.

#55 Spirit of Race Ferrari 488 GTE Evo

Drivers: Duncan Cameron (4th), Matt Griffin (9th), Aaron Scott (3rd)

About This Team: The #55 Ferrari is currently third in the GTE class in the European Le Mans Series and this car won the most recent race, the Le Castellet 240. This is the first time Cameron, Griffin and Scott have driven together at Le Mans since 2016.

#56 Team Project 1 Porsche 911 RSR

Drivers: Matteo Cairoli (4th), Egidio Perfetti (3rd), Larry Ten Voorde (1st)

About This Team: Perfetti was promoted to GTE-Am victory last year with Jörg Bergmeister and Patrick Lindsey after the #85 Keating Motorsports Ford GT was disqualified. Ten Vorde ran two races in the sister Team Project 1 Porsche and won at Bahrain. Cairoli and Perfetti's best finish was third at Austin from pole position. Ten Voorde won the Porsche Supercup championship with three victories, six poidum finishes and finishing in the top five of all eight races. 

#57 Team Project 1 Porsche 911 RSR

Drivers: Jeroen Bleekemolen (15th), Felipe Fraga (2nd), Ben Keating (6th)

About This Team: Last year, these three were disqualified after winning the GTE-Am class for exceeding the permitted fuel capacity. Bleekemolen and Keating did win at Bahrain with Larry Ten Voorde. Fraga missed two races due to Stock Car Brasil commitments. This is Bleekemolen and Keating's sixth consecutive Le Mans together. 

#60 Irox Lynx Ferrari 488 GTE Evo

Drivers: Sergio Pianezzola (2nd), Paolo Ruberti (8th), Claudio Schiavoni (2nd)

About This Team: Pianezzola and Schiavoni are competing full-time in ELMS this year, but they are currently last in that class championship. Ruberti was runner-up in the GT2 class in his first two Le Mans starts in 2008 and 2009. Last year, he drove with ByKolles Racing in LMP1. 

#61 Luzich Racing 488 GTE Evo

Drivers: Côme Ledogar (3rd), Oswaldo Negri, Jr. (2nd), Francesco Piovanetti (1st)

About This Team: Ledogar was fifth last year in class with Car Guy Racing. Negri, Jr.'s only Le Mans start was in 2016 with Michael Shank Racing in the LMP2 class. Negri, Jr. was ninth in class with Laurens Vanthoor and John Pew that year. Piovanetti and Negri, Jr. ran together in the Asian Le Mans Series and where fourth in the championship with three third-place finishes. 

#62 Red River Sport Ferrari 488 GTE Evo

Drivers: Bonamy Grimes (1st), Charles Hollings (1st), Johnny Mowlem (10th)

About This Team: Red River Sport has finished in eighth position four times this season and twice in tenth position. This is Mowlem's first Le Mans start since 2014. His only podium finish was on debut 20 years ago with David Murry and Sascha Maassen in the GT class.

 

#66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari 488 GTE Evo

Drivers: Richard Heistand (1st), Max Root (1st), Jan Magnussen (22nd)

About This Team: Heistand ran with AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus in the GT Daytona class last year and picked up two victories with co-driver Jack Hawksworth at Mid-Ohio and Belle Isle before finishing sixth in the championship. Root is currently leading the GT World Challenge America Am class championship driving for Wright Motorsports. Magnussen will make his first Le Mans appearance without Corvette Racing since he was second in the LMP900 class driving for Audi Sport Japan Team Goh in 2003. The only other manufacture Magnussen has driven for at Le Mans was Panoz from 1999 to 2002. 

#70 MR Racing Ferrari 488 GTE Evo

Drivers: Kei Cozzolino (2nd), Takeshi Kimura (2nd), Vincent Abril (2nd)

About This Team: MR Racing missed the most recent WEC race at Spa-Francorchamps and Abril will replace Olivier Beretta, who contested the first five races with Cozzolino and Kimura. Super Formula and Super GT driver Yuhi Sekiguchi was unable to drive this year due to quarantine restrictions. This team was third in the 2019-20 WEC season opener at Silverstone. 

#72 HubAuto Corsa Ferrari 488 GTE Evo

Drivers: Morris Chen (1st), Marco Gomes (1st), Tom Blomqvist (1st)

About This Team: Gomes won the Asian Le Mans Series GT championship with two runner-up finishes and victory in the finale at Buriram. Blomqvist spent 2019 with BMW Team RLL in IMSA, where his best finish was third at Petit Le Mans. He ran the final two Formula E races this season in Berlin. Chen has not competed since the 2019-20 ALMS season opener at Shanghai in November. 

#75 Irox Lynx Ferrari 488 GTE Evo

Drivers: Matteo Cressoni (3rd), Rino Mastronardi (1st), Andrea Piccini (5th)

About This Team: Piccini is running full-time with Pianezzola and Schiavoni in ELMS. Cressoni was in ELMS last year with JMW Motorsport and was third in the championship. He ran with Clearwater Racing at Le Mans last year, where he finished seventh in the GTE-Am class.

#77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR

Drivers: Matt Campbell (3rd), Riccardo Pera (1st), Christien Ried (11th)

About This Team: The #77 Porsche's best finish this season was second at Spa-Francorchamps. Last year, Campbell and Reid had five victories in class and were fourth in class at Le Mans. Pera made two starts last season, finishing third Shanghai and winning at Spa-Francorchamps with Campbell and Ried. Ried is currently tied for the championship lead in the ELMS GTE class with Michele Beretta and Alessio Picariello with a victory in the season opener at Circuit Paul Ricard and second in the Le Castellet 240.

#78 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR

Drivers: Michele Beretta (1st), Horst Felbermayr, Jr. (5th), Max van Splunteren (1st)

About This Team: Beretta is currently tied at the top of the ELMS GT championship with Christian Ried with a victory and a second in the two Circuit Paul Ricard races. Felbermayr, Jr. returns to Le Mans for the first time since 2011. He has only one finish in his first four Le Mans starts. Van Splunteren competed in Porsche Supercup and was sixth in the championship, top rookie, with a runner-up finish at Silverstone. He won the 2019 Porsche Carrera Cup Benelux championship. 

#83 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo

Drivers: Emmanuel Collard (24th), François Perrodo (7th), Nicklas Nielsen (1st)

About This Team: After spending the last three years competing in the LMP2 class, Perrodo returns to GTE-Am and Collard returns to Le Mans for the first time since 2017. This car leads the Endurance Trophy fo GTE-Am Drivers' championship with 110 points after victories at Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps. The #83 Ferrari has not finished worse than fourth this season. Nielsen won the ELMS GTE championship last year with Luzich Racing. Collard has two class victories at Le Mans, in 2003 with Alex Job Racing/Petersen Motorsports in GT and in 2009 with Team Essex and a Porsche RS Spyder in LMP2. Perrodo and Collard were second in this class with Rui Águas in 2016. Perrodo was third in LMP2 last year.

#85 Irox Lynx Ferrari 488 GTE Evo

Drivers: Rahel Frey (3rd), Manuela Gostner (2nd), Michelle Gatting (2nd)

About This Team: These three are full-time in ELMS and they have a pair of third place finishes this season and are currently fourth in the championship. Last year, Frey, Gostner and Gatting were ninth in class at Le Mans. 

#86 Gulf Racing Porsche 911 RSR

Drivers: Ben Barker (5th), Michael Wainwright (6th), Andrew Watson (1st)

About This Team: Gulf Racing was third in class at Bahrain, but the team's only other top five finish was fourth at Silverstone over a year ago. The best finish Barker and Wainwright have finished together at Le Mans was fifth in 2016.

#88 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR

Drivers: Dom Bastien (1st), Adrien de Leener (1st), Thomas Preining (2nd)

About This Team: Bastien could be set to take the record for oldest Le Mans competitor at 74 years and 295 days old. Jack Gerber is the current record-holder at 68 years and 110 days old. He has class victories in 24H Series races at Brno, Imola, Monza, Silverstone, Austin and the 24 Hours of Barcelona. Preining made five starts in WEC last year with Gulf Racing. De Leener has made three starts this year in the #88 Porsche with his best finish being ninth in class. He is also running in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup in the Silver Cup class with Dinamic Racing. Preining and de Leener raced together at Fuji, Bahrain and Austin.

 

#89 Team Project 1 Porsche 911 RSR

Drivers: "Steve Brooks" (1st), Andreas Laskaratos (1st), Julien Piguet (1st)

About This Team: Laskaratos has competed primarily in LMP3 machinery across multiple series. Last year, he was 13th in the ELMS LMP3 championship with 360 Racing. His best finish was sixth. Piguet has competed regularly in the FFSA GT Championship. "Steve Brooks" has competed almost exclusively in historic racing.

#90 TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage AMR

Drivers: Jonny Adam (5th), Charlie Eastwood (3rd), Salih Yoluç (4th)

About This Team: With three victories this season, TF Sport is second in the championship on 98 points, 12 points behind the #83 Ferrari. TF Sport was third at Spa-Francorchamps last month. Adam won at Le Mans in the GTE-Pro class in 2017. Eastwood and Yoluç have retired and finished 11th the last two years. 

#98 Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR

Drivers: Paul Dalla Lana (8th), Ross Gunn (2nd), Augusto Farfus (4th)

About This Team: Dalla Lana and Gunn have three runner-up finishes this season along with a third. Dalla Lana has yet to stand on the podium at Le Mans. This is his first 24 Hours of Le Mans without Mathias Lauda as one of his co-drivers since 2014 and this will be his first time without Pedro Lamy as one of his co-drivers in his Le Mans career. Farfus' four Le Mans starts all came with the factory BMW effort in GT2/GTE-Pro. Farfus has won the 24 Hours of Daytona in the GT Le Mans class the last two years.

#99 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR

Drivers: Vutthikorn Inthraphuvasak (1st), Lucas Légeret (1st), Julien Andlauer (3rd)

About This Team: Porsche junior driver Andlauer was third in Porsche Supercup last year and won the Porsche Carrera Cup Germany championship. He won in GTE-Am two years ago with Matt Campbell and Christian Ried. Inhraphuvasak won the Blancpain GT World Challenge Asia Pro-Am championship last year, where he picked up five class victories in 12 races. Légeret made his WEC debut at Spa-Francorchamps last month, where he finished fifth in class. Légeret has run in the European Le Mans Series LMP3 class the last three years. Last year, Légeret's team won three pole positions, but his best finish was fifth. He has one podium finish in three years.

Practice begins at 4:00 a.m. ET on Thursday September 17th with a three-hour session. After an hour break, another three-hour session will run from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. The first qualifying session will be at 11:15 a.m. At 4:00 p.m. ET, Thursday practice will conclude with a two-hour session. 

Friday will begin with a one-hour practice at 4:00 a.m. ET before the HyperPole session at 5:30 a.m. ET. 

Saturday warm-up will be at 4:15 a.m. ET and run for 45 minutes. 

The 88th 24 Hours of Le Mans will begin at 8:30 a.m. ET, a 90-minute earlier start than normal Le Mans years.

2020 24 Hours of Le Mans Prototypes Preview

It is Le Mans week, though instead of falling on the cusp of spring's transition into summer, this year's race falls on the verge of the autumnal equinox. Instead of closing the 2019-20 FIA World Endurance Championship, it is the penultimate round, with the season finale scheduled for November in Bahrain. 

This year's race will have 59 entries, 29 prototypes and 30 GT cars, but it will have a different feel. A few notable names will not be in this year's race. There is no public scrutineering. The entire event will be held behind closed doors. Practice will not begin until Thursday and Friday will have a practice session and the new HyperPole qualifying session. Qualifying will be two parts. On Thursday, there will be a 45-minute session during the evening. The top six cars from each class will advance to the HyperPole session, a 30-minute session during the middle of the day on Friday. The fastest lap from the HyperPole session will earn a team pole position for each class.

Today's preview will focus on the prototypes, five in the LMP1 class and 24 in LMP2 with entries from WEC, the European Le Mans Series, Asian Le Mans Series and a few Le Mans one-offs sprinkled in. 

LMP1

#1 Rebellion Racing Rebellion R13-Gibson

Drivers: Gustavo Menezes (5th), Norman Nato (3rd), Bruno Senna (8th)

About This Team: The #1 Rebellion won at Shanghai and Austin and it has won four consecutive pole positions. This car is 28 points off the World Endurance Drivers' Championship lead. This will be Nato's first Le Mans start in LMP1. Menezes was third overall two years ago and won the LMP2 class on debut in 2016. Senna has been fourth overall the last two years and he yet to be even be on a class podium at the event. The last American winner was Davy Jones in 1996. No Brazilian has ever won the 24 Hours of Le Mans overall. Rebellion Racing could become the first Swiss manufacture to win Le Mans since Sauber-Mercedes in 1989.

#3 Rebellion Racing Rebellion R13-Gibson

Drivers: Nathanaël Berthon (7th), Louis Delétraz (1st), Romain Dumas (20th)

About This Team: Rebellion is only running one car full-time in the FIA World Endurance Championship and the only other race the #3 Rebellion competed in was Silverstone, where the car finished third. Berthon was in the car that day but Delétraz and Dumas were not. Delétraz is currently running in the Formula Two championship. He is seventh in that championship and has four podium finishes, including two at Mugello last weekend. Louis' father Jean-Denis made nine Le Mans starts and won in the LMP675 class in 2001 and 2002. Jean-Denis last raced at Le Mans in 2012. This is Dumas' first Le Mans in the LMP1 class since he won overall in 2016, his second overall victory. There has not be a Le Mans winner with multiple French drivers since 1993 when Christophe Bouchut and Éric Hélary won with Peugeot and Geoff Brabham was the third driver. 

#4 ByKolles Racing Team ENSO CLM P1/01-Gibson

Drivers: Tom Dillmann (3rd), Bruno Spengler (1st), Oliver Webb (7th)

About This Team: Dillmann and Webb have run together the last two years at ByKolles. Webb has retired from Le Mans the last five years. Spengler is competing for BMW Team RLL in IMSA's GT Le Mans class this season and won in the 6 Hours of Atlanta earlier this month. ByKolles returned to competition for Spa-Francorchamps last month. The team competed 126 laps. ByKolles has not had a classified Le Mans finisher since 2009 when the team ran two Audi R10 TDIs and finished seventh and ninth. Spengler could join John Duff as the only Canadian winners. Duff won the second 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1924. ByKolles could become the first Austrian manufacture to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

#7 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota TS050 Hybrid

Drivers: Mike Conway (7th), Kamui Kobayashi (6th), José María López (4th)

About This Team: With three victories, the #7 Toyota leads the World Endurance Drivers' Championship with 137 points. It won at Silverstone, Bahrain and Spa-Francorchamps. Last year, the #7 Toyota had a commanding lead at Le Mans and was set for victory before a tire puncture and failure to change the correct tires on the first pit stop dropped the team to second. Conway and Kobayashi have finished runner-up three of the last four years at Le Mans with López apart of the last two efforts. Conway could be responsible for the 43rd Le Mans victory for a British driver and that would put the United Kingdom within one of tying France for most victories for a nation. López could join José Frolián González as the only Argentine drivers to win at Le Mans. Kobayashi could become the fourth Japanese driver to win Le Mans.

#8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota TS050 Hybrid

Drivers: Sébastien Buemi (9th), Brendon Hartley (7th), Kazuki Nakajima (9th)

About This Team: The defending world champions are second in the championship, 12 points behind its sister car with a victory at Fuji and runner-up finishes in every other race. Buemi and Nakajima are looking for their third consecutive Le Mans victories. Eight drivers have won Le Mans in at least three consecutive years (Tom Kristensen, Woolf Barnato, Olivier Gendebien, Henri Pescarolo, Jacky Ickx, Emanuele Pirro, Frank Biela and Marco Werner). Hartley replaces Fernando Alonso and he is going for his second Le Mans victory having won in 2017 with Porsche. Toyota is going for its third consecutive victory. It would be the 13th time a manufacture has won three-consecutive Le Mans races. 

LMP2

#11 Eurointernational Ligier JS P217-Gibson

Drivers: Adrien Tambay (1st), Erik Maris (5th), Christophe D'Ansembourg (1st)

About This Team: Tambay makes his first Le Mans start after making two starts last year in the European Le Mans Series. His father Patrick made four Le Mans starts with Patrick's best finish being fourth overall in 1989 with the Silk Cut Jaguar. Maris was 13th in LMP2 in 2017. D'Ansembourg comes from a historic racing background.

#16 G-Drive Racing with Algarve Oreca 07-Gibson

Drivers: Ryan Cullen (2nd), Oliver Jarvis (9th), Nick Tandy (8th)

About This Team: A late addition to the grid after Carlin pulled its LMP2 entry, Cullen moves over to this car after previously being signed on with DragonSpeed. Cullen drove for DragonSpeed in the European Le Mans Series earlier this season. Jarvis and Tandy have both been competing in IMSA, Jarvis with Mazda's DPi program and Tandy with Porsche's GTLM program. Jarvis won in the LMP2 class and finished second overall with Jackie Chan DC Racing in 2017. Tandy was originally entered for Le Mans with Porsche but was freed after Porsche North America withdrew its two-car effort. This is Tandy's first Le Mans start in the LMP2 class.

#17 IDEC Sport Oreca 07-Gibson

Drivers: Jonathan Kennard (2nd), Dwight Merriman (1st), Kyle Tilley (1st)

About This Team: Kennard has spent the last few years in historic racing and this will be his first Le Mans start since 2010. Kennard was a Williams F1 test driver in 2009. Merriman and Tilley are competing in the LMP2 class in IMSA with Era Motorsports. They have finished third in class of three IMSA races this season and were second of two cars at Road Atlanta two weeks ago. 

#21 DragonSpeed USA Oreca 07-Gibson

Drivers: Timothé Buret (4th), Juan Pablo Montoya (2nd), Memo Rojas (5th)

About This Team: Rojas is currently running in the European Le Mans Series and his best finish was eighth at the Circuit Paul Ricard season opener. Rojas' best finish in class at Le Mans is fifth. Rojas won the ELMS LMP2 championship last year with IDEC Sport. Montoya was a late substitute for Pipo Derani in this car. Montoya won the Daytona Prototype international championship last year in IMSA with Acura Team Penske. Montoya and Rojas won the 24 Hours of Daytona together at Chip Ganassi Racing in 2008 and 2013. Buret joined DragonSpeed for the second Circuit Paul Ricard ELMS race. This is Buret's first Le Mans with a team other than Panis-Barthez Racing. 

#22 United Autosports Oreca 07-Gibson

Drivers: Filipe Albuquerque (7th), Philip Hanson (3rd), Paul di Resta (3rd)

About This Team: Off three victories on the spin, these three drivers are at the top of the Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Drivers championship. Albuquerque and Hanson are on 120 points. Di Resta was not available for the Fuji round, so he is on 105 points. On top of the WEC program, Albuquerque and Hanson are on top of the European Le Mans Series LMP2 championship and won the last two races at Spa-Francorchamps and Circuit Paul Ricard.

#24 Nielsen Racing Oreca 07-Gibson

Drivers: Tony Wells (1st), Garett Grist (1st), Alex Kapadia (2nd)

About This Team: Wells won the Asian Le Mans Series LMP3 championship earlier this year with a victory at The Bend Motorsports Park and runner-up finishes at Shanghai and Buriram. Grist was fifth in that championship. Grist competed in the Road to Indy, where he won six races and was third in the 2013 U.S. F2000 championship and third in the 2015 Pro Mazda championship. Kapadia has competed in the ELMS LMP3 class the last three years.

#25 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca 07-Gibson

Drivers: John Falb (2nd), Simon Trummer (4th), Matt McMurry (3rd)

About This Team: Falb and Trummer are full-time in ELMS, but their best finish in 2020 is ninth. McMurry returns to Le Mans for the first time since 2017. He won the IMSA LMP2 championship last year and he is running in GT Daytona with Meyer Shank Racing Acura this year. McMurry picked up a class victory at Road Atlanta and leads the championship with co-driver Mario Farnbacher. 

#26 G-Drive Racing Aurus 01-Gibson

Drivers: Romain Rusinov (10th), Jean-Éric Vergne (4th), Mikkel Jensen (1st)

About This Team: Rusinov is looking for that elusive Le Mans class victory. He was disqualified in 2018 after being first on the road due to illegally modified refueling equipment. Rusinov is coming off the Asian Le Mans Series LMP2 title. Jensen and Rusinov were runner-up in the ELMS season opener at Circuit Paul Ricard. Jensen was the ELMS LMP3 champion last year with Eurointernational. Vergne was third in this year's Formula E championship with one victory at Berlin. 

#27 DragonSpeed USA Oreca 07-Gibson

Drivers: Ben Hanley (4th), Henrik Hedman (4th), Renger van der Zande (3rd)

About This Team: Hanley and Hedman are back together. They won the LMP2 class at 24 Hours of Daytona this year and won at Road America last month. Van der Zande is back for his third consecutive Le Mans with Hanley and Hedman. IndyCar driver Felix Rosenqvist was originally scheduled to be in this car, but schedule conflicts took him out of the seat. Van der Zande won the 24 Hours of Daytona for the second consecutive year back in January and he currently leads the DPi championship with co-driver Ryan Briscoe.

#28 IDEC Sport Oreca 07-Gibson

Drivers: Richard Bradley (5th), Paul-Loup Chatin (6th), Paul Lafargue (4th)

About This Team: Chatin and Lafargue won the ELMS LMP2 championship last year but they are currently 11th in this year's championship with seven-place finishes in the last two races. Bradley won at Le Mans in LMP2 five years ago with KCMG. This is his first Le Mans appearance since 2017.

#29 Racing Team Nederland Oreca 07-Gibson

Drivers: Fritz van Eerd (4th), Giedo van der Garde (4th), Nyck de Vries (2nd)

About This Team: van der Garde and van Eerd are on 91 points and won at Fuji. The team has been in the top five of every WEC race this season. De Vries missed Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps due to Formula Two and Formula E responsibilities. De Vries is the reigning Formula Two championship and he closed his Formula E rookie season with a runner-up finish in Berlin. 

#30 Duqueine Engineering Oreca 07-Gibson

Drivers: Tristan Gommendy (11th), Jonathan Hirschi (8th), Konstantin Tereschchenko (2nd)

About This Team: Duqueine is currently tenth in the ELMS LMP2 championship. Gommendy has three runner-up finish at Le Mans in LMP2, including in 2018 with Hirschi. Tereschchenko debuted at Le Mans last year with ARC Bratislava and the car retired after 160 laps.

#31 Panis Racing Oreca 07-Gibson

Drivers: Julien Canal (11th), Nico Jamin (2nd), Matthew Vaxivière (4th)

About This Team: Canal and Jamin were third in the ELMS race at Spa-Francorchamps last month. Canal won his first three Le Mans starts from 2010 to 2012 with Larbre Compétition in GT1 and GTE-Am. He has run in LMP2 the last six years and he was third in 2015. Jamin debuted at Le Mans last year, finishing seventh in LMP2. Vaxivière was third in LMP2 last year with TDS Racing. Vaxivière was disqualified two years ago due to illegal refueling equipment.

#32 United Autosports Oreca 07-Gibson

Drivers: Alex Brundle (7th), Will Owen (4th), Job van Uitert (2nd)

About This Team: The #32 Oreca competes full-time in the ELMS and these drivers won the season opener at Circuit Paul Ricard. They are second in the ELMS championship. Brundle has twice finished runner-up in LMP2 at Le Mans. Owen was a part of United Autosports' only Le Mans podium finish two years ago when he was third, though that came after the disqualification of the class winning G-Drive Racing entry. Van Uitert was runner-up in the ELMS LMP2 championship last year with G-Drive Racing.

#33 High Class Racing Oreca 07-Gibson

Drivers: Anders Fjordbach (2nd), Mark Patterson (6th), Kenta Yamashita (1st)

About This Team: High Class Racing has finished seventh in three of six WEC rounds this season. Its best finish was fourth at Fuji. Fjordbach is competing with High Class Racing in ELMS with Dennis Andersen. The team's best finish in that series is 13th. Yamashita won the Super GT GT500 championship in 2019.

#34 Inter Europol Competition Ligier JS P217-Gibson

Drivers: René Binder (2nd), Jakub Smiechowski (2nd), Matevos Isaakyan (2nd)

About This Team: This team is competing full-time in ELMS and its best finish was sixth at the Le Castellet 240. Binder and Smiechowski made their Le Mans debut last year, Binder with Pants Barthez Competition and Smiechowski with Inter Europol. Isaakyan's lone Le Mans start was in 2018 with SMP Racing's LMP1 program, but the car only lasted 123 laps. 

#35 Eurasia Motorsport Ligier JS P217-Gibson

Drivers: Nick Foster (2nd), Roberto Mehri (2nd), Nobuya Yamanaka (1st)

About This Team: Foster and Mehri ran together in the Asian Le Mans Series. They were second overall in the first three races before finishing third in the championship. Mehri returns to Le Mans for the first time since 2016 and Foster for the first time since 2017. Yamanaka was in the sister Eurasia Motorsport car in ALMS for two races. His best finish was fourth at Buriram with Daniel Gaunt and Nick Cassidy as his co-drivers.

#36 Signatech Alpine Elf Alpine A470-Gibson

Drivers: Thomas Laurent (4th), André Negrão (4th), Pierre Ragues (13th)

About This Team: Negrão and Signatech Alpine has won in the LMP2 class the last two years, but Negrão is the only driver returning from those teams. Negrão has been on the podium every year he has been to Le Mans. Ragues was third in LMP2 in 2017 with Negrão. Laurent won in LMP2 in 2017 with Jackie Chan DC Racing and was second overall. He was third overall with Rebellion in 2018 and fifth overall last year. This trio was runner-up at Silverstone but has not been on the podium since.

#37 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca 07-Gibson

Drivers: Gabriel Aubry (3rd), Will Stevens (5th), Ho-Pin Tung (8th)

About This Team: Stevens and Tung are second in the championship, but the #37 Oreca has not won a race this season with runner-up finishes at Fuji, Shanghai and Austin. Aubry missed the Spa-Francorchamps round due to contracting covid-19. Tung won the LMP2 class in 2017 when the team finished second overall. Stevens won in the GTE-Am class in 2017 and he was second in LMP2 on debut in 2016.

#38 Jota Sport Oreca 07-Gibson

Drivers: António Félix da Costa (3rd), Anthony Davidson (12th), Roberto González (4th)

About This Team: Jota Sport sits on 89 points in the championship with a victory at Shanghai, second at Bahrain, third at Austin and fourth at Spa-Francorchamps. Da Costa is fresh off the Formula E championship, where he won three races. His first two Le Mans starts were with BMW in the GTE-Pro class. Davidson and González ran Le Mans last year with DragonSpeed. Davidson has never scored a Le Mans class victory. González has yet to be on a Le Mans class podium.

#39 SO24-HAS by Graff Oreca 07-Gibson

Drivers: James Allen (3rd), Vincent Capillaire (7th), Charles Milesi (1st)

About This Team: Graff is currently third in the ELMS LMP2 championship with its best finish being second at Spa-Francorchamps and Graff was third in the Le Castellet 240. However, Allen is the only driver from the ELM2 team in this car. Thomas Laurent is with Signatech and Alexandre Cougnard is not entered. Capillaire is running in the LMP3 class this year in the ELMS. Milesi was supposed to race in Super Formula this year but has been unable to travel to Japan. Milesi has not competed in any series this year.

#42 Cool Racing Oreca 07-Gibson

Drivers: Antonin Borga (1st), Alexandre Coigny (1st), Nicolas Lapierre (13th)

About This Team: We should call Lapierre "Mr. LMP2" because Lapierre has won the LMP2 class at Le Mans in his last four starts in class. In 2015, he won with KCMG, and in 2016, 2018 and 2019 he won with Signatech Alpine. In 2017, he ran in LMP1 with Toyota. Cool Racing won the season opener at Silverstone with Borga and Lapierre. Coigny missed the race after an accident in the ELMS race the day before. 

#47 Cetilar Racing Dallara P217-Gibson

Drivers: Andrea Belicchi (11th), Roberto Lacorte (4th), Giogio Sernagiotto (4th)

About This Team: Cetilar Racing is coming off its best finish at Spa-Francorchamps, fifth in class. Belicchi has never finished better than seventh in class at Le Mans, though these three were ninth overall in 2017. Lacorte and Sernagiotto have never finished better than eighth in class at Le Mans.

#50 Richard Mille Racing Team Alpine A470-Gibson

Drivers: Tatiana Calderón (1st), Sophia Flörsch (1st), Beistke Visser (1st)

About This Team: Katherine Legge suffered a broken leg after a testing crash ahead of the ELMS season opener at Circuit Paul Ricard and Visser will replace her. Visser was second in the W Series last year with a victory at Zolder and podium finishes at Misano, Norising and Brands Hatch. Flörsch is splitting this season between the ELMS program and Formula Three. Flörsch did not score a point in Formula Three. Calderón ran in Formula Two last year and her best finish was 11th. She is in Super Formula this year and was 12th on debut at Motegi.

Practice begins at 4:00 a.m. ET on Thursday September 17th with a three-hour session. After an hour break, another three-hour session will run from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. ET. The first qualifying session will be at 11:15 a.m. At 2:00 p.m. ET, Thursday practice will conclude with a four-hour session. 

Friday will begin with a one-hour practice at 4:00 a.m. ET before the HyperPole session at 5:30 a.m. ET. 

Saturday's warm-up will be at 4:15 a.m. ET and run for 45 minutes. 

The 88th 24 Hours of Le Mans will begin at 8:30 a.m. ET, a 90-minute earlier start than normal Le Mans years.

Musings From the Weekend: Can Anyone Else Reach 50?

IndyCar finally had its Mid-Ohio doubleheader and there were two first-time winners at the track. One was Will Power, who has now won at 22 different tracks. The other was Colton Herta, who has now won at three different tracks. Ferrari had its 1,000th Formula One race in the first Tuscan Grand Prix from Mugello and it was a mess with three red flags. A Ferrari did win in Italy this weekend, but it was not a car and it was at Misano. NASCAR made its first and only trip to Richmond, and tires were the top story. The World Touring Car Cup opened its 2020 season and Santiago Urrutia landed a ride in WTCC. Here is a rundown of what got me thinking.

Can Anyone Else Reach 50?

Scott Dixon's 50th IndyCar victory at Gateway made him only the third driver to reach the milestone, joining A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti in the exclusive club. 

It took Dixon 329 starts to get his 50th victory, far more than either Foyt or Andretti. Foyt's 50th victory came in his 230th start. Andretti's 50th victory was in his 298th start. 

The same weekend Dixon won his 50th race, Josef Newgarden picked up his 16th victory. Newgarden has a way to go until he reaches the half-century mark, but what caught my eye after Newgarden's Gateway victory is it was his 32nd podium finish and it was his 50th top five finish. Half the time Newgarden is on the podium, he is on the top step. Thirty-two percent of the time Newgarden is in the top five, he is first. If you thought top five finishes would be evenly dispersed through 50 top five finishes, Newgarden is outshooting the mark by 12%! 

Newgarden is still young, he will only turn 29 years old this December. Dixon's 50th victory came a little over a month after his 40th birthday. That gives Newgarden 11 years and Newgarden will likely be around for another decade, if not more. We are seeing plenty of drivers remain competitive in their 40s. There is no sign of Newgarden being any different. 

This got me wondering, what are the chances we see another driver reach 50 victories? 

Newgarden is currently 34 victories away from the 50-victory milestone. If he averages three victories a season for the next 11 seasons, he would be on the doorstep. That appears possible for Newgarden. It is not going to be easy, but it is not unthinkable either.

It was 32 years, four months and 19 days between admittances to the 50-victory club. It is rare. There were 13 years and four days between Foyt and Andretti reaching 50 victories. If Andretti had not spent most of the 1970s focused on Formula One, not only might he have been the first to 50 victories, but the gap between him and Foyt reaching 50 victories would likely be smaller. That also means the gap between the second driver reaching 50 victories and Dixon reaching the milestone would likely be greater than 32 years and probably closer to 40 years. 

Dixon's winning percentage at the time of his 50th victory was 15.197%. There are 14 other race winners in IndyCar, and those are the only drivers I can project out to 50 victories. They have a winning percentage. Multiplying a winning percentage of zero leaves you with zero, meaning the likes of Patricio O'Ward, Oliver Askew, Marcus Ericsson, Álex Palou, Rinus VeeKay, Santino Ferrucci, Zach Veach and anyone without an IndyCar victory is not including. It is not that those drivers cannot do it or will not do it. They absolutely could. For the sake of this thought experiment, they have to be omitted. Once they have a victory, they can be included. 

The first thing I decided to do was figure out how many victories each driver should have at their 329th start, when Dixon reached 50. What I did was take the number of starts Dixon has, divided it by the number of starts each driver has made and then multiplied that number to each driver's victory total at this time. 

Two drivers, Tony Kanaan and Hélio Castroneves, have already surpassed 329 starts, so they are omitted. 

There is one driver on pace to reach 50 victories prior to start 329. 

Number of victories on pace for at 329th start:

Marco Andretti - 2.685

Colton Herta - 34.034

James Hinchcliffe - 13.901

Ryan Hunter-Reay - 22.517

Charlie Kimball - 2.1644

Josef Newgarden - 36.303

Simon Pagenaud - 30.276

Will Power - 53.8879

Graham Rahal - 8.891

Felix Rosenqvist - 11.75

Alexander Rossi - 29.52

Takuma Sato - 11.027

Will Power has our attention! 

Power is on a BETTER pace than Dixon! For the last five years, we have been eyeing Dixon's ascension up the all-time victories list, and rightfully so, but with Dixon at 50, and three away from surpassing Mario Andretti for second all-time, I think once Dixon gets 53, we need to shift our attention to Power. 

Power is on 38 victories. It is possible Power could be ahead of Andretti's 52 victories before his 329th start. Power's pace got me thinking, at what start would Power reach his 50th victory? 

Let's take the winning percentage for all the drivers and figure out if they kept up their current winning percentage, when would they reach their 50th victory?

Pace for 50th Victory:

Marco Andretti: 6,125th start

Hélio Castroneves: 581.667th start

Colton Herta: 483.333th start

James Hinchcliffe: 1,183.33rd start

Ryan Hunter-Reay: 730.555th start

Tony Kanaan: 1,126.47th start

Charlie Kimball: 7600th start

Josef Newgarden: 453.125th start

Simon Pagenaud: 543.333th start

Will Power: 305.263th start

Graham Rahal: 1,850rd start

Felix Rosenqvist: 1400th start

Takuma Sato: 1491.667th start

At the current rate, we are about 73 starts away from Power's 50th victory. If the IndyCar schedule gets back to 17 races starting next year and Power keeps up his winning percentage, Power's 50th victory would come sometime during the 2025 season, but possibly by the end of the 2024 season. 

 

A few drivers are out of the running. 

There have been, according to the IndyCar record book, 1,694 races in the history of American championship car open-wheel racing. For the likes of Andretti and Kimball, they would need 450 to 550 years. That's not going to happen. Hinchcliffe, Rahal and Sato are also likely out of it. Kanaan has one foot in retirement. It is not going to happen for Kanaan. 

It is also unlikely Castroneves and Hunter-Reay to reach the milestone. Castroneves is older than Dixon and Hunter-Reay turns 40 years old this December. Castroneves has made 349 starts. At his current winning percentage, Castroneves would be on pace to get his 50th victory in about another 232 starts. That would take at least another 13 years. I don't think Castroneves is going to be racing until he is 58 years old. Hunter-Reay is 467 starts away from the projected start of his 50th victory. That is over 27 years away. I doubt Hunter-Reay will race in IndyCar until he is almost 67 years old, and possibly against his sons and grandchildren. 

That leaves Herta, Newgarden, Pagenaud, Power, Rosenqvist, and Rossi.

It is too soon to say for Herta and Rosenqvist. Neither have reached 30 starts yet. Dixon had one victory at 30 starts. We will truly know where these two drivers stand 100 starts from now and 125 starts from now. 

Newgarden, Pagenaud, Power and Rossi have all run enough races to really compare where they are compared to Dixon. 

Dixon's career hasn't been a clear path to 50 victories from the beginning. He won his third start and then didn't win again until his 40th start! At 50 starts, he had four victories and a winning percentage of 8%. His next victory would not come until his 86th start at Watkins Glen and his winning percentage was down to 5.8%. At his 100th start, he had won seven races, under half his current winning percentage.

When does it turnaround for Dixon? 

If a driver wins four out of every 25 races, that driver's winning percentage is 16%, better than Dixon's current winning percentage, but four victories in 25 races is feasible. That is four victories in every season and a half of competition. That is not a crazy number of victories and the top drivers should be able to keep up that consistent pace. 

If you break up Dixon's career into 25-start increments, you can see where he turns the curve. 

From start 101 through start 125, Dixon won seven more races, bringing his career winning percentage up to 11.2%. The next 25 races, he won seven more and his winning percentage at 150 starts was 14%. Since Dixon reached 150 starts, his number of victories over his last seven 25-start increments are four, four, four, four, three, four and five. 

In 50 starts from the end of 2006 to the end of 2009, Dixon turns around what was a slow five years to start his career. 

Newgarden did not win until his 55th start. At his 100th start, Newgarden had seven victories, just like Dixon. At start 125, he had 12 victories, only two off of where Dixon was at. 

Pagenaud did not win until his 39th start, but he was up to his fourth victory at his 75th start, just like Dixon, but Pagenaud had eight victories at his 100th start, one better than Dixon. Pagenaud has not kept the pace over his last 63 starts. He was at 11 victories at start 125, three behind Dixon's pace, and he was at 14 victories at start 150, seven off Dixon's pace. 

Rossi is still early in the game and he only reached the 75-start milestone at Gateway. He had one victory in his first 25 starts, like Dixon, but had five victories in his first 50 starts. Rossi only won twice in his next 25 starts, slowing his pace, but not entirely ending any hope of 50 victories, because Rossi's seven victories at 75 starts is almost double the number of victories Dixon had at the same point in his career.

Power has been ahead of Dixon's pace almost the entire time. In Power's first 25 starts, he had two victories. Dixon held the edge at start 50 with four victories to Power's three, but at start 75, Power had 11 victories, almost triple what Dixon had. At start 100, Power had 18 victories! 

Power was ahead of Dixon by eight victories at start 125, but Power's career has slowed down since. At 150 starts, Power had 25 victories to Dixon's 21. Twenty-five starts later, Power's 30 victories were five more than Dixon's at that milestone and he had five more victories than Dixon did at the 200-start milestone with 34 to 29. At 225 starts, Power held the advantage at 37 victories to Dixon's 33.

There are a lot of things that come into play into whether another driver reaches the 50-victory milestone. Part of it is timing. Power is on pace, but he is also 39 years old, he got a later start in IndyCar than Scott Dixon, and for the entire 2020 season it has felt Power has lost some interest in IndyCar. Last year, on Dale Earnhardt, Jr.'s podcast, Power talked about how he almost walked away from IndyCar a few years ago. He could reach 50 victories in the next five years, but he could decide to walk before then because he has had enough.

IndyCar is tough and while the likes of Newgarden and Rossi could increase their winning percentage over the next two or three seasons, can they hold onto that for at least another ten to 15 years? The drivers entering the series are not going to be weaker. They are going to provide a stiff challenge and winning 15% of every 25 races will be a difficult task. 

It is very possible there will be a fourth driver in the 50-victory club before the 2020s end, but between age, an increasingly talented field and the unknowns of engine and team combinations could mean our wait for another member could be over three decades away. 

Champion From the Weekend

Oscar Piastri clinched the Formula Three championship with a seventh-place finish in the second Mugello race. French driver Thèo Pourchaire was second, three points behind Piastri with America Logan Sargeant dropping to third, four points behind Piastri after being taken out on lap one of the final race.

Winners From the Weekend

You know about Will Power and Colton Herta but did you know...

Lewis Hamilton won the Tuscan Grand Prix, his sixth victory of the season and 90th of his career. 

Nikita Mazepin and Christian Lundgaard split the Formula Two races from Mugello. Frederik Vesti and Liam Lawson split the Formula Three races.

Manuel Sulaimán and Sting Ray Robb split the Indy Pro 2000 races. Michael d'Orlando, Reece Gold and Christian Rasmussen split the U.S. F2000 races.

Franco Morbidelli won MotoGP's San Marino and Rimini Coast Grand Prix, the fourth first-time MotoGP winner this season. Luca Marini won the Moto2 race, his second victory of the season. John McPhee won the Moto3 race. Matteo Ferrari won the MotoE race.

Brad Keselowski won the NASCAR Cup race from Richmond, his fourth victory of the season. Justin Allgaier swept the Grand National Series races. Grant Enfinger won the Truck race, his third victory of the season. It was the first Truck race at Richmond since 2005. 

Nico Müller and Robin Frijns split the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters races from Nürburgring. 

The #17 Real Racing Honda of Bertrand Baguette and Koudai Tsukakoshi won the Super GT race from Motegi, its second victory of the season. The #65 K2 R&D Leon Racing Mercedes-AMG of Naoya Gamou and Togo Suganami won in GT300.  

The #4 Haupt Racing Team Mercedes-AMG of Maro Engle and Luca Stolz and the #26 Saintéloc Racing Audi of Simon Gachet and Steven Palette split the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup races from Magny-Cours. 

Néstor Girolami and Yann Ehrlacher split the World Touring Car Cup races from Zolder.

Coming Up this Weekend

The 24 Hours of Le Mans.

MotoGP remains at Misano for the Emilia-Romagna and Rimini Coast Grand Prix.

Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters remain at Nürburgring but will run the sprint course this time.

NASCAR concludes round one of its playoffs at Bristol. 

GT World Challenge America will be in Austin. 

Supercars visit Tailem Bend. 

World Superbike heads to Barcelona.

First Impressions: Mid-Ohio 2020 Race Two

1. These are a little delayed, but first nonetheless, and right when Andretti Autosport needed a good day, it had a historic day, sweeping the podium for the first time since 2005.

Colton Herta won pole position in changing track conditions and in the race, Herta was flawless, escaping any damage when Santino Ferrucci made an aggressive start and took out two cars. From there, Herta's main rivals were his teammates, Alexander Rossi and Ryan Hunter-Reay. 

Herta has been the best Andretti Autosport driver this season. He was sixth in the championship entering today, the only Andretti car in the top ten. He has been consistently in the top five, but prior today had not a race that suggested a shot a victory. Maybe Gateway is one where Herta possibly could have pulled out a victory, but there wasn't a race where Herta qualified on the front row and spent the entire day in the top two. He has been a top five driver, which is fine, and it has been more consistent than his rookie year. 

Herta won from pole position, but this was not like Power's victory yesterday with Herta driving away from the field. The early cautions, first at the start, and then 17 laps in for Dalton Kellett's spin prevented that. When Takuma Sato and Marco Andretti stayed out under the Kellett caution, it was going to keep the field close to Herta. 

On the second stint, Herta was on the primary tire while Rossi was on the alternate and, like yesterday, Rossi was a little quicker in that second stint, but was stuck and couldn't pull away. Rossi came early for the final stops again but couldn't leapfrog ahead of Herta and had to settle for second. Rossi made up a little time in the closing laps, but Herta's tires held on and got him his third career victory.

Andretti needed this day. It had the two best cars and those cars ended up first and second.

2. Alexander Rossi wears his emotions on his sleeves and shows a ruthlessness when it comes to winning races. I am not sure anyone despises losing more than Rossi, which is a loaded statement because you have nearly two-dozen drivers in IndyCar and none of them are thrilled to pick up a top five finish and only a top five finish. But Rossi holds himself publicly to a higher standard. 

It is not that he is mad at others when he is fourth, third or second, but he is mad at himself. 

Rossi's championship hopes ended yesterday with four races to go in the season. I don't think Rossi or anyone around IndyCar thought with four races remaining Rossi would be 15th in the championship and mathematically ineligible for the title, not after the last two seasons where Rossi made strong cases for the championship but narrowly lost out. There was a point when Rossi was down to 18th at Gateway. No one truly believes Rossi is only the 18th best driver in IndyCar. I think everyone has him as one of the five best drivers on the grid, but 2020 has been one unfortunate circumstance after another unfortunate circumstance. 

From here on out, it is victory or bust for Rossi. After seeing Herta win today, I don't think Rossi wants to end this season without a victory, and we are running out of time. It sucks not to win a race in a season. The perception of your season is massively alternate over whether or not you have a victory. If you win one race and finish outside the top ten in the rest, you at least have that victory to brag about. If you do not win but finish in the top five 80% of the time and finish in the top ten for all but one race, it is worse because people will ask why you couldn't complete that final step to victory. Rossi is looking for bragging rights to close 2020.

3. Another day, another solid run for Ryan Hunter-Reay with Hunter-Reay ending third. The season has been streaky for all the Andretti drivers. Hunter-Reay has one good day and then two bad ones. This weekend was two positive days at a track he is comfortable at. Remember when I was saying if it wasn't for Scott Dixon, Mid-Ohio would be Will Power's track? Hunter-Reay might be the third-best driver at Mid-Ohio and looking at the results, it is surprise he hasn't had a victory yet there. 

I will admit I was stunned when I found out Andretti Autosport had not swept the podium in 15 years. You know what is even more stunning? The only race Andretti has swept the podium at is the famous 1-2-3-4 finish at St. Petersburg with Dan Wheldon ahead of Dario Franchitti, Tony Kanaan and Bryan Herta. That St. Petersburg race is one of the high-water marks for that great four-car era of Andretti Autosport. 

You would have thought the team has swept the podium since when looking at those four drivers from 15 years ago and considering Hunter-Reay has been with the team for a decade, Danica Patrick had her share of podium finishes and the likes of Rossi, Carlos Muñoz and James Hinchcliffe have driven for the team full-time and were competitive. 

To be fair to Andretti Autosport, since that 2005 St. Petersburg race, only three times has a team swept the podium: Team Penske at Sonoma 2011, Chip Ganassi Racing at Pocono 2013, Team Penske at Sonoma 2017. It is still surprising this is only the second time the team has done it.

4. Graham Rahal was fourth for a second consecutive day and, darn is this another good but not great year for Rahal, though it is borderline great. This is the season I am referencing above when I was talking about how one victory can completely change your perception of a season. Rahal maybe should have won the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. He was good at Iowa and Indianapolis and he didn't put a wheel wrong in either race this weekend. 

If he had won one of those five races, we are singing Rahal's praises at the end of the season. If he closes 2020 with three more top ten finishes, we will be happy for him but disappointed he was so close yet not there. This is a great season for Rahal, but victory frustrating eludes him.

5. Marcus Ericsson rounded out the top five in what was a quiet day for him. Ericsson made up a lot of ground from the opening lap incident, but he gained a few spots with each pit stop. He got between the Penske drivers and during that final stint got ahead of Simon Pagenaud for fifth. 

Ericsson has had his share of accidents in recent races. A few mechanical issues have not been his fault. Those poor days dragged his results down, but he has seven top ten finishes this season and three top five finishes. Last year, he had three top ten finishes and one top five finish. There has been no sophomore slump for Ericsson. 

And kudos to him for completing the Honda sweep of the top five.

6. Leading the Chevrolet camp was Simon Pagenaud, who for the first time this season was the top Penske qualifier. In the race, he didn't push the Hondas. He was fifth or sixth for this entire race. It is an atypical day for Team Penske, they also had one of those at Gateway, but with the way qualifying was shuffled due to the rain, the team was spread out and fighting from the middle of the pack. 

Do they wish they had done more and backed up Will Power's victory from yesterday? Absolutely, but sometimes you have days like this. IndyCar is tough. There are nine guys we expect to be in the top five every week and 15 guys we can pencil into the top ten heading into every weekend. There are going to be drivers with disappointed days. That is natural.

7. Will Power went from top step of the podium to second driver out of qualifying when he brought out a red flag when he spun off circuit. The good news for Power is two other cars from his qualifying group brought out red flags, which allowed Power to start a few positions better on the grid because points determine those spots, even though I think the order of red flags should set those spots. 

Either way, Power went from 17th to seventh in the race. That is prototypical of Penske. We do not see many races where a Penske car starts and finishes outside the top fifteen. It is starting outside the top fifteen that is a mistake and it will be corrected. Power did the best he could today, and he got seventh. 

8. Josef Newgarden took 20 points out of the championship lead to Scott Dixon yesterday when Dixon started at the rear. When Dixon spun after clipping the grass while in the top five, it appeared Newgarden would be set up to take out at least another 20 points, possibly more. 

However, Newgarden didn't capitalize on this day, similar to last year at Portland when Alexander Rossi was starting seventh and Newgarden failed to make it out of the first round of qualifying. Rossi had a chance to swing the pendulum and instead Newgarden retained the momentum. 

Newgarden looked to be a top five contender early but dropped back a spot at a time over each stint and instead of picking up 20 points on Dixon, he made up four points. It is better than nothing or losing ground, but it was a missed opportunity and he got no help from his teammates. We are in the point of the season when team orders are necessary when circumstances allow it. Newgarden could have made up four extra points today. I don't think today will be the reason why Newgarden did not retain his championship, but until you are officially out of it you got to take every point you can get, and those four points could be crucial whenever this season ends.

9. Patricio O'Ward was one of four drivers to bring out a red flag today in qualifying and O'Ward had to start worse than he would have liked to, but he recovered to finish ninth. Sometimes you fight to salvage a day and O'Ward did that. 

10. Like I said, this day could have been worse for Scott Dixon. 

Dixon clipped the grass on exit of turn one and it sent him spinning out of fourth at the time. He kept it from getting bogged down in the wet grass and he kept it out of the barrier, but he dropped from possible podium finish to 17th and at that point we are thinking the championship is going from 76 points between Dixon and Newgarden to possibly below 50 points with three races to go. 

However, as Dixon and Chip Ganassi Racing is known for doing, it took a dismal situation and did something spectacular. Dixon lost the ground but ran a hard-pressing strategy. The race was basically broken down in 20-lap increments from there. He would have to make an extra pit stop, but he wouldn't be saving fuel and he would have fresh tires. 

Over that first stint, he took six seconds out of the lead. He kept going and was up to fourth through the pit cycle. He knew he was going to sacrifice that position, but he pushed and came out in 14th after his final stop. From there he ran down Max Chilton, Jack Harvey and Rinus VeeKay and got the final spot from the Dutch driver on the final lap. 

A run like this can only be done by Dixon, Power, Newgarden and perhaps Rossi and Pagenaud. If any other driver but those five drivers spin while in podium contention and drop to 17th, those drivers are finishing at best 14th or 15th. They are not climbing into the top ten. Dixon can make it back to the top ten and in doing so he limited the damage in the championship. Serve is comfortably his with three races to go and he will likely wrap the championship up a race early.

11. Another stout day for Rinus VeeKay and in what started the year as an exciting rookie class, VeeKay is surprisingly coming out on top of the trio race after race. I thought between him, Oliver Askew and Álex Palou they would split who was best each time. VeeKay has been the top rookie in five consecutive races. 

Askew and Palou have run into their problems. Palou was taken out today on lap one thanks to his teammate. Askew had his accident at Indianapolis and was caught in the Gateway mess in race one. VeeKay has made his mistakes, but he has shed them since Indianapolis. I was not expecting him to be this good in both races. He was ahead of Conor Daly in both races. I thought Daly would have gotten a top ten finish and been the best Ed Carpenter Racing driver on both days prior to the weekend. 

All credit to VeeKay for exceeding expectations.

12. Jack Harvey had an accident that brought out a red flag in qualifying and that drop Harvey to the rear of the grid. He did a good job getting up to 12th. This was a little bit of a missed opportunity today. It could have been better.

13. Max Chilton was 13th, just a little closer to the top ten but not quite there. Chilton doesn't do anything wrong. The pace isn't there. He is not a bad driver. He was consistent in bringing the car home in Formula One. He won in Indy Lights at Iowa. He hangs outside the top ten. He just needs a day where a few things fall his way.

14. It was no surprise that Santino Ferrucci, who qualified at a blistering pace in the first qualifying group to get him second on the grid, was going to go for it at the start, and it was no surprise he blew the first turn, went off and took out two cars. 

We see it, probably one every four years at Mid-Ohio where a car runs wide on exit at the start and then rejoins the circuit in the middle of turn five, in the middle of the racing line and takes out a few cars. It never works. There has to be a stricter penalty for such a move. 

If you look at how the runoff is configured at that corner, there is a lot of space out there and then it tightens up at the top of the hill. There is some space for a driver to continue and re-join after the corner, but you could slide into the barrier. I would like to see Mid-Ohio push that barrier back and create somewhat of a penalty lane that if you go off course at the exit of turn four you can safely bypass turn five but lose time and drop from where you were down the order. 

Back to Ferrucci, he deserves credit for the pace he showed in the wet in that qualifying group. I think his car was setup for a wet session while the rest of the grid stuck to what they had for the dry because the race was going to be dry. I felt like an aggressive move to get track position early and stay at the front, however it was wasted immediately, and it cost Dale Coyne Racing two cars because Palou was taken out when Ferrucci came back on track.

Coyne has never had a top five finish at Mid-Ohio. He had both cars starting in the top five today and that lasted all of two corners.

15. Quickly through the rest of the field: Oliver Askew was 15th and the pace is missing. I don't know what else to say. He is not driving poorly but he has lost something he had in the first half of the season. Conor Daly might have been caught out with the weather in qualifying but he was stuck in 16th all day and it makes his lost top ten finish from yesterday look worse. Zach Veach was 17th, as expected. Takuma Sato tried the alternate strategy and he ended up 18th, but when seeing what Dixon did, you think Sato should have done better, although Sato was starting 22nd and he does not run well at Mid-Ohio. 

Charlie Kimball was 19th, leading the way for A.J. Foyt Racing... leading the way from 19th... that is A.J. Foyt Racing for you people. Marco Andretti ran the same strategy as Sato but lost more time when he dropped his right-side tires off course when entering turn one. Andretti kept it out of the barrier, but he had to drive through the gravel and grass. He went from third or fourth on the road to outside the top fifteen and ended up 20th after starting seventh today. Another good day lost. 

As mentioned above, Dalton Kellett spun. I am glad his cheques are clearing for Foyt. Felix Rosenqvist was collateral damage to Ferrucci's reckless move. Rosenqvist didn't deserve that and he probably would have been in the top five if it weren't for that incident. I know Ferrucci qualified ahead of Palou, but I think Palou would have finished ahead of his teammate if he was not taken out immediately. Instead, Palou rounds out the field.

16. This was a good weekend for IndyCar. I think we are all happy Mid-Ohio happened. A month ago, when the race weekend was postponed within a week of its intended place in the schedule, it was nerve-wracking. It had just been expanded to a doubleheader days before. At that point at the end of July, it felt like we were in the clear. Mid-Ohio would precede Indianapolis. Gateway would round out August. September would be an off month. The season would end with the Harvest Grand Prix weekend at Indianapolis to start October and St. Petersburg would close the season on October 25.

That was thrown for a loop, and perhaps this delayed worked out for good. It would have stunk to have a month off, which was the plan back in July, between Gateway and the Harvest Grand Prix. This worked out. 

I don't want to say we are in the clear. Look at how many schedule revisions we had from April 1 to August 1. Why should we think the next six weeks will be any different? We are almost there, but don't dare breathe yet.

17. Next up is Harvest Grand Prix weekend from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. It isn't negative to say I hope this is the only Harvest Grand Prix. We are going to get the odd Friday afternoon October race. It is nice to be back racing in October. It has been too long since we last raced in October, though I understand why it isn't more regular. The Harvest Grand Prix is happening only because of the pandemic. Let's have fun with it but acknowledge progress will be it not returning for 2021.

Morning Warm-Up: Mid-Ohio 2020 Race Two

Will Power aims to end summer with a Mid-Ohio sweep

Will Power is coming off his 38th career victory in race one from Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and today Power could tie Al Unser for fifth all-time on 39th victories. Yesterday was Power's 17th victory from pole position in his IndyCar career, moving him into sole possession of fourth-most victories from pole position in IndyCar history. He was tied with Bobby Unser. Mario Andretti holds the record with 24 victories from pole positions, one more than A.J. Foyt and Sébastien Bourdais is third with 18 victories from the point. Power has not won consecutive races since 2018 when he won the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and Indianapolis 500. Power has never swept a doubleheader. The only two times he has finished on the podium in both races of a doubleheader was Texas 2011 and Belle Isle 2014. He has led laps in eight races this season, the most races led in IndyCar this season.

Josef Newgarden picked up his 33rd career podium finish in race one at Mid-Ohio. It was the second 1-2 finish for Team Penske this season after Newgarden won the second Iowa race with Power in second. The only time Newgarden has had three consecutive podium finishes was when he had a four-race stretch of first, first, second and first at Toronto, Mid-Ohio, Pocono and Gateway in 2017. Newgarden cut the gap to championship leader Scott Dixon down to 76 points. No matter what happens today, Newgarden will remain alive for the championship heading to the Harvest Grand Prix doubleheader next month at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.

Alexander Rossi scored his second podium finish of the season with his third-place result. Rossi has three consecutive top five finishes at Mid-Ohio. Rossi has yet to be the top Andretti Autosport qualifier this season. Last year, Rossi was the top Andretti qualifier in 11 races. He has never won the 11th race of the season with his best finish being third at Toronto last year.

Graham Rahal extended his top ten streak to seven consecutive Mid-Ohio races with his fourth-place result in race one. It was Rahal's first top five result at Mid-Ohio since 2017. He has four top five finishes this year, the most he has had since 2017 when he had five. His most top five finishes in a season was eight in 2016.

Ryan Hunter-Reay was fifth yesterday and picked up his first top five finishes since he was fourth in the first Road America race. Hunter-Reay started second after qualifying on top of the second group. He was the fastest in the only practice session. In 14 Mid-Ohio starts, Hunter-Reay has three podium finishes, six top five finishes and 12 top ten finishes. Despite finishing fifth, he has still only finished better than his starting position two times this season.

Felix Rosenqvist ended up his sixth and Rosenqvist has matched his longest top ten finish streak in his IndyCar career at three races. His last three finishes have been eighth, seventh and sixth. He has twice finished fifth in his career, at Toronto and Laguna Seca last year. 

Jack Harvey picked up his fourth top ten finishes of the season yesterday, and it was the third time Harvey has finished seventh in 2020. Harvey enters the second Mid-Ohio race with the fifth-best average starting position ahead of Dixon, Rosenqvist, Patricio O'Ward, Alexander Rossi, Takuma Sato and Graham Rahal to name a few drivers. Similar to Hunter-Reay, Harvey has only finished better than his starting position twice this seaso. He went from ninth to seventh in the first Iowa race and from 20th to ninth in the Indianapolis 500.

Rinus VeeKay has three consecutive top ten finishes and he is up to 13th in the championship on 205 points. Prior to his finish yesterday, VeeKay had finished on the podium in all his Mid-Ohio starts in the Road to Indy. He has been the top rookie finisher in the last four races with no other rookie finishing in the top ten during that time.

Colton Herta ended up in ninth position, but he has fourth consecutive top ten finishes. Herta's longest top ten streak is seven races, which started over the final three races of 2019 and carried through the first four races of this season. Herta has yet to stand on the podium this season and with being sixth in the championship he is the best driver in the championship without a podium finish.

Scott Dixon's tenth-place finish yesterday was his second worst result of the season. Dixon does have 13 top ten finishes in his last 14 Mid-Ohio races. Strangely, while Dixon has six Mid-Ohio victories, he has never won at Mid-Ohio and the championship in the same season. In 2007, he won the race but lost the championship in the final corner to Dario Franchitti. Franchitti took the titles in 2009 and 2011 while Dixon won at Mid-Ohio each of those years. His 2014 victory came in Will Power's championship year and last year he won the race and Josef Newgarden took the title.

Patricio O'Ward held on to third in the championship with his 11th-place finish in race one. O'Ward's worst finish in 2020 is 12th and he has been the top Arrow McLaren SP finisher in the last four races and he has been the top Arrow McLaren SP qualifier in eight consecutive races. 

Race one saw Álex Palou finish 12th and it was the fifth time this season Palou has been the top Dale Coyne Racing finisher. He has not had a top ten finish in his last six starts. Since returning to Mid-Ohio in 2008, Dale Coyne Racing has five top ten finishes in 25 starts at the track. The team has never had a top five at Mid-Ohio with its best finish of sixth coming in 2015, 2016 and 2018 with Tristan Vautier, Conor Daly and Sébastien Bourdais respectively. 

Conor Daly picked up his best starting position on a road/street course in his career in race one when he rolled off from fourth position. Daly's previous best finish on a road/street course was seventh at Toronto in 2016. It was the ninth time Daly has started in the top ten in his IndyCar career, but only twice has Daly started and finished in the top ten. Daly has yet to be the best Ed Carpenter Racing finisher in a race this season.

Santino Ferrucci started and finished 14th yesterday, his first time finishing outside the top ten on a road course this year. It was the third time Ferrucci has finished where he started in his IndyCar career. He started and finished 12th at Iowa last year. Earlier this year, he started and finished sixth for the first Road America. Last year, Ferrucci started 14th and finished 12th at Mid-Ohio.

Marcus Ericsson started a career-worst 21st yesterday before climbing up to a 15th place finish. Ericsson has only started in the top ten six times in his IndyCar career and four of those have come his year. He started in the top ten in both Iowa races and both Gateway races. The only time he has started in the top ten on a road course was ninth in last year's Grand Prix of Indianapolis.

Max Chilton ended up 16th in the first 75-lap event of the weekend, his third time finishing 16th at Mid-Ohio. Chilton has finished 16th on eight occasions in his IndyCar career. His finishes this season have been 16th, 17th, 15th, 17th and 16th. He has finished on the lead lap in every race in 2020.

Takuma Sato has finished outside the top fifteen in seven of 11 Mid-Ohio starts after his 17th place finish in race one. He has started outside the top fifteen in six of 11 Mid-Ohio starts. Amazingly, Sato has a better average finish at Mid-Ohio than at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on the oval despite being a two-time Indianapolis 500 winner. His average finish at Mid-Ohio is 15.7 versus a 16.2 at Indianapolis. Sato has only two top five finishes at Mid-Ohio and has never been on the podium.

Simon Pagenaud had his worst finish Mid-Ohio finish yesterday when he ended 18th. Pagenaud's previous worst was 13th on his Mid-Ohio debut in 2011, when he filled in for Justin Wilson, who suffered a fracture vertebra after going off track in practice the day before the race. Pagenaud has finished outside the top fifteen for four consecutive races for the first time in his career and this is the first time he has not had a top ten finish in four consecutive races. 

Oliver Askew was 19th in race one. Askew has not finished better than 15th on a road course this season. Since starting fifth in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, his best start was 13th in the second Iowa race and the second Gateway race. 

Zach Veach is in the middle of the longest top ten drought of his IndyCar career with nine consecutive results of 11th or worse. He has been 20th or worse in five of the last six races. He has not started in the top fifteen in nine consecutive races. His best qualifying result in the last nine races was 17th in the second Road America race, the Indianapolis 500 and the second Gateway race.

Charlie Kimball started 22nd, his worst starting position at Mid-Ohio and finished 21st, his worst finish since 2015 when Kimball was 25th. Only twice in his career has Kimball finished in the top ten of the 11th race of the season. He was runner-up to Scott Dixon at Pocono in 2013 in a Chip Ganassi Racing 1-2-3 finish with Dario Franchitti in third. His other top ten was eighth at Fontana in 2015.

Dalton Kellett was 22nd yesterday, his second-worst finish of the season behind 31st in the Indianapolis 500. Kellett has been the worst A.J. Foyt Racing finisher in all five of his starts and the Canadian has finished off the lead lap in every race this season. He has finished better than his starting position in four of five races with the Indianapolis 500 being the one exception.

After starting 11th in race one, Marco Andretti fell to 23rd after not having the proper setup on the car prior to pre-race time limit expiring for work on the cars. Andretti's worst Mid-Ohio finish was 25th in 2008 after starting third. Andretti has finished outside the top twenty in five of ten races this season. 

Qualifying for race two will take place at 10:15 a.m. ET.

NBC's coverage of Honda 200 Race Two from Mid-Ohio begins at 1:00 p.m. ET with green flag scheduled for 1:05 p.m. ET. The race is scheduled for 75 laps.

First Impressions: Mid-Ohio 2020 Race One

1. Will Power deserved this one. Power actually made a big jump, going from 14th in practice to pole position and in the race, no one touched him. We get these races every now and then, they occur more frequently at Mid-Ohio, and today was no different. 

Power was gone, and after a rather frustrating 2020 season, this is a day he needed and reminder of how his dominance. We haven't seen the dominant, buzzsaw Will Power since his championship. You look at his last five or six seasons, he has done well and won races, but he hasn't been the championship contender we saw from 2010 to 2014. He has these days, the wins from pole position while leading over 75% of the race, at least once a year, but that's it. He doesn't do it three or four times. 

Some of it is on Power. He is prone to mistakes. It is a reason why he was championship runner-up three consecutive years and each year he led entering the finale. This year is no different. He threw away some results. Others were lost because of pit mistakes. When everything clicks, though, we get this, and it is pure brilliance when it occurs. 

This is Power's first victory at Mid-Ohio, a track that would be his if not for Scott Dixon. He has five pole positions at the track, started on the front row nine times in 12 starts and holds the best average starting position among active drivers and his average finish is only behind Dixon. He probably would have three or four victories at this track if it were not for Dixon. 

Because of Dixon, we lose sight of Power's place in IndyCar history. Dixon has the championships and the victories, but Power has carved out his own legacy that will last for a long time. Today, he earned his 60th pole position, he is seven off Mario Andretti's record. That record will be his. Not this year because there are only four races to go, but possibly late next season or two years from now. Today was Power's 38th victory, he is sixth all-time and one behind tying Al Unser for fifth. 

Power is going to get to 40 victories. He will likely get at least 43 and slide ahead of Michael Andretti for fourth all-time. You cannot rule out a second championship, though that is getting hard to see with each passing year. 

I think it was last year when Power said he thought this was a golden generation for IndyCar or a second golden age and he is right in a regard. This is some of the deepest competition we have seen, and we are seeing possibly two 40-victory club members compete head-to-head for over a decade. It is grand to watch, and Power deserves the recognition.

2. Josef Newgarden held second all race, but as he said in his post-race interview, he just lost a tenth a lap to Power. When you lose a tenth a lap over a 75-lap race, that is how you end up finishing 7.45 seconds off the race winner. Newgarden didn't put a wheel wrong, and he needed that today, because Scott Dixon did not have a great run and Newgarden made up ground. 

With Dixon in tenth, Newgarden took 20 points off the championship lead with four races to go. He is going to need to take at least another 30 points to force this to the finale. On a day when Dixon faced greater challenges, Newgarden did all he could but win. This is what he needed, though it is only step one in his final charge to reclaim the Astor Cup for a second consecutive season. 

3. I think Alexander Rossi had the second-best car today, but he ended up third, which is what he needed in this season from hell. Rossi went long on his first stint and got up to fourth through that pit cycle. He took on the alternate tire and was racy but got caught behind teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay. 

If Rossi had gotten ahead of Hunter-Reay early in that second stint, this could be a completely different race. I think Rossi finishes second, because Newgarden struggled at the end of that second stint, but perhaps he challenges Power in a sprint to the line. 

Rossi was the first to come for the final round of pit stops, and it worked getting him ahead of Hunter-Reay, but he couldn't sprint over that final stint. He had fight worn tires and save some fuel. 

The key for tomorrow is Rossi has to qualify on one of the first two rows. He has to cut his workload in half for the race. If he can do that, he could pull out his first victory tomorrow. Victories are all that matter for Rossi. He has been mathematically eliminated from the championship.

4. I feel like every other road course race Graham Rahal is clawing his way up the field and he goes from eighth or ninth to third, fourth or fifth. Rahal was giving it his all for third and for a few laps it looked like Rossi was going to fall behind Rahal. That wasn't the case, but Rahal went from eighth to fourth and it was another impressive drive. 

5. Ryan Hunter-Reay rounded out the top five and this is a day Andretti Autosport need. Both Hunter-Reay and Rossi were in the top five all race. Rossi was better, but Hunter-Reay was the fifth-best car and he always runs well here. It is a little disappointing he went from second at the start down to fourth immediately. That might have cost him a position in the final running order.

6. Felix Rosenqvist had a good pace through the middle and end of the race and finished sixth. Though Rosenqvist got his first victory at Road America, the results this year are lackluster. The last three races are getting Rosenqvist back on the right path. This year has thrown everyone through a loop. A lot of guys are having down years, but Rosenqvist has Chip Ganassi to answer to and Ganassi is quick on the trigger. Top ten finishes and intact race cars at least keep Ganassi satisfied.

7. Jack Harvey was quietly seventh after starting fifth. Harvey didn't stand out. He didn't make any massive passes, but he didn't make any massive mistakes either. This is what Meyer Shank Racing should want, top ten finishes after top ten finishes and the team gets a chance to improve tomorrow. 

8. Rinus VeeKay was stellar today, and so was Ed Carpenter Racing as a whole. VeeKay went long on each of his stints and it paid off in the end, even if it wasn't VeeKay charging in the final stint. He could keep up and he did not struggle on tires. He made a daring pass on Colton Herta on the outside of turn four and it stuck. I thought VeeKay would take a step back today because he has made mistakes this year and ECR has off days from time-to-time, but this was a pleasing day for him and the team. 

9. Colton Herta was one of the final cars to stop and I thought he would have had the pace with a few lap fresher tires, but he fell into ninth and stayed there. 

I thought the strategy to play if you were going long on the first two stints was primary tires, primary tires and then ending with the alternate for the final sprint to the finish. Herta did stop earlier than I thought the final stop would come. He stopped with 24 laps to go and that would have been long on the alternate tire. 

This was a caution-free Mid-Ohio race, the third consecutive. Mid-Ohio does not have many cautions. I am surprised no one went longer on the first two stints and stopped with 19 or 20 laps to go and taken the alternate tire. Maybe there will be different strategies tomorrow.

10. We touched upon Scott Dixon finishing tenth, which is a good result when you consider he started 17th, his second-worst starting position at the track. In qualifying, he got out in the wrong part of the group and set his fastest lap when others had a track that was getting faster still on track. 

It looked like Dixon was going to finish higher than tenth, but he struggled in the second stint and he really just pulled out a top ten finish, passing Conor Daly at the start of the final lap.

11. Patricio O'Ward and Álex Palou were 11th and 12th. O'Ward did not stand out much today. Palou was the final car to stop today and, like Herta, his lap times were not much quicker despite stopping late. Conor Daly dropped to 13th on the final lap after being in the top ten all race. Daly's tires were gone. This was a better day than 13th for him.

12. Santino Ferrucci started where he finished in 14th. Marcus Ericsson was surprisingly slow in qualifying, ending up 21st. Ericsson went long on each stint, but the pace wasn't there to be better than 15th.

13. Guess where Max Chilton finished? 16th? You would be correct.

14. Takuma Sato and Simon Pagenaud were 17th and 18th. Sato does not run well at Mid-Ohio. There is no explanation for it. Mid-Ohio is one of his worst tracks. Pagenaud wasn't starting at the rear today, but he spun early after running up the inside of VeeKay and that took him out of it, ruining a tenth place starting position.

15. Let's wrap up the field: Oliver Askew was anonymous today and it appeared Askew would be competitive to his teammate O'Ward considering they started on the same row. Zach Veach was Zach Veach and finished 20th. A.J. Foyt Racing is somehow getting worse with Charlie Kimball in 21st and Dalton Kellett in 22nd. 

Marco Andretti was dead last, and the day started off encouraging. Andretti was in the top ten in practice and qualified 11th and then, apparently, the team didn't get the right setup on the car before the cars were impounded. Andretti was slow for that entire first stint, he was more in the way than anything else, but I have to ask how the team does not get the proper setup on the car before the impound time before the start of the race. I might get that for a new team, but Andretti Autosport, a team with multiple championships, multiple Indianapolis 500 victories and is consider a third of IndyCar's big three, that cannot happen, and this team won the Indianapolis 500 pole position a month ago. There are no excuses.

16. Dixon was critical of the shorter race distance. The 75-lap distance did take out the two-top or three-stop option out of the race, but there was still room in how you place the two pit stops. Because of this year and the increased number of doubleheaders, I get running shorter races. These teams would be exhausted running two 90-lap races in consecutive days. It is a one-off thing for this year. Let's not take it too much to the heart.

Also, the tires did fall off, but it was not as dramatic as past years. All I can think is this race falling in the middle of September when it is slightly cooler than early August or late July made a big difference compared to previous Mid-Ohio races.

17. We race much earlier tomorrow, 1:00 p.m. ET and there is qualifying to set the field only a few hours before that. Only four races remain, and the second Mid-Ohio race is pivotal in deciding whose championship hopes live into autumn and whose championship hopes die with the end of summer.