IndyCar Preview: Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio

Written by Dan Jones

Credit: Dominic Loyer

IndyCar fans worldwide, I hope you're ready to get your IndyCar fix! Although it may not have the prestige of the 'Month of May,' IndyCar's action at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course will kick off the month of July as the series hosts five races in four weeks on three different track types in two countries. And although the series has had just two winners in nine races, Mid-Ohio has been one for unpredictability in recent seasons so there is still plenty to look out for in round 10 of 17 in the 2025 IndyCar Series season.

What happened at Road America?

The No.10 was in Victory Lane for the sixth time this season | Credit: Dominic Loyer

It felt like we had been waiting a while for a chaotic road course race, and that chaotic race finally came at Road America. A race which was headlined by numerous strategy options, there were five cautions, 11 lead changes, a maiden pole-sitter and unpredictability right to the chequered flag.

The one predictable outcome? Álex Palou back in Victory Lane, as he claimed his sixth win of 2025 as the Spaniard opened his championship lead back to 93 and continued IndyCar's bizarre streak of just two winners in nine races with Kyle Kirkwood remaining the only other driver to be victorious in 2025 - something which has not occurred since 1980.

It was a weekend that had started in incredible fashion, as rookie, Louis Foster claimed his maiden pole position on a set of used alternates as he led the field to green for the first time in his career on Sunday. Foster held the lead briefly, but the formidable faces of Scott McLaughlin, Christian Lundgaard and Will Power would soon come into the mix.

It would be chaos from that point. Robert Shwartzman, Sting Ray Robb, Josef Newgarden and Conor Daly would bring out the caution for accidents they had all by themselves. Lundgaard, Power, Kirkwood and Colton Herta would fall into their own perils too with many aggressive maneuvers being attempted.

However, Scott Dixon, who started in 25th due to a blocking penalty, was attempting another audacious fuel-save strategy. The Kiwi was in contention right until the very end, until he had to bail with two laps to go. Palou was there to pick up the pieces and continue his astonishing run of form in 2025.

Felix Rosenqvist finally claimed a first podium for Meyer Shank Racing in second, whilst Santino Ferrucci claimed a second podium in three races, after stretching his fuel a mightily impressive 15 laps, holding off Kirkwood and Marcus Armstrong at the finish - before running out of fuel at Turn 1.

781,000 tuned in to the race, 10% down on the figure achieves with NBC last season. FOX remain 25% above NBC's average from last season for viewership figures.

You can read the full race report here, the DIVEBOMB IndyCar Podcast's race review here and my gradebook here.

Doubts were maybe starting to creep in pre-Road America about the certainty of Palou winning a fourth championship after a difficult two weekends, however, he has comfortably quashed any suggestions that he will not win the title this year, as his commanding points lead moves back up to 93. It would take a miracle from another driver, alongside a catastrophic collapse from Palou for the Spaniard to not win the championship. Current top ten in points are as follows:

Palou - 386

Kirkwood - 193

O'Ward - 275

Rosenqvist - 231

Dixon - 231

Lundgaard - 228

Power - 197

McLaughlin - 190

Ferrucci - 184

Herta - 184

All you need to know about Mid-Ohio

Turns 4-5 has been re-profiled this season | Credit: Ryan Fleming

Let's turn our eyes to this week's action at Mid-Ohio. The 2.258 mile (3.634 km) road course is a staple on the IndyCar calendar, hosting a race every year since 2007, with history of American open-wheel cars dating back to 1970. Like in Road America last time out, there is little margin for error with grass and gravel on either side of every corner, with the smallest of errors ending some driver's days in the past.

The main-straight at the circuit is relatively short, as cars head into the medium-speed left-hander at Turn 1. The Keyhole, situated at Turn 2, is a tricky downhill right-hander, which is important to get right as it backs off onto the longest straight, and best overtaking opportunity on the circuit.

The backstretch will also be where the cars see the green flag to start the 90 laps that will make up Sunday's race. Turn 4 is the best overtaking zone a the uphill right-hander before drivers head back down the crest through the complex at Turns 5 & 6. That leads them onto the high-speed esses before plunging back downhill at the right-hander at Turn 9 into Thunder Valley where the alternate start/finish line is located. Drivers will gain speed through Turns 10 and 11 before a progressively slowing right-hander at Turn 12, also known as The Carousel, will bring drivers back onto the start/finish straight.

The circuit has had some minor changes at Turn 4 since last year, with two degrees removed from the banking. Graham Rahal has said he expects it to be slightly more open than in previous year, as well as expecting it to be the most physical race of the year.

As I mentioned earlier, we've still only bizarrely seen two winners in the opening nine races in 2025. However, Mid-Ohio has had 10 different winners in the last 11 races, so there is a certain opportunity there to turn that around (albeit, Kirkwood has not won at the venue yet).

There's therefore no shock that Palou is one of those 10 drivers, when he claimed his third successive win in 2023. Palou should have won this race last year, had it not been for a pitlane error which demoted him to second - the same position he finished in 2022. Palou also finished third in 2021 meaning he has not finished off the podium at Mid-Ohio throughout his Chip Ganassi Racing career. With the form that the 28-year-old is in at the minute, it'd be quite the surprise if that wasn't to continue this weekend.

Pato O'Ward is the defending winner at the circuit, after he undercut Palou on his way to victory last year and held the multi-time champion off during a tense final stint. O'Ward also claimed Mid-Ohio pole in 2022 before an engine failure ended his day early.

All three of Team Penske's drivers have found success at Mid-Ohio too. McLaughlin won in 2021, with Power winning the first of the double-header in 2020. Newgarden is the only repeat winner in the last 11 years after winning in both 2017 and 2021.

Although Kirkwood hasn't won at Mid-Ohio, a current Andretti driver has, as Herta was victorious in 2020. However, Kirkwood did win eight of nine races at Mid-Ohio on the Road to Indy ladder. The team also won with Alexander Rossi in 2018.

Ohio is home for Rahal, as well as his father Bobby. Bobby claimed success at the venue in 1985, whilst Graham found Victory Lane 30 years later. It's been eight years since Rahal was last victorious, but RLL's form on road courses recently has improved, and outside of Indianapolis, this would be Rahal's preferred venue to return to winning ways.

However, the Mid-Ohio history books are filled with the success of Dixon. The six-time champion has found Victory Lane at Mid-Ohio no less than six times, in 2007, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2019. Dixon has also not finished outside the top five at the circuit apart from last season when he couldn't make the start due to an engine failure.

This race marked the first usage of the hybrid during a race weekend this time last season. The hybrid has since split opinion, but what has certainly been an effect of it has been overtaking figures, which have been significantly down on pre-hybrid numbers in most cases. Mid-Ohio was particularly difficult last season, as shown by O'Ward's inability to lap traffic even as the leader last season. It'll be a key storyline if overtaking is as difficult as it was last season.

Push-to-pass remains at 200 seconds with a maximum of 20 seconds per activation as usual, alongside Firestone bringing five sets of primary tyres and five sets of alternates.

During the off-season, this was one of six races which had their lap counts increased in order to encourage more strategy options and closer racing. Mid-Ohio had it's count increased by 10, bringing the total to 90 laps. That also brings the total distance to 203.22 miles, fitting the '200' in the event name.

What to expect at Mid-Ohio

O'Ward fended off Palou's challenge to end a winless streak - can he do the same in 2025? | Credit: Dominic Loyer

I've done my best here to promote the fact Mid-Ohio has had so many different winners in recent seasons, but it is still impossible to look past Palou. Victories at the Thermal Club, Barber Motorsports Park, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Road America means that Palou is still in the running to win every single road course race in 2025.

This is the first of three that Palou needs to win to claim that near-impossible feat. His current form, combined with his record at Mid-Ohio means that it would take some beating to knock Palou off his perch. Palou's qualifying form has also significantly improved in 2025, particularly on road courses where his average lies at 1.75 this season. With overtaking projected to be difficult, it's just another weapon in Palou's arsenal to hold against his competitors.

With Palou's run of form, it maybe begs the question of the level Dixon is performing at currently. The six-time champion has been quite anonymous thus far, and has been a shadow of what we are used to from him, despite lying fifth in the standings. With Palou in such form, can Dixon replicate that? Mid-Ohio is his best circuit on the calendar so this represents a huge change to turn that around.

The outfit that desperately need a result though are Team Penske. 2025 has been nothing short of a disaster for IndyCar's most formidable outfit who have just three podiums across three cars in nine races. 2021 saw them nine winless when they came into Mid-Ohio where Newgarden ended that barren run.

Newgarden himself desperately needs a result as the two-time series champion now lies 17th in the standings, still without a top eight finish since the season opener. 2025 has been catastrophe-after-catastrophe for Newgarden and he needs to stop the points bleed - even if there is not much to recover standings-wise.

Due to Kirkwood and Palou's dominance, Team Chevy have also been winless, including that of Arrow McLaren. O'Ward had been without a win on-track in over two years before his victory at Mid-Ohio last season. Christian Lundgaard's flying run of form to start the season has since fallen off, but Mid-Ohio has been a good venue for Lundgaard in the past and is a great place to bounce back.

Chevrolet's top performers in recent races though has been A.J. Foyt Racing, who have three podiums in the last four races. Admittedly, Mid-Ohio has not been a superb venue recently for the team, but David Malukas has excelled at the circuit, finishing ninth and sixth with Dale Coyne Racing, before qualifying third last season in his second race back from injury.

As has been the case for Andretti Global at many road courses, their Mid-Ohio record has not historically been good. Between 2021 and 2023 they had just a singular top ten finish between four entries, however, did bounce back with all cars in the top eight last season.

The eyes have been on Kirkwood, which is starting to ask some questions of Herta and his performance level currently. However, Marcus Ericsson has really struggled in 2025, and now lies outside the top 20 in the standings. It's been a staggering fall from grace for one of IndyCar's most reliable performers which has led to an engineering change on the No.28 stand.

Olivier Boisson who had previously engineered Ericsson has moved into an R & D role, whilst Dave Seyffert steps up to replace Boisson. Seyffert engineered Kirkwood to victory at Gateway this season.

It rather feels as if Ericsson desperately needs a result as conversations around his future start to reach boiling point.

Ericsson will also sport a new livery this weekend, courtesy of FOX Sports. Palou will run a black livery, sponsored by OpenAI. Palou ran the HRC Honda in Barber, and that livery will now be seen on the No.27 of Kirkwood.

Timings:

Practice 1: 16:35 ET (21:35 BST) Friday

Practice 2: 15:30 ET (20:30 BST) Saturday

Qualifying: 14:35 ET (19:35 BST) Saturday

Warm-up: 09:32 ET (14:32 BST) Sunday

Race: 13:22 ET (18:422 BST) Sunday

DIVEBOMB will bring you all the news and updates throughout the weekend as well as post-race analysis. Will the Palou/Kirkwood victory streak come to an end? Can Penske finally come good in 2025? Who will bring the momentum into the busiest stretch of the season? There's certainly plenty to look out for in Mid-Ohio.

All photos in this article were taken by DIVEBOMB Photographers, Dominic Loyer & Ryan Fleming. You can find Dominic and Ryan's work on Instagram (@dominicloyer_photography & @framesbyfleming)