Pato O’Ward fended off a fierce Alex Palou challenge to take the first win of the IndyCar hybrid era on the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
Palou threatened to run away with the race through the opening stages, leading by over six seconds, but was compromised by a slow pit stop that brought the Arrow McLaren back into contention.
Scott McLaughlin completed the podium, a distant 16 seconds behind the leading duo.
Marcus Armstrong ran a three-stop strategy on his way to 17th, while his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon only completed 40 of the 80 laps after an electrical glitch shut down his engineon the formation laps.
Dixon’s failure to finish has major repercussions for his title hopes, with the six-time Champion now 71 points adrift of Palou in the standings.
With the #9 Chip Ganassi Racing entry stopped on track, the first laps of the Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio began behind the Safety Car.
Palou led the field to green on the alternate start/finish line on Lap 3, and quickly went about building an advantage over the field.
McLaughlin climbed to fifth over the opening corners, while Armstrong dropped from 11th to 13th, having been relegated from fifth on the grid for an unapproved engine change after testing in Iowa.
Armstrong had Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden for company in the mid-field, and the two opted for a three-stop strategy, boxing on Lap 12.
Dixon would return to the track on Lap 21, but only completed 40 laps over the remainder of the race.
Up front, Palou continued to build on his advantage and sat over six seconds clear when O’Ward stopped from second on Lap 28. David Mulukas, who was running over 10 seconds behind O’Ward in third, stalled exiting his pit box.
The leader made his first stop the next tour, with McLaughlin remaining out at the front until Lap 30, when he stopped and re-emerged in third.
Over the following tours, O’Ward began eating into Palou’s five second advantage and was under one-second off the lead when he dove in for his second stop on Lap 54.
Palou stopped the next lap and was slow to get away, which allowed O’Ward to shoot through and into the lead through Turn 1 as the reigning champion exited pit lane.
McLaughlin made his second stop on Lap 56 and remained a distant 15 seconds behind the two-horse race up front over the closing stages.
The gap between O’Ward and Palou fluctuated over the final 20 tours as lapped traffic came into play, but the Arrow McLaren defended the lead well to maintain the advantage.
With seven laps to run, just 0.3 seconds separated the pair, but O’Ward remained in the front to take his second win of 2024 and jump to second in the IndyCar Series standings.
McLaughlin finished 15.6 seconds behind the leaders in a lonely third, with fourth-placed Colton Herta a further eight seconds in arrears.
IndyCar returns with an oval double-header in Iowa over the weekend of July 13-14.
Header Image: Penske Entertainment: Travis Hinkle
