STEAM CORNERS, Ohio — Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren needs to make up 98 points in the battle for the NTT IndyCar Series championship.
If speed is any indication, he may be off to a good start this weekend in the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio.
O’Ward’s No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet had the fastest speed around the 2.258-mile, 13-turn Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course during Friday’s practice session for Sunday’s race. His fast time was 1:06.4925 for a speed of 122.250 mph.
Alex Palou, who has a 74-point lead over Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Marcus Ericsson, was second fastest at 1:06.8558 (121.587 mph) in the No. 10 Ridgeline Honda.
Ericsson was third at 1:06.9772 (121.365 mph) in the No. 8 Huski Chocolate Honda. Rahal Letterman Lanigan driver Christian Lundgaard was fourth at 1:07.0262 (121.278 mph) in the No. 45 Hy-Vee Honda with Andretti Autosport driver Kyle Kirkwood rounding out the top five at 1:07.0269 (121.277 mph) in the No. 27 AutoNation Honda.
O’Ward was last year’s pole winner with a lap at 121.919 mph.
“The green car is fast,” Lundgaard said after Friday’s practice. “We proved that at Road America. We’ve been pretty good so far this weekend. To be fourth in practice one gets the weekend started off well. We tested a few things, and we are satisfied.
“This track is very slippery compared to some of the others. This would be similar to Road America last year in terms of track rubber and general grip.
“We’ve been competitive at the other road course. At least, we can keep the momentum on the road courses and have a good result this weekend.”
Romain Grosjean of Andretti Autosport was sixth fastest in the No. 28 DHL Honda at 1:07.1175 (121.113 mph).
“We did a lot of work on the car and the car felt really good in practice,” Grosjean said. “We didn’t get a clear lap, but good enough to be sixth. I’m confident with this car for the race.”
Lundgaard is part of the three-driver lineup at Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing that could use a boost to close out the final nine races this season. The Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course has always been considered a home track for the Rahals, who were once based near Columbus, Ohio.
“I think coming into here we expected obviously to be fast, considering our road course performance the entire year,” Lundgaard said. “But leaving Road America, a track that has just been resurfaced, with a track that hasn’t been resurfaced lately, we also knew it would be a different sort of balance in the car, tougher to drive.
“It certainly was something to handle out there. It’s quick. So that’s the positives, I guess. We covered a lot of things in the practice session in terms of items we wanted to try. I think we’re pretty satisfied at this point.
“But obviously we got to do that in the race. That’s when it counts. Our plan was to cover as many things as we could. That’s the reason why we run three cars in the team. At least on the 45 car we covered as much as we actually wanted to do, some other things as well. It was a good session.”
IndyCar returns to the track for another practice session Saturday from 9:45-10:45 a.m. (ET). Qualifying for the NTT P1 Award follows at 2:45 p.m. (ET), with three rounds of knockout qualifying culminating with the Firestone Fast Six.
The NTT IndyCar Series has final practice from 10:30 to 11 a.m. (ET) on Sunday.
The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio set for 1:54 p.m. (ET).