Honda Indy 200

[stradlin23]

Another road course, bluregh, Mid-Ohio

Scott Dixon won here last season

EJ Viso is back after mumps, Mario Dominguez and PCM are also back as they are running road/street courses only

Roth Racing is only a 1 car team this weekend again

Marco Andretti was fastest in practice yesterday

Mario Moraes and AJ Foyt IV were two of many drivers that had incidents

3 part qualifying is later today

[stradlin23]

Hell man!

road courses are soooooooooooooooooooooooo dull

bring back 100% ovals to IndyCar please....

the fast 6 is the normal road course specialists, predictable f1 style racing is going to ruin this season

one of my mates is actually at the track so hopefully he'll have some pics I can post here

[stradlin23]

perhaps the most exciting part of the IndyCar road course experience is qualifying



it's an all Penske front row with Helio taking the pole, Justin Wilson will start an impressive 4th but Dan Wheldon is down in 13th and Danica Patrick 20th



marty roth managed to outqualify 2 cars, which is a feat in itself and don't you just wish DRR would give Bell the full season gig, he's brought the call home in the top 10 at every race apart from St Pete but here we are stuck with the painfully slow Duno

the grid

Row 1
Helio Castroneves (Penske)
Ryan Briscoe (Penske)

Row 2
Marco Andretti (AGR)
Justin Wilson (NHL)

Row 3
Tony Kanaan (AGR)
Scott Dixon (Ganassi)

Row 4
Buddy Rice (DRR)
Oriol Servia (KVRT)

Row 5
Bruno Junqueira (Dale Coyne)
Hideki Mutoh (AGR)

Row 6
Vitor Meira (Panther)
Will Power (KVRT)

Row 7
Dan Wheldon (Ganassi)
Graham Rahal (NHL)

Row 8
Ryan Hunter-Reay (RLR)
Mario Dominguez (PCM)

Row 9
EJ Viso (HVM)
Enrique Bernoldi (Conquest)

Row 10
Mario Moraes (Dale Coyne)
Danica Patrick (AGR)

Row 11
Darren Manning (Foyt)
Ed Carpenter (Vision)

Row 12
AJ Foyt IV (Vision)
Marty Roth (Roth)

Row 13
Jaime Camara (Conquest)
Milka Duno (DRR)

[stradlin23]

the Indy Lights cars were on the grid and about to go when the a rain storm appeared and soaked the track

they have halted it as the teams scramble for wet tyres

both ILS and ICS cars have wet tyres available

[stradlin23]

the Lights race has been going for about 20 minutes, it's complete chaos

these guys are mostly rookies and have never raced these cars in the wet

matos, wilson, perera, luyendyk jr are the most experienced road course drivers out there and all have hit problems

Johnny Reid leads from Richard Antinucci and Pablo Donoso who has never raced at Mid Ohio, this is only his 3rd ever non oval events and has never raced this car in the wet is 3rd on track

an amazing effort, teammate Jeff Simmons predictably bit the dust a long time ago

Englishman Dillon Battistini started 18th is now 6th, he should be more use to the conditions

[stradlin23]

put the mockers on him, Battistini is off although he appears to have been taken off by Franck Perera

the last restart was comedic, they came down to do first corner, Donoso got swamped and was about 8th as they arrived at the first corner

and then everyone who overtook him simply slid off the track in perfect formation

Donoso went up to 2nd but is now back to 4th as his cautious but effective driving should see him get a top 5

[stradlin23]

so, we got 3/4 of a lap before another crash

Donoso in the thick of it again

Logan Gomez went piling down the inside, missed his breaking point and went miles off into the grass whilst championship leader Richard Antinucci lost it on his own and spun out of 2nd

Johnny Reid is still leading, Mitch Cunningham is 2nd and the cool Donoso is 3rd, the top three are the only drivers who haven't spun

James Davison in 4th spun on lap 1 and everyone behind him has also had at least one incident

[stradlin23]

a chaotic last two laps and yep, you guess it, Donoso in the middle of it

first of lead, Mitch Cunningham took the lead and was course for his first ever win but he spun off before Antinucci who had recovered from an earlier spin went flying to the inside of Donoso, lost it and took off 2 other cars, Donoso simply drove around the wreckage

and Gomez and Antinucci are figthing and and oh heck! there's more controversy here

there has been a fatal error here!!! Johnny Reid was under caution of the last lap and he PITTED!!! he thought the race was done and he pulled off, that is a tradegy for Reid and his team, he needed to take the chequered flag but he came into the pits thinking he had passed it the lap before

so James Davison will win his first ever race with Wade Cunningham (brother of Mitch) in 2nd, the incredible Pablo Donoso came in 3rd and Cyndie Alleman scores a career best 4th

incredible action, Reid was classified 9th

if there is half as much excitement in the IndyCar series race it will be worth watching

AJ Foyt is the manager of Donoso and he must be impressed with that today

[stradlin23]

the race is underway on a drying track that has now dried

the big mix has meant that Vitor Meira finds himself out front as he timed his stop for dry tyres to perfection

Darren Manning is up to 2nd with Power in 3rd

Hunter Reay has been off in an incident with Enrique Bernoldi

i think this is the last time we will see Bernoldi in ths series

[stradlin23]

road course racing is so dull

Meira still leads, 20 laps gone of 85

[stradlin23]

bring some rain to make something happen

or, just race on god dam ovals

[stradlin23]

the rear wing of Dominguez detached and he spun off to bring out the yellow

the season of pit problems for Vision goes on as AJ Foyt gets an air gun stuck on his car

Will Power takes the leads out of the pits and Meira drops to 4th, it just isn't going to happen for Vitor is it

6 cars stayed out so Power is actually 7th and Meira 10th

[stradlin23]

Duno spins and brings out the full course yellow, Wheldon pits for a splash of fuel

it's only lap 39 of 85

[stradlin23]

carnage on the restart and there is some furious drivers here

Wilson got tapped by Dominguez and spun across the pack

in the chain reaction Foyt hit Wheldon and Andretti piled into Wilson

all are damaged and have lost serious ground

[stradlin23]

Briscoe leads, Mario Moraes who has impressed me immensely over the last couple of weeks is 2nd ahead of Power, Helio, Dixon, Meira and Manning