O’Ward takes lead after Palou’s pit stop problems, wins Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio in hybrid engine debut

LEXINGTON, Ohio — Pato O’Ward took the lead with 24 laps remaining as Alex Palou stalled in the pits and held on to win the Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Sunday in the IndyCar Series’ official debut with its hybrid powertrain.

The victory was a major redemption for O’Ward, who led the final lap of the Indianapolis 500 in May before Josef Newgarden passed him in the final half-mile to win. It was O’Ward’s second victory of the season, but his first on the track after he won the season-opening race in St. Petersburg, Fla., when Newgarden was disqualified for manipulating his Chevrolet’s push-to-pass system.

O’Ward started second in his Chevrolet, behind Palou’s Honda, and spent most of the race building a significant gap on the dominant Palou, who edged his counterpart by 0.0024 seconds for the pole and sought his second consecutive Mid-Ohio victory. His chance came when Palou stopped for a tire and fuel change on Lap 56 of 80, but stalled, allowing O’Ward to pass him as Palou returned to the road course.

Palou then hunted down O’Ward but couldn’t close in to pass him. O’Ward faltered slightly towards the end but took the win by 0.4993 seconds, giving Arrow McLaren its first victory in a season dominated by Team Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing.

Scott McLaughlin finished third, followed by Colton Herta, Marcus Ericsson and Alexander Rossi.

Palou still extended his lead in the IndyCar standings to 48 points over Will Power, while O’Ward climbed to third, 70 points ahead. Six-time race winner Scott Dixon started 21 laps down because his Honda failed to start and dropped 71 points to fourth after starting the weekend 32 points behind Palou in third. Dixon already had a lot of ground to make up Sunday after qualifying 14th.

While the finish was obviously important for O’Ward and Palou, the focus was on the first competition with the hybrid unit equipping the Hondas and Chevys.

The long-awaited hybrid unit of the 2.2-liter twin-turbo V-6 generates electricity through braking or changing throttle position. The energy is stored in capacitors that produce rapid boosts when drivers deploy a system similar to the overtake button. This option can add up to 120 horsepower and more than 800 in total.

O’Ward and Palou distinguished themselves from all others by seizing the front row before O’Ward could assert his rights.

The next IndyCar race will be on July 14 in Newton, Iowa.

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AP Auto Racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing