Mid Ohio Indy Car, Same Old, Same Old
Simon Pagenaud won the Honda Indy 200 at the Mid Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio last Sunday. With the win, he maintained his lead in the IndyCar point standings in the run for the 2016 IndyCar Championship. His Penske teammate Will Power finished second and holds on to second in the point standings. The third Penske driver, Helio Castroneves is in third place. Helio, has yet to win a race, however. While the fourth member of the team, Juan Pablo Montoya is stuck in twelfth place. Montoya won the season opener at St. Petersburg but really hasn’t been a factor since then. With the exception of the Indianapolis 500 Mile race, Team Penske and the Chevy engine have dominated the series with eight wins in twelve races thus far. They also have ten poles. In contrast, in 2015 Team Penske had three wins and nine pole positions. It looks as though the 2016 IndyCar season will go down as the year of “The Captain.” At age 79, and with a net worth of 1.5 billion bucks, it doesn’t look as if Roger Penske is going to retire out of the picture anytime soon.
As to the race, Pagenaud and Power started from the front row; Pagenaud starting from the pole for the sixth time. Ryan Hunter-Reay maintained Honda honors by starting fourth. Indy Lights driving sensation RC Emerson made his IndyCar race debut driving for Sam Schmidt. Pagenaud took the lead but after the first pit stop series Montoya grabbed first place for nine laps before pitting. Russian born driver Mikhail Aleshin took the lead and held it for 33 laps. On lap 61 Aleshin pitted. While coming out he hit Josef Newgarden. Both cars needed pit repair. Newgarden held on for a tenth place finish. Aleshin was stuck in seventeenth place. Rookie Conor Daley then took the lead, and charged in front for 22 laps but with eight laps to go, Daly had to pit for fuel. He finished sixth. Pagenaud held off his teammate Power to get the checkered flag. Carlos Munoz was the driver in the top finishing Honda. He took third place for Andretti Autosports. Defending Mid-Ohio champ Graham Rahal finished fourth in the Steak and Shake Rahal-Letterman Honda. Scott Dixon had mechanical problems early and finished 22nd and last. In the end, it was once again a Penske podium.
The next IndyCar race is the ABC Supply 500 at the Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania on August 21. Ryan Hunter-Reay is the defending champion.
Target Says Farewell
After 27 years of being a primary IndyCar sponsor, Target Inc. says 2016 will be the last year the corporation will be involved with the series. Target was the longest connected sponsor currently running and the red car with a white number ball was familiar with all race fans. Target is current the primary sponsor for Ganassi Racing and the relationship has been quite fruitful. Scott Dixon brought them a 2008 IndyCar win and four IndyCar Championship titles. Juan Pablo Montoya won the 2000 Indy 500 with Target’s logo on the side of his car. Target will continue to be a NASCAR team sponsor. No word yet on Ganassi’s replacement sponsor.