Mexico’s Pato O’Ward captured his first victory of the season, winning the Honda Indy 200 on Sunday at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio.
O’Ward passed Arrow McLaren teammate Christian Lundgaard of Denmark on the 42nd of 90 laps as the duo finished first and second in the 11th of 18 races this season.
The 1-2 finish was McLaren’s first-ever in an IndyCar series race.
O’Ward edged Lundgaard by just 0.9877 of a second. His average speed was 117.932 mph.
“It’s been a year, it’s been a tough one for sure,” O’Ward said. “I think today is just a perfect example of execution. I waited for the perfect time to pounce and from there we just controlled it.”
Kyle Kirkwood (Andretti Global) finished third, followed by Rinus VeeKay of the Netherlands (Juncos Hollinger), current series leader Alex Palou of Spain (Chip Ganassi Racing) and Australian Will Power (Andretti).
Lundgaard led for the majority of the first 41 laps, but made a costly slip in the second turn and O’Ward took advantage with a pass. He calmly navigated the 2.258-mile, 13-turn natural road course for the final 48 laps to claim his 10th career victory.
Power and Josef Newgarden, who finished ninth, each led for two laps early in the race.
O’Ward picked up 53 points for the victory and moved into fifth place with 310. Palou, the IndyCar series defending champion, leads with 404 points, followed by Kirkwood (348), Lundgaard (339) and David Malukas (338) of Team Penske.
The next race will be in two weeks at the Music City Grand Prix at the Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, Tenn.
–Field Level Media
