2010 IRL Rd.12--Honda Indy 200 @ Mid-Ohio

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After a week off from the fireworks of Edmonton, the stars of the IndyCar Series head back to the States' and the tight, challenging Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for round 12 of the 2010 season, the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio presented by Westfield Insurance.


----PAST WINNERS
~~Johnny Rutherford(1): 1980
~~Teo Fabi(2): 1983, 1989
~~Mario Andretti(1): 1984
~~Bobby Rahal(2): 1985, 1986
~~Roberto Guerrero(1): 1987
~~Emerson Fittipaldi(3): 1988, 1992, 1993
~~Michael Andretti(2): 1990, 1991
~~Al Unser, Jr.(2): 1994, 1995
~~Alex Zanardi(2): 1996, 1997
~~Adrian Fernandez(1): 1998
~~Juan Pablo Montoya(1): 1999
~~Helio Castroneves*(2): 2000, 2001
~~Paul Tracy*(1): 2002
~~Patrick Carpentier(1): 2003
~~Scott Dixon*(2): 2007, 2009
~~Ryan Briscoe*(1): 2008
*--denotes active IndyCar Series competitor

---WEEKEND SCHEDULE
~~Practice Session 1, 4-6pm, 6 August 2010
~~Practice Session 2, 9-10am, 7 August 2010
~~Knockout Qualifying, 12:35-1:55pm, 7 August 2010
~~Final Practice Session, 8:15-8:45am, 8 August 2010
~~Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio, 3pm, 8 August 2010(live on VERSUS)

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TrackMap, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course

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-----LEXINGTON, Ohio – The Indy Racing League has amended a sub-section of its IZOD IndyCar Series rulebook to accommodate 27 entries for the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio presented by Westfield Insurance this weekend. That's a nice problem to encounter.

The starting field for each race is a maximum of 28 with the exceptions of 33 for the Indianapolis 500, 26 for Toronto and Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (which includes two provisionals), and only Leaders Circle members for Brazil (24 this year) based on available pit lane space.

Rule 8.1 (E) (5) (d) was revised to: Mid-Ohio – 27 cars.

In addition to the 24 full-season cars, including 2009 Firestone Indy Lights champion J.R. Hildebrand making his IZOD IndyCar Series debut in the No. 24 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing entry in place of the injured Mike Conway, the pit lane will include the No. 66 Service Central (Sarah Fisher Racing) for Jay Howard, the No. 27 Automatic Fire Sprinklers Inc. (Andretti Autosport) for Adam Carroll and the No. 02 National Tire and Battery (Newman/Haas Racing) for Graham Rahal. "It will make for some interesting pit stops under yellow," two-time and defending race winner Scott Dixon of Target Chip Ganassi Racing said.

The fourth edition of the 85-lap race on the 2.258-mile, 13-turn circuit is Aug. 8 (initial practice Aug. 6, followed by practice and qualifying Aug. 7). For the first time, the past four Firestone Indy Lights champions will compete in the same race: full-season drivers Alex Lloyd (2007 champion; Dale Coyne Racing) and Raphael Matos (2008; de Ferran Dragon Racing) in addition to Howard (2006) and Hildebrand.

Team Penske’s Ryan Briscoe won in 2008 and was runner-up to Dixon last year. “It’s been good to us and we want to keep that going,” said Briscoe, who joined teammates Helio Castroneves and Will Power in testing at Mid-Ohio on June 30. “We don’t test a whole lot so any track time we get is vital, and this is one of the most important races of the year. It’s right in the crunch time when you’re deciding who’s going to be capable to go for the championship or not.”

Power takes a 50-point lead into the weekend – the penultimate road/street course event on the calendar -- over reigning series champion Dario Franchitti. He’s also seeking to wrap up the Mario Andretti Road/Street Course Trophy, awarded to the driver who scores the most points in those nine events.

The spectator viewing areas on hillsides and grandstands – along with ample camping areas in close proximity to the track – “is great for the fans,” Briscoe said. For the drivers, the race (plus the three rounds of qualifications) is physically and mentally taxing. “The road courses in general are a lot more physically demanding,” he said. “The race at Mid-Ohio last year was one of the most draining races. My drink bottle wasn’t working so that really hurt. You definitely need to be fit to go the distance.”

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Entry List, Honda Indy 200 @ Mid-Ohio
Raphael Matos, #2 HP-McAfee
Helio Castroneves, #3 Team Penske
Dan Wheldon, #4 National Guard
(R)Takuma Sato, #5 Lotus-KV Racing
Ryan Briscoe, #6 Team Penske
Danica Patrick, #7 Team GoDaddy.com
E.J. Viso, #8 PDVSA
Scott Dixon, #9 Target
Dario Franchitti, #10 Target
Tony Kanaan, #11 Team 7-11
Will Power, #12 Verizon Wireless
Vitor Meira, #14 ABC Supply Co.
Milka Duno, #18 CITGO
(R)Alex Lloyd, #19 Boy Scouts of America
Justin Wilson, #22 Z-Line Designs
*J.R. Hildebrand, #24 RollCoater
Marco Andretti, #26 Team Venom Energy
Adam Carroll, #27 Automatic Fire Sprinklers
Mario Moraes, #32 KV Racing-Agratora
*Francesco Dracone, #34 Conquest Racing
(R)Bertrand Baguette, #36 RAC Belgium
Ryan Hunter-Reay, #37 IZOD
Jay Howard, #66 Service Central
Alex Tagliani, #77 Bowers & Wilkins
(R)Simona de Silvestro, #78 Team Stargate Worlds
Graham Rahal, #02 National Tire & Battery
Hideki Mutoh, #06 Panasonic-NH Racing

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----LEXINGTON, Ohio – There’s a framed photograph of his 2000 victory at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Helio Castroneves’ house. “I see it every day; it was taken right over here,” Castroneves says, pointing to the cramped Victory Circle at the 2.258-mile road course.

A decade later, Castroneves will be seeking another victory at the facility (he also won in 2001 – both years getting past pole sitter Gil de Ferran) in the No. 3 Team Penske car. What’s it going to take? “Hard work, a little bit of luck and a good strategy as we see that’s what seems to happen here, and I won two races here with a good strategy,” said Castroneves, who joined teammates Ryan Briscoe and Will Power on June 30 for a day of testing. “It’s a physically demanding track. It’s much more different than ovals. Ovals you have to be smooth and move just a tiny bit. Here you have to be more aggressive and bounce around.”

Over the course of 30 years of Indy car racing at Mid-Ohio, spectators have seen the best. Four months after winning the 1980 Indianapolis 500, Johnny Rutherford won the inaugural Red Roof Inns 150 at Mid-Ohio in the No. 4 Chaparral. For Rutherford, who started fourth, it was his first road course victory. He also went on to earn the PPG Indy Car World Series Drivers’ Championship. Al Unser started from the pole, but ran into trouble on the first lap.

There’s a unique footnote to Indy car racing at Mid-Ohio: Races have been won consecutively six times, including four in a row from 1991-97. Multiple winners, aside from Castroneves, include Alex Zenardi, Al Unser Jr., Emerson Fittipaldi, Michael Andretti, Bobby Rahal, Mario Andretti, Teo Fabi and Scott Dixon.

In 1990 (Sept. 16 to be precise), Michael Andretti dominated the race from the pole with his father finishing second after starting eighth. It was the first of his two consecutive victories for the Newman/Haas Racing driver and three consecutive pole starts (Fittipaldi won the ’92 race) at the track. Mario won from the pole in ’84 and ’87.

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----Sunoco, announced in May as the official fuel retail and convenience store of the IZOD IndyCar Series, on Aug. 4 had rolling billboard headed to Lexington, Ohio, and the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio presented by Westfield Insurance. The ethanol fuel truck is vinyl wrapped with the familiar Sunoco logo and colors.

Sunoco manufactures refined products – gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, residual fuels and commodity petrochemicals – at four company-owned and -operated refineries in the United States for outlets that include more than 4,700 gasoline stations.

--Hall of Famer is Mid-Ohio grand marshal
Pro Football Hall of Famer Lynn Swann will be the grand marshal of the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio. Swann, who won four Super Bowl rings with the Pittsburgh Steelers, is chairman of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. Since 1980, he's been the national spokesman for Big Brothers Big Sisters of America.

--15 uses for 20 seconds each
Overtake assist will play a role in the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio for a second year. The system employed by Honda Performance Development is an ECU software alteration. It is activated by the driver via a button on the steering wheel and provides an extra 200 RPM (about 10 horsepower) to the Honda Indy V-8 engine. Parameters are updated before each race weekend to meet the circuit layout.

For the 2.258-mile, 13-turn course:
15 uses
20 seconds duration each use
10-second recharge period between uses

One overtake assist use will be enabled for Aug. 8 race morning warm-up.

--New primaries for tough road course
Firestone Racing has prepared a new primary tire specification for Mid-Ohio based on results from a tire test at the track last September.

The updated spec features new compound formulas and a slight tire construction change designed to mimic the grip and durability of last year's primary Firehawks for Mid-Ohio. Teams that participated in the test last week at the track were given a set of the new spec to run. The Firestone alternate tires pair the same left-side alternates used at Barber Motorsports Park and Edmonton with new right-side alternates.

--Take them out to the ballgame
Drivers Simona de Silvestro and Ed Carpenter will be guests of Kentucky Speedway and Fox Sports Ohio during the Cincinnati Reds-St. Louis Cardinals game Aug. 9 at Great American Ballpark. There's some media obligations worked in to promote the IZOD IndyCar Series race at Kentucky Speedway on Sept. 4.

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----LEXINGTON, Ohio – Scott Dixon can’t pinpoint what have been the ingredients to success at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Or, at least, he’s not saying. The two-time IZOD IndyCar Series champion has won two of the three races at the 2.258-mile, 13-turn circuit in the No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing car.

“A lot of it has been the success of the team,” says Dixon, who also held a similar mojo by winning the three consecutive years at Watkins Glen International. “Throughout their history they’ve always won many races and done very well at Mid-Ohio. Also, it’s always a track that we’ve put on the schedule to test at before the race because we feel we learn quite a bit about it. For me, it’s a fun little track. It’s not a place where we’ve always qualified well. We’ve never started on the front; last year we had the quickest time but we did that in Segment 2 instead of Segment 3. It’s one of those tracks that I feel at ease at and things kind of flow fairly well.”

Dixon was 12th quick in the intial hour-long practice with a best lap of 1 minute, 8.7280 seconds (118.275 mph) -- a session that:
• Had the top 22 cars separated by less than a second.
• Had Ohio resident Graham Rahal topping the time chart (1:08.3061) in the No. 02 National Tire & Battery car for Newman/Haas Racing.
• Had J.R. Hildebrand, the 2009 Firestone Indy Lights champion who is making his IZOD IndyCar Series debut in the No. 24 RollCoater/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing car, placing seventh (1:08.6340).
• Had KV Racing Technology's Mario Moraes driving to eighth on the time sheet, battling through a wrist injury suffered at Edmonton.

“The thing that is obvious to me is that it is really close and very competitive," said Rahal, who has recorded three top-10 finishes with three different teams in six races this season. "At one point, I was 10th, but only a tenth off. But I really wanted to be fastest on the first day at home. It feels good. I am a little bit surprised, especially where we came from. The good thing is the car is nowhere close for me. There’s a lot we need to improve on. If we can be this competitive and have a lot to improve on is a good sign for me and the National Tire & Battery team.”

Series championship points leader Will Power was second (1:08.3301) in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car, while teammate Helio Castroneves, a two-time winner at Mid-Ohio, was third (1:08.3779). Another 60-minute session precedes the three rounds of qualifying Aug. 7 (watch all the action on www.indycar.com).

“It was a good session," said Power, who tested at Mid-Ohio on June 30. "It’s tough at this track to get a good read on the car, especially early in the weekend. So much changes at the track with the grip. But we know the Verizon car is fast and we think we have a good handle on it. We’ll talk about things tonight and hopefully we’ll keep improving tomorrow.”

In 2007, Dixon charged from sixth on the starting grid to win and started third on his way to a commanding victory in ’09. He advanced three positions to finish third in the year in between.

“Through the years we’ve had set-ups that have worked well. More so in the race the car over a full stint has been really good. We’ve been able to maintain a pace that nobody else has been able to. Last year (pole sitter Ryan) Briscoe was fairly strong at the start of the race, but once we got past him we took off and caught (Justin) Wilson and were able to pass him, too. Passing at a track like this isn’t very easy, but I think it’s the consistency we’ve had over a stint which has been the biggest thing. Our car hasn’t really slowed down on full tanks and used tires, where it seems to affect the others a lot more.”

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Mid-Ohio Friday Practice Session Times
1. 02 Graham Rahal Newman/Haas Racing 1:08.3061 119.005
2. 12 Will Power Team Penske 1:08.3301 0.0240 0.0240 118.964
3. 3 Helio Castroneves Team Penske 1:08.3779 0.0478 0.0718 118.881
4. 37 Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport 1:08.4692 0.0913 0.1631 118.722
5. 6 Ryan Briscoe Team Penske 1:08.5437 0.0745 0.2376 118.593
6. 8 E.J. Viso KV Racing Technology 1:08.6244 0.0807 0.3183 118.453
7. 24 J.R. Hildebrand Dreyer & Reinbold Racing 1:08.6340 0.0096 0.3279 118.437
8. 32 Mario Moraes KV Racing Technology 1:08.6386 0.0046 0.3325 118.429
9. 11 Tony Kanaan Andretti Autosport 1:08.6495 0.0109 0.3434 118.410
10. 4 Dan Wheldon Panther Racing 1:08.6527 0.0032 0.3466 118.405
11. 36 Bertrand Baguette* Conquest Racing 1:08.7154 0.0627 0.4093 118.297
12. 9 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing 1:08.7281 0.0127 0.4220 118.275
13. 78 Simona De Silvestro* Team Stargate Worlds/HVM 1:08.7752 0.0471 0.4691 118.194
14. 22 Justin Wilson Dreyer & Reinbold Racing 1:08.7971 0.0219 0.4910 118.156
15. 10 Dario Franchitti Chip Ganassi Racing 1:08.8376 0.0405 0.5315 118.087
16. 06 Hideki Mutoh Newman/Haas Racing 1:09.0533 0.2157 0.7472 117.718
17. 27 Adam Carroll AFS Racing/Andretti Autosport 1:09.1088 0.0555 0.8027 117.623
18. 26 Marco Andretti Andretti Autosport 1:09.1325 0.0237 0.8264 117.583
19. 7 Danica Patrick Andretti Autosport 1:09.1579 0.0254 0.8518 117.540
20. 5 Takuma Sato* KV Racing Technology 1:09.1824 0.0245 0.8763 117.498
21. 2 Raphael Matos de Ferran Luczo Dragon Racing 1:09.2168 0.0344 0.9107 117.440
22. 77 Alex Tagliani FAZZT Race Team 1:09.2814 0.0646 0.9753 117.330
23. 14 Vitor Meira A.J. Foyt Enterprises 1:09.3351 0.0537 1.0290 117.239
24. 19 Alex Lloyd* Dale Coyne Racing 1:09.3594 0.0243 1.0533 117.198
25. 34 Francesco Dracone Conquest Racing 1:11.0931 1.7337 2.7870 114.340
26. 18 Milka Duno Dale Coyne Racing 1:12.8372 1.7441 4.5311 111.602
27. 66 Jay Howard Sarah Fisher Racing 1:14.9038 2.0666 6.5977 108.523

* Series rookie

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----Sliding backward into a tire barrier during the morning practice session didn’t preclude Will Power from participating in qualifications for the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio presented by Westfield Insurance let alone securing the PEAK Performance Pole Award. He certainly didn’t back into it.

Power, who has participated in all eight Firestone Fast Six sessions this season, claimed the top spot for the 85-lap race with a best lap of 1 minute, 7.1997 seconds (120.965 mph) in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car during the 10-minute shootout. It is his seventh of the season, tying teammate Helio Castroneves’ IZOD IndyCar Series record.

In the 60-minute practice session, Power’s car clipped the curb at the apex of the corner, ran wide into the wet grass and spun trying to point it back onto the track. It backed hard into the tires at the end of the Turn 1 runoff. “Bad mistake on my behalf this morning,” said Power, who got out of the car without assistance, though the Indy Racing League medical staff reported he has a thigh bruise. “The guys had to put together the spare car in a two-hour space. I can’t thank them enough.

“All I did was obviously go over the data that my teammates had in that session and just did everything I could mentally to prepare and did my best. Obviously, I didn't suffer in Turn 1 because I was lacking confidence. You just got to put that out of your head and get it done. I was not sure going into this qualifying session, but I just put my head down, did my best, tried to get through each section.”

Power, who enters the 12th race on the IZOD IndyCar Series with a 50-point lead over Dario Franchitti in the drivers’ championship, will seek to increase that margin and wrap up the inaugural Mario Andretti Road Championship. The practice incident could have ruined his opportunity to accomplish both.

“I was thinking after that I (crashed) that is the sort of thing that loses championships, can put you on the backboard,” he said. “Then you start back further than you want, get in an incident, it can steamroll pretty quick and suddenly you leave with a small lead. (I) just got to get out there and do my best.” Four different teams entered the Firestone Fast Six, and seven different teams are represented on the first six rows.

Franchitti (1:07.2846), who advanced to the Firestone Fast Six the past four races (all with podium finishes), will start on the outside of the front row. “We struggled last year with the surfaces and the sealers and stuff,” said Franchitti, who started sixth and finished third. “But the test here last week went very well. We came back (Aug. 6), had to go back to the drawing board last night.

My engineer, Chris Simmons, and I spent a lot of time at the bus going over data late last night. We could see the bits we needed to improve on the car, but also the bits I needed to improve. There are two corners I'm really not doing a good job at. I knew it myself before we looked at the data.

“We put it all together. I think the Target car is fast, but it's also consistent. We just missed that 10th of a second, that perfect lap we needed to get ahead of Will.

“Passing, as we know, is difficult here. In the last couple years, I've seen more passing than in other years combined. So I expect a pretty competitive race.”

The top six cars were separated by 0.3373 of a second. The top 19 of the 27-car field are separated by less than a second.

Takuma Sato will start a season-high third in the No. 5 Lotus KV Racing Technology car, alongside Ryan Hunter-Reay in the No. 37 IZOD car for Andretti Autosport.

“I was able to improve each session,” said Sato, whose previous best start was fifth at Watkins Glen. “We tested here last week, which helped me and my engineers a lot. We spent both practice sessions working on improving the car and each change we made led to more positive results. Qualifying was tough as everyone was so close in times, so I am pleased we made it to the Firestone Fast Six (for the third time).”

Scott Dixon and Helio Castroneves – both two time winners at Mid-Ohio – will be on Row 3. Dixon extended his series record to 44 consecutive top-10 starts. Castroneves made his fourth consecutive appearance, and seventh overall, in the Firestone Fast Six.

“It's great for Team Penske having Will earn the pole, which certainly shows that we have fast cars,” he said. “Unfortunately for the No. 3 car, we tried everything that we could but we came up a little short. We will look at the data tonight and I feel good about our race set-up. Tomorrow, I know that my guys will give me fast pit stops and TC (Tim Cindric) will call a great race. I am looking forward to it.”

Ryan Briscoe, who missed the Firestone Fast Six by 0.1114 of a second, will share Row 4 with E.J. Viso in the No. 8 PDVSA KV Racing Technology car. Marco Andretti and rookie Simona de Silvestro will be on the fifth row.

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Honda Indy 200 @ Mid-Ohio Starting Grid


1. 12 Will Power Team Penske 1:07.1997 120.965
2. 10 Dario Franchitti Chip Ganassi Racing 1:07.2846 120.812

3. 5 Takuma Sato* KV Racing Technology 1:07.4337 120.545
4. 37 Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport 1:07.4411 120.532

5. 9 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing 1:07.4711 120.478
6. 3 Helio Castroneves Team Penske 1:07.5370 120.361

7. 6 Ryan Briscoe Team Penske 1:07.4687 120.483
8. 8 E.J. Viso KV Racing Technology 1:07.4713 120.478

9. 26 Marco Andretti Andretti Autosport 1:07.5436 120.349
10. 78 Simona De Silvestro* Team Stargate Worlds/HVM
1:07.6190 120.215

11. 22 Justin Wilson Dreyer & Reinbold Racing 1:07.6239 120.208
12. 06 Hideki Mutoh Newman/Haas Racing 1:07.7491 119.984

13. 4 Dan Wheldon Panther Racing 1:08.2415 119.118
14. 77 Alex Tagliani FAZZT Race Team 1:07.7789 119.931

15. 36 Bertrand Baguette* Conquest Racing 1:08.3069 119.004
16. 32 Mario Moraes KV Racing Technology 1:07.7821 119.925

17. 27 Adam Carroll AFS Racing/Andretti Autosport 1:08.4825 118.699
18. 24 J.R. Hildebrand Dreyer & Reinbold Racing 1:07.7943 119.904

19. 2 Raphael Matos de Ferran Luczo Dragon Racing 1:08.5386 118.602
20. 11 Tony Kanaan Andretti Autosport 1:07.9321 119.661

21. 19 Alex Lloyd* Dale Coyne Racing 1:08.7818 118.182
22. 7 Danica Patrick Andretti Autosport 1:07.9780 119.580

23. 34 Francesco Dracone Conquest Racing 1:11.3968 113.854
24. 14 Vitor Meira A.J. Foyt Enterprises 1:08.0414 119.468

25. 02 Graham Rahal Newman/Haas Racing 1:08.0459 119.461
26. 66 Jay Howard Sarah Fisher Racing 1:09.5028 116.956

27. 18 Milka Duno Dale Coyne Racing No posted time/speed

* Series rookie

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----It wasn't a classic race in the sense of dramatic passes and exciting on-track action, but after 85 laps on the 2.2-mile Mid-Ohio Sportscar Course, Target Chip Ganassi driver Dario Franchitti added more weight to Chip Ganassi's trophy case for the weekend after leading home Team Penske's Will Power.

With most of the passing happening in the pits, the Scot overtook Power on the first stop as the two streaked towards pit-out. After nosing ahead at the line, the two-time Indy 500 winner was never seriously challenged for the lead, crossing the start/finish line 0.5234 ahead of the Aussie. With his runner-up finish, Power clinched the inaugural Mario Andretti Road Championship Trophy.

"It's fantastic," Power said. "[I've] got a Mario Andretti trophy, fantastic, one of the best IndyCar racers of all time but we're going for that world championship. You know we couldn't get Dario today but I gave everything I got, but yeah it was still a strong day. He got us in the pits and we couldn't get him back, and I was hoping to get a lap longer than him, get him on the next stop, but couldn't get him, he didn't make a mistake and I couldn't get by."

For team owner Ganassi, Franchitti's win made for a clean sweep of racing activities over the weekend, as Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas kicked things off with a win during Saturday's GRAND-AM Rolex Series race at Watkins Glen.

Juan Pablo Montoya took the NASCAR Sprint Cup win at The Glen while the IndyCar race was at half distance, and the team capped off a perfect two days of competition with Franchitti's second win of the season, also his 25th open-wheel victory.

“I don't distinguish between one [win] or the other,” he said, “to win 25 I'm quite surprised by that, that we got there and I'm really proud and it's a lot to do with driving great equipment throughout my career and I couldn't be happier to be part of Team Target. That first pit stop today, that won us the race. So it's good we [won] for Team Target and Chip Ganassi; Montoya won one, and one in the GRAND-AM race last night...so in Scotland, that's what we call a hat trick!”

Helio Castroneves was almost as strong as he'd been at Edmonton, keeping the rest of the runners at bay to finish third, albeit 3.5649 seconds behind his teammate Power. A gamble on strategy by Rob Edwards boosted Alex Tagliani's chances, as the only owner/driver in the field let a significant portion of the race before finishing fourth. Franchitti's teammate, Scott Dixon, was one of few drivers to make meaningful passes on the track, and vaulted himself up to fifth at the checkered flag ahead of Ryan Briscoe. The Kiwi, rather nonplussed at his result, said "We had a pretty good run go, a solid 3rd place car. We tried a few things strategy wise, but 5th place wasn't too bad in the end."

Briscoe's chance at victory, like he'd encountered at Edmonton two weeks ago, was hampered by early contact. This time it came in the form of a three-way shunt involving his teammate, Helio Castroneves, and Ryan Hunter-Reay as the trio rocketed out of their pit stalls.

With the tighter Mid-Ohio pit boxes -- shortened to accommodate a 27th car -- the three drivers launched for the same piece of track, with RHR pushing Castroneves into the outside pit wall while Briscoe hit RHR's left front suspension. The Aussie suffered a cut tire and would eventually finish sixth while the American returned to the pits to replace a bent a-arm, dropping him to the back of the cars on the lead lap.

The IZOD-sponsored driver went from the lead pack to having to make up more than 20 positions to regain what he'd lost in the incident. He'd claw his way back up to 10th, passing three of his five teammates in the process, with only Marco Andretti ahead of him in ninth, .8104 up the road. With the amount of ground he had to reclaim on a track where passing is nearly impossible, RHR's performance once again stood out as the best of the Andretti Autosport camp.

Another driver on the charge in the final laps was de Ferran Dragon's Rafa Matos, who overtook Andretti and Simona De Silvestro to finish seventh. The young Brazilian is finally starting to deliver on his potential, executing a fast and clean race without making any of the desperate moves that usually ended his day in tears.

Behind Matos, Simona De Silvestro made up for the result that was lost at Edmonton when her fuel pump seized with a strong finish in sight. After running in the shadow of Briscoe towards the end of the race, and while on Firestone Blacks, the Swiss rookie conceded spots to Dixon and Matos, settling for a still impressive eighth-place result.

With Andretti in ninth and Hunter-Reay in 10th, another rookie gave a strong showing as Belgium's Bertrand Baguette gave every indication that he's gotten the hang of an IndyCar on the road and street courses, placing 11th for Eric Bachelart's Conquest Racing outfit. Behind Baguette, the rest of the finishers had little or no impact on the race, with exception to those who spun, crashed or got in the way of the leaders.

Tony Kanaan's day went awry on the opening lap after a trip across the grass dropped him to last. An alternate pit strategy failed to get the 2004 Series champion's race back in order. He'd eventually finish 17th. Teammate Adam Carroll, highly impressive during his debut at Watkins Glen, never factored, coming home 19th. The fifth and final member of the Andretti Autosport clan, Danica Patrick, did another disappearing act, earning more camera time for her TV commercials than for her on-track performance. The IZOD IndyCar Series' most popular driver finished 21st, the final pilot on the lead lap.

Graham Rahal's unsuccessful overtaking attempt on Dan Wheldon sent the NTB-sponsored driver lightly into the tire wall at the Keyhole, dropping the Newman/Haas driver back in the field. He'd rejoin the race, but would finish 20th.

Of the two rookies making their first series start, 2009 Indy Lights champion J.R. Hildebrand had an eventful day as the Dreyer & Reinbold driver ran in and out of the top-20, settling for 16th after an almost error-free race. Italy's Francesco Dracone, on the other hand, lived up to his reputation, causing two separate yellows for back-to-back spins. He would finish three laps down in 22nd, one spot ahead of his inspiration, Milka Duno.

Duno, as shown repeatedly by the television cameras, wandered aimlessly and off the pace for the majority of the afternoon, blocking the leaders and almost taking out Danica Patrick. Beyond being placed on probation, the Venezuelan driver's total lack of situational awareness continues to serve as a public embarrassment for the IZOD IndyCar Series.(Mod's note.......back in the late 90's CART pulled the licence of Shigeaki Hattori for similar trouble; why they haven't done so to Duno is a mystery to me.........)

After running in third, Takuma Sato threw away his best performance to date by out-braking himself at the end of the back straight, nosing into the tires and ending his day on Lap 57. The only other major crashers of the day came in the form of Justin Wilson and EJ Viso. Viso, for once, wasn't at fault, as the Briton failed to draw far enough alongside the KV Racing driver, hitting Viso's right rear wheel with his left front. Both were out on the spot.

For the defending series champion, earning just his second win of the year with twelve races in the books has been a bit surprising, but with the victory at Mid-Ohio, Franchitti closed the points gap to 41 behind Power. The championship is far from decided, but as long as Will Power can stay close to the leaders for the remaining races, his Team Penske teammates and the Target Chip Ganassi duo will have to work miracles to take the Verizon Wireless driver out of contention for his first IZOD IndyCar title.


Top-10 from Mid-Ohio
1} #10 Dario Franchitti, 85 laps
2} #12 Will Power, -0.523 sec
3} #3 Helio Castroneves, -4.088 sec
4} #77 Alex Tagliani, -5.642 sec
5} #9 Scott Dixon, -5.915 sec
6} #6 Ryan Briscoe, -6.510 sec
7} #2 Raphael Matos, -6.752 sec
8}(R)#78 Simona de Silvestro, -10.145 sec
9} #26 Marco Andretti, -10.955 sec
10} #37 Ryan Hunter-Reay, -13.234 sec