INDYCAR: Pato O'Ward Leads Honda Indy 200 Practice at Mid-Ohio - Full Results
Full results from opening practice at Mid-Ohio where Pato O'Ward turned the fastest lap of the day.
| 2023 Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio - Practice Results | |||
| Pos | Driver | Team | Engine |
| 1 | Pato O'Ward | Arrow McLaren | Chevrolet |
| 2 | Alex Palou | Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda |
| 3 | Marcus Ericsson | Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda |
| 4 | Christian Lundgaard | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | Honda |
| 5 | Kyle Kirkwood | Andretti Autosport | Honda |
| 6 | Romain Grosjean | Andretti Autosport | Honda |
| 7 | Josef Newgarden | Team Penske | Chevrolet |
| 8 | Scott McLaughlin | Team Penske | Chevrolet |
| 9 | Alexander Rossi | Arrow McLaren | Chevrolet |
| 10 | Colton Herta | Andretti Autosport | Honda |
| 11 | Jack Harvey | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | Honda |
| 12 | Devlin DeFrancesco | Andretti Autosport | Honda |
| 13 | Felix Rosenqvist | Arrow McLaren | Chevrolet |
| 14 | Will Power | Team Penske | Chevrolet |
| 15 | Scott Dixon | Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda |
| 16 | Helio Castroneves | Meyer Shank Racing | Honda |
| 17 | Rinus VeeKay | Ed Carpenter Racing | Chevrolet |
| 18 | Marcus Armstrong | Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda |
| 19 | Graham Rahal | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | Honda |
| 20 | Simon Pagenaud | Meyer Shank Racing | Honda |
| 21 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | Ed Carpenter Racing | Chevrolet |
| 22 | Callum Ilott | Juncos Hollinger Racing | Chevrolet |
| 23 | Agustin Canapino | Juncos Hollinger Racing | Chevrolet |
| 24 | David Malukas | Dale Coyne Racing | Honda |
| 25 | Santino Ferrucci | AJ Foyt Racing | Chevrolet |
| 26 | Sting Ray Robb | Dale Coyne Racing | Honda |
| 27 | Benjamin Pedersen | AJ Foyt Racing | Chevrolet |
The second half of the 2023 IndyCar season began today with opening practice at the Mid-Ohio SportsCar Course, where Pato O'Ward set a blistering lap of 66.4935 seconds to take the top spot on the board. The Arrow McLaren driver was in line to win this race last year before an engine failure ruined his race in the closing stages. He will be aiming to correct that this weekend, but there will be plenty of competition.
Alex Palou finished runner-up here a year ago, and was second-fastest in today's practice session. The current championship points leader has been on a tear this season and will seek to further distance himself in pursuit of his second series title. His Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Marcus Ericsson was third quick today, with Christian Lundgaard and Kyle Kirkwood rounding out the top five overall.
The remaining top-ten in practice featured Romain Grosjean, Josef Newgarden, defending race winner Scott McLaughlin, Alexander Rossi, and Colton Herta. It has been a disappointing season for Herta, who will have a new race strategist again this weekend. Andretti Autosport COO Rob Edwards will slide over to Herta's No. 26 Honda, swapping spots with Scott Harner on the No. 29 stand with Devlin DeFrancesco.
Scott Dixon has won six times at Mid-Ohio and has a total of 13 top-five finishes. He has dominated this track over the years but has not had recent success. He has just one podium finish in the last nine races at Mid-Ohio and is still searching for his first win of the season. Dixon is the last driver to earn back-to-back wins at Mid-Ohio, which came more than a decade ago.
Qualifying will be crucial to the race on Sunday as seven of the last eight races here have been won by a driver starting on the front row. That is good news for Will Power, who has started on the front row nine times. Oddly enough, the king of qualifying has yet to start inside the top-six this year, which is the longest drought of his career. Another driver looking for his first win is Rossi, who has finished 6th, 1st, 5th, 3rd, 2nd, and 5th in six of the last seven races at Mid-Ohio.
