Pato O’Ward turns Arrow McLaren duel into IndyCar Mid-Ohio win

Pato O'Ward led the first-ever Arrow McLaren 1-2 en route to victory in the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

The Mexican pounced on teammate and pole-sitter Christian Lundgaard error on Lap 42 and held serve en route to his first win of the season, besting the Dane by 0.9877s at the 2.258-mile, 13-turn natural-terrain road course. It was the 10th career win for O’Ward, which has come on nine different tracks; becoming just the second driver to hit double digit wins for the team (Johnny Rutherford, 18 victories). It also marks the first time Arrow McLaren has finished 1-2 in IndyCar. 

“Yeah, it’s been a year. It’s been a tough one, for sure,” O’Ward said. “Today is just a perfect example of execution. I waited for the perfect time to pounce. And from there, we just controlled it. The guys were amazing in the pits. I know they’ve been working really, really hard to give me that every single weekend and this car’s been a joy to drive all weekend.”

Pato O'Ward, Arrow McLaren

Photo by: Penske Entertainment

Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood converted a 10th-place start into a strong third-place finish to stand on the final step of the podium.

Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Rinus VeeKay finished fourth, ahead of reigning and four-time IndyCar Series champion Alex Palou (Chip Ganassi Racing) in fifth. 

The Race

Lundgaard led the field to the green flag from pole as O’Ward dove in behind as they navigated into Turn 4 from the alternate start line. 

Palou, starting on a set of soft tires, was on the early charge, moving up to sixth by the second lap after starting eighth. Kirkwood, who started 10th, climbed up to seventh, directly behind Palou, after three laps. The two went wheel-to-wheel, but Palou was able to fend off the charge from his championship rival. 

Through the opening five laps, Lundgaard held a 1.2s lead over O’Ward, with Malukas in third. 

After starting 23rd and running 20th, Scott Dixon was the first to dive to pit lane on Lap 8. Kirkwood pitted on Lap 10. Dixon’s hope for clear track to pound out quick lap times was impeded by ECR’s Alexander Rossi, who also pitted and came out directly ahead. 

Palou continued to make the softer tires work compared to others, progressing up to fourth as other drivers on the compound already pitted. He dove to pit lane on Lap 15 and swapped to a set of one-lap used harder primaries. 

Palou came out directly ahead of Kirkwood, but was unable to hold him off with cold tires. 

Lundgaard, O’Ward, and Malukas continued to stay out on track, with each starting the race on the preferred harder primary tires. 

Christian Lundgaard, Arrow McLaren

Photo by: Penske Entertainment

By Lap 20, Lundgaard held a 1.8s lead over O’Ward, with Malukas 3.9s behind. 

Malukas was the first among the top three to pit, doing so on Lap 25. O’Ward pitted on Lap 27, along with Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden, potentially attempting a two-stop strategy. Lundgaard pitted the following lap to cover O’Ward, and took on a fresh set of harder primaries. 

With Lundgaard holding firm out front with a 1.7s lead over O’Ward, other contenders began making their second pit stops shortly after. On Lap 37, the likes of Kirkwood, Caio Collet, and Rinus VeeKay all dove to pit lane. 

Meanwhile, Race Control was left reviewing an incident after Rossi and Dixon made contact in Turn 2 moments later. Rossi was deemed in the wrong and forced to give up two track positions by Race Control. 

Palou pitted on Lap 41. 

It was a close moment for Lundgaard, who went wide and collected marbles entering Turn 2, which was just enough to allow O’Ward to catch - and then pass in Turn 5 with slight contact - for the race lead on Lap 42. 

At the halfway point, O’Ward held a 0.7254s lead over Lundgaard. 

Lundgaard pitted on Lap 47 and switched to a set of alternates, with O’Ward pitting on Lap 48 and also taking on the soft compound; Malukas also pitted. The cycle of stops allowed VeeKay to propel directly behind Lundgaard and level on strategy with the frontrunners. Malukas fell to fifth after a long pit stop, with Kirkwood up to fourth. 

By Lap 55, O’Ward’s lead was 0.8208s over Lundgaard, with VeeKay 2.3633s behind in third - and catching with the harder primaries.

O’Ward got around the backmarker of rookie Dennis Hauger on Lap 63, putting a gap on Lundgaard and VeeKay. However, Lundgaard and VeeKay entered pit lane moments later, with VeeKay losing ground on the stop as Kirkwood cycled ahead. Meanwhile, O’Ward had yet to pit. 

Romain Grosjean, Dale Coyne Racing

Photo by: Penske Entertainment

With 25 laps to go, O’Ward finally dove to pit lane and swapped on to a set of alternates. He came out nearly a straightaway ahead of Lundgaard. 

O’Ward’s lead stood at 2.5519s over Lundgaard with 20 laps remaining. 

Five laps later, Lundgaard began inching closer to O’Ward as the two were separated by 2.1755s. 

With 10 laps to go, O’Ward’s lead shrunk down to 1.4655s over Lundgaard. 

On Lap 85, the gap whittled down to 1.1640s between O’Ward and Lundgaard. Kirkwood remained in third, 2.5263s back of the leader. VeeKay sat fourth, with Palou fifth. 

O’Ward continued to lead at the white flag, ahead by 1.0979s on Lundgaard. In the end, O’Ward held on to get his first road course win since winning at Mid-Ohio in 2024 in the debut of the hybrid.  

RACE

All Stats

Cla	Driver	#		Laps	Time	Interval	Mph	Pits	Points	Retirement
1	P. O'Ward Arrow McLaren	5		90	1:43'23.5043		117.932	3	53
2	C. Lundgaard Arrow McLaren	7		90	+0.9877 1:43'24.4920	0.9877	117.913	3	42
3	K. Kirkwood Andretti Global	27		90	+2.2463 1:43'25.7506	1.2586	117.889	3	35
4	R. van Kalmthout Juncos Hollinger Racing	76		90	+2.7929 1:43'26.2972	0.5466	117.879	3	32
5	A. Palou Chip Ganassi Racing	10		90	+7.5453 1:43'31.0496	4.7524	117.789	3	30
6	W. Power Andretti Global	26		90	+10.9572 1:43'34.4615	3.4119	117.724	3	29
7	C. Rasmussen Ed Carpenter Racing	21		90	+15.8407 1:43'39.3450	4.8835	117.632	3	26
8	D. Malukas Team Penske	12		90	+16.5104 1:43'40.0147	0.6697	117.619	3	24
9	J. Newgarden Team Penske	2		90	+21.0668 1:43'44.5711	4.5564	117.533	3	23
10	N. Siegel Arrow McLaren	6		90	+25.6258 1:43'49.1301	4.5590	117.447	3	20
11	C. Collet A.J. Foyt Enterprises	4		90	+26.6088 1:43'50.1131	0.9830	117.428	3	19
12	G. Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	15		90	+30.7914 1:43'54.2957	4.1826	117.350	3	18
13	F. Rosenqvist Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian	60		90	+31.3557 1:43'54.8600	0.5643	117.339	3	17
14	M. Armstrong Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian	66		90	+36.3424 1:43'59.8467	4.9867	117.245	3	16
15	K. Simpson Chip Ganassi Racing	8		90	+37.0539 1:44'00.5582	0.7115	117.232	3	15
16	S. McLaughlin Team Penske	3		90	+39.8240 1:44'03.3283	2.7701	117.180	3	14
17	S. Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing	9		90	+42.7742 1:44'06.2785	2.9502	117.124	3	13
18	L. Foster Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	45		90	+51.1645 1:44'14.6688	8.3903	116.967	3	12
19	S. Ferrucci A.J. Foyt Enterprises	14		90	+56.6523 1:44'20.1566	5.4878	116.865	3	11
20	A. Rossi Ed Carpenter Racing	20		90	+1'00.4321 1:44'23.9364	3.7798	116.794	3	10
21	M. Ericsson Andretti Global	28		90	+1'01.0731 1:44'24.5774	0.6410	116.782	3	9
22	R. Robb Sting Juncos Hollinger Racing	77		90	+1'05.2107 1:44'28.7150	4.1376	116.705	3	8
23	R. Grosjean Dale Coyne Racing	18		90	+1'06.4289 1:44'29.9332	1.2182	116.683	3	7
24	M. Schumacher Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	47		90	+1'07.4209 1:44'30.9252	0.9920	116.664	3	6
25	D. Hauger Dale Coyne Racing	19		89	+1 Lap 1:43'47.8770	1 Lap	116.165	3	5
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