Simon Pagenaud was over the moon to secure his fourth Verizon IndyCar Series victory of 2016 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Sunday, and put some momentum back into his championship challenge after seeing his lead in the standings cut back dramatically by team-mate Will Power.
The Team Penske driver made a great move after the end of the caution period towards the end of the race on Power, that ultimately decided the race, a move he declared was fair, clean, hard racing.
Pagenaud was suffering with back pains throughout the Mid-Ohio weekend, but survived through the race unscathed, and thanked the medical team at the circuit for getting him fit and ready for race day.
“I can’t feel anything right now so it’s all good,” said Pagenaud. “My back was fine all race, thanks to INDYCAR Medical.
“Whew, that was a race there, that was fun. It was an awesome battle with Will (Power) there. I knew that was my chance on that restart, it was time to go. It was a pretty interesting lap, fun driving like that. That’s racing. It was fair, it was clean, it was hard racing and I’m just glad I won, really.
“The PPG Chevrolet was really good today so when it was time to push it was easy to lay down some fast laps. The red Firestone tires were amazing today on the car. I just pushed as hard as we could and here we are. It’s awesome. Four wins this year.”
