As the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio doubleheader weekend gets underway, Andretti Autosport driver Ryan Hunter-Reay would go fastest in the sole practice session on Saturday morning.
Times consistently fell throughout the session as heat and rubber got laid down around the 3.634 km road course. A red flag would come out with about 40 minutes to go in the session, as Pato O’Ward got acquainted with the tyre barrier in turn twelve.
The Arrow McLaren SP driver would carry too much speed into turn eleven, getting loose, and hitting the aforementioned barrier. He would finish the session twenty-second fastest as damage to his front wing and left front suspension would see him miss the rest of the session.
When the green flag came back out with just under thirty minutes to go, almost the entire field hit the track to perform qualifying simulations.
Hunter-Reay would go fastest with a lap time of 1:06.303. The only other driver to dip below 1:06.3 would be second place finisher Will Power, who set a lap time of 1:06.395.
Alexander Rossi would make it two Andretti cars in the top five, as he would finish third fastest. Rossi was consistently fast throughout the session, sitting atop of the timing sheet for a portion of the session. Behind him would be six time Mid-Ohio winner and points leader Scott Dixon in fourth.
Santino Ferrucci would finish the session fifth on primary black tyres, one of only two drivers in the top ten to set their best lap on the slower tyre. After changing members of his pit crew for this weekend, maybe he can finally avoid pit road woes and fight for a win.
The other driver to finish in the top ten on blacks was Marco Andretti, who finished tenth.
Josef Newgarden would join Team Penske teammate Power in the top ten, with his lap of 1:06.695 good enough for sixth place. Seventh place would go to Alex Palou at the track where he first tested for Dale Coyne Racing last season, and continues to be quick around the circuit.
Colton Herta would put his Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport machine eighth fastest in the session, and Conor Daly would finish ninth in his first race back with Ed Carpenter Racing, where he will stay for the rest of the season.
Qualifying for Race 1 will take place at 14:00 EST / 19:00 GMT.
Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Practice Top Ten
| RANK | CAR NO. | DRIVER | NAT | TEAM | BEST TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 28 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | USA | Andretti Autosport | 01:06.3034 | –.—- |
| 2 | 12 | Will Power | AUS | Team Penske | 01:06.3952 | +0.0918 |
| 3 | 27 | Alexander Rossi | USA | Andretti Autosport | 01:06.4299 | +0.0347 |
| 4 | 9 | Scott Dixon | NZL | Chip Ganassi Racing | 01:06.4407 | +0.0108 |
| 5 | 18 | Santino Ferrucci | USA | Dale Coyne Racing w/ Vasser-Sullivan | 01:06.5613 | +0.1206 |
| 6 | 1 | Josef Newgarden | USA | Team Penske | 01:06.6952 | +0.1339 |
| 7 | 55 | Alex Palou (R) | ESP | Dale Coyne Racing w/ Team Goh | 01:06.7796 | +0.0844 |
| 8 | 88 | Colton Herta | USA | Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport | 01:06.8349 | +0.0553 |
| 9 | 20 | Conor Daly | USA | Ed Carpenter Racing | 01:06.8702 | +0.0353 |
| 10 | 98 | Marco Andretti | USA | Andretti Herta Autosport with Marco Andretti and Curb-Agajanian | 01:06.8987 | +0.0285 |
You can view the full session results here.
