All posts by Aaron Bearden

By Aaron Bearden, Open Wheel Editor MADISON, Ill. — Post-race review and analysis from the Verizon IndyCar Series race at Gateway Motorsports Park. Who Won?  Will Power. The Australian surged around pole-sitter Scott Dixon on Lap 150 and overcame Alexander Rossi’s late fuel strategy play to earn his third win of 2018. Top Stories Minor Gains The summer’s IndyCar championship battle between veteran leader Scott Dixon and scrappy challenger Alexander Rossi hasn’t been a tale of big swings or surprises. It’s been a battle in the trenches, and in recent weeks Rossi’s had the upperRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Open Wheel Editor LEXINGTON, Ohio — Post-race review and analysis from the Verizon IndyCar Series race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Who Won?  Alexander Rossi. The third-year star scored his fourth victory with Andretti Autosport, winning from pole with a two-stop pit strategy. Top Stories The Rivalry Continues Robert Wickens questioned polesitter Alexander Rossi’s form at the initial start of Sunday’s race after rallying for a second-place finish. “I thought it was cheeky,” he said of the maneuver. “Alex definitely changed the speed before he accelerated. He obviously had a much shorter firstRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Open Wheel Editor LEXINGTON, Ohio — Two years ago Simon Pagenaud found Victory Lane at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course en route to his first-career Verizon IndyCar Series championship. In Sunday’s Honda Indy 200 the Frenchman was content to come home in eighth. Pagenaud overcame a dismal 17th-place qualifying effort to gain nine spots on the narrow Mid-Ohio circuit and salvage a top 10 result. The run was the Team Penske ace’s sixth-consecutive top 10, though he failed to score a podium for the 11th time in 13 starts this season. “TheRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Open Wheel Editor LEXINGTON, Ohio — Alexander Rossi made a step back toward the championship with a dominant win from pole at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Rossi led 66 of 90 laps and put together a textbook drive with a two-stop strategy to claim Sunday’s Honda Indy 200. The result was his fourth-career Verizon IndyCar Series, and his second of 2018. “To be able to rebound from the three pretty difficult weekends we had coming into this one is a fantastic effort by everyone on the 27 NAPA team,”Read More

By Aaron Bearden, Open Wheel Editor LEXINGTON, Ohio — The Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires doubleheader at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course played out much like the season prior to it in 2018. Colton Herta was nipping at his heels, but Patricio O’Ward held on to score consecutive trips to victory lane. O’Ward held off another late surge from Herta to claim Sunday’s Cooper Tires Indy Lights Mid-Ohio Grand Prix Race 2 – his seventh win of the 2018 season (vs. Herta’s four), and fourth triumph in the past five races. HertaRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Open Wheel Editor LEXINGTON, Ohio — Kyle Kirkwood captured the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda crown with a Friday win at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. He celebrated a new series record with his eighth-consecutive win on Saturday. On Sunday the Cape Motorsports star got out the broom for a weekend sweep. Kirkwood surged ahead of polesitter James Raven in the first two turns and drove off from there to claim another dominant victory in Sunday’s Cooper Tires USF2000 Mid-Ohio Grand Prix Race 3, tallying his ninth-straight victory andRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Open Wheel Editor LEXINGTON, Ohio — Rinus Veekay didn’t have another dominant effort from pole in the second Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. But after polesitter David Malukas went off-course on Lap 8, the Juncos Racing driver won the race all the same. Veekay held on to his second starting position through the opening circuit and benefitted from Malukas’ misfortune to claim Cooper Tires Pro Mazda Mid-Ohio Grand Prix Race 2, completing a weekend sweep that saw the Dutch shoeRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Open Wheel Editor LEXINGTON, Ohio — Notes, Quotes, Stories and Takeaways from the Road to Indy on Saturday at Mid-Ohio Indy Lights Talent, Drama… And Respect Among Andretti Autosport Teammates Make no mistake – Patricio O’Ward and Colton Herta want nothing more than to beat each other for the Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires championship this year. But peel beneath their competitive fire and you’ll see something other than intensity and drive shared between the Andretti Autosport duo. Respect. “I think it’s a win-win situation for both ofRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Open Wheel Editor LEXINGTON, Ohio — Rinus Veekay put together a dominant Saturday at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course to claim the Pro Mazda Presented by Cooper Tires championship lead. Veekay scored the pole and led wire-to-wire to claim Saturday’s Cooper Tires Pro Mazda Mid-Ohio Grand Prix Race 1. The Juncos Racing prospect took the checkered flag 2.8753 seconds clear of BN Racing’s David Malukas in what proved to be a comfortable win in a caution-free event. Robert Megennis rose from fifth to claim the final spot on theRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Open Wheel Editor LEXINGTON, Ohio — Andretti Autosport teammates Patricio O’Ward and Colton Herta found themselves in a familiar place in Saturday’s Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires race – battling amongst themselves for a trip to victory lane. This time it was O’Ward that took the checkered flag. O’Ward led wire-to-wire and kept Herta at bay over the final run to the finish to win Cooper Tires Mid-Ohio Grand Prix Race 1. The win was the Mexican’s sixth in 13 races this season, putting him twoRead More