From worst to first, Dixon wins pole in record time
- Eleven drivers broke the previous track record at Mid-Ohio
- Dario Franchitti and Gil de Ferran held the record together for 15 years with a 1:05.347.
- This is Scott Dixon’s second pole position in Lexington.
- The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio starts at 2 p.m. Sunday and will be televised live on CNBC.
LEXINGTON – After starting from the back of the field and still winning last year’s Honda Indy 200, Scott Dixon must feel like he’ll be getting a head start for Sunday’s race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
“Put it this way, I’m much happier starting on the pole than where we did last year,” the Verizon IndyCar Series veteran said.
Called Mr. Mid-Ohio for his acumen at the twisting 2.25-mile permanent road course, Dixon added another note to his racing resume, winning pole position in a record-breaking time of 1:04.5814 (125.869 mph).
The previous best lap time at Mid-Ohio, held jointly by Dario Franchitti (1999) and Gil de Ferran (2000), was a 1:05.347 (124.394 mph). That mark was lowered by 11 drivers during Saturday’s qualifying, mainly because of the new aero packages introduced this year.
“Obviously straight line speed is not the same as what it used to be in the past, but the cornering is just incredible, especially with the Firestone tires, the red Firestone tires,” Helio Castroneves said, comparing today’s cars to the ones the 1,000-horsepower monsters he drove when the previous marks were set. “No, I did not think that that would be able to happen, but with the aero kits from Chevy and Honda, today it was possible to break a record.”
As expected Dixon was dialed in all day. He easily escaped group qualifying, then was runner-up in the second round to teammate Charlie Kimball. In the Firestone Fast Six, he went back to being fastest.
“The car definitely has got some good speed in it, and hopefully we can stay in this position,” Dixon said.
No one has won more major league open-wheel races at Mid-Ohio than Dixon. He’s done it five times, including three of the last four, and he’s done it from the pole in 2011. But last year, he won it like no other.
A spin during the first qualifying session wiped out his best two laps as a penalty and he was forced to start 22nd. Dixon and his Target Chip Ganassi Racing team switched up their strategy in mid-race, caught a couple of breaks with a timely caution and Newgarden’s flub in the pits and took a win. Before that, no one won at Mid-Ohio beyond the fourth row.
Honda was shut out of the Firestone Fast Six as Chevrolet took nine of the 12 spots in the second round of qualifying. One driver who didn’t make it that far was Graham Rahal who felt he was held up by Sage Karam in the opening group qualifying, missing a spot in the next round by 0.1252 seconds.
“I caught him and it absolutely just killed the entire momentum, and I lost the entire lap.,” Rahal said. “It’s just a shame. This is a huge, huge race for us, and we’re going to start 13th. We’ve got to win this.”
Rahal entered the weekend in second place in the points standings, 42 behind leader Juan Pablo Montoya with just three races left. Montoya has had his own troubles this weekend and will start just 10th, but the logjam of drivers immediately behind Rahal fared much better.
Besides Dixon who is third in the points, fourth-place Helio Castroneves will start fourth; fifth-place Will Power will start second; sixth-place Sebastien Bourdais will start third and eighth-place Josef Newgarden will start fifth.
“I’m not saying it can’t be done from there,” Rahal said of his spot on the grid, “but I definitely think we had a car good enough to be in the top six. With everybody that we are competing against, it’s a shame when back markers like that get in the way of the championship. I’m pretty frustrated.
“Obviously this is a home crowd, home race and we want to get a win for Steak ‘n Shake and Honda. We’ve got some work to do tomorrow.”
Everyone does with Mr. Mid-Ohio leading the field from the point.
rmccurdy@gannett.com
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Twitter: @McMotorsport
Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Qualifying
• Starting lineup: 1. Scott Dixon 1:04.5814 (125.869 mph), 2. Will Power 1:04.6782, 3. Sebastien Bourdais 1:04.9965, 4. Helio Castroneves 1:05.0625, 5. Josef Newgarden 1:05.0784, 6. Charlie Kimball 1:05.0784, 7. Ryan Hunter-Reay 1:05.0455, 8. Tony Kanaan 1:05.0647, 9. Luca Filippi 1:05.1616, 10. Juan Pablo Montoya 1:05.2081, 11. Jack Hawksworth 1:05.2291, 12. Marco Andretti 1:05.3931, 13. Graham Rahal 1:05.965, 14. Justin Wilson 1:05.5886, 15. Simon Pagenaud 1:05.9877, 16. Takuma Sato 1:05.5933, 17. James Jakes 1:06.0671, 18. Stefano Coletti 1:05.6204, 19. Sage Karam 1:06.0688, 20. Ryan Briscoe 1:05.7053, 21. Gabby Chaves 1:06.2195, 22. Rodolfo Gonzalez 1:05.9698, 23. Carlos Munoz 1:06.9891, 24. Tristian Vautier 1:06.0814.
• Previous record: Dario Franchitti (1999), Gil de Ferran (2000), 1:05.347 (124.394).
— Verizon IndyCar Series