Front-Row Start for Rossi, Honda at Mid-Ohio

 

LEXINGTON, Ohio (July 27, 2019) – Championship contender Alexander Rossi led the way for Honda in qualifying today at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, and will start Sunday’s Honda Indy 200 on the outside of the front row, second.

 

Earlier today, Rossi’s Andretti Autosport team announced the team has reached a multi-year agreement to continue with Honda power in the NTT IndyCar Series, and a multi-year deal with Rossi to continue driving for the Indianapolis-based organization.

 

After running only 14th in Friday’s practice sessions, overnight setup changes resulted in significant improvements to Rossi’s Honda, and he advanced through the first two rounds of “knockout” qualifying.  Rossi led the final “Fast Six” round as well, until Will Power’s final lap secured the pole by 0.3748 seconds.

 

Sebastien Bourdais also advanced to final round qualifying in his DCR with Vasser-Sullivan Honda, and will start fifth.  Felix Rosenqvist led the rookie contingent and will start sixth for Chip Ganassi Racing, his sixth top-six qualifying run of the season.

 

Another fast rookie, Colton Herta, will start seventh for Harding Steinbrenner Racing, while defending series champion Scott Dixon qualified eighth.  Running his eighth race this season, Jack Harvey qualified ninth for Meyer Shank Racing, while Ryan Hunter-Reay made it seven Honda drivers in the top ten.

 

The Honda Indy 200, 13th round of the 2019 season, begin at 4 p.m. EDT Sunday, with live network television coverage on NBC.

 

Alexander Rossi (Harding Steinbrenner Racing Honda)Qualified second, his sixth front row start of 2019; announced earlier today he had re-signed with Andretti Autosport, which also has renewed a multi-year agreement with Honda: “Looking back at [final-round qualifying], [pole qualifier] Will [Power] did a really slow first lap for his two-lap run, and I did two hard laps in a row. I think I ‘ran out of tire’ because they were used [up]by the time I got halfway through the [second, faster] lap,and that’s where the deficit [to pole qualifier Power] came from. A little bit of a strategy call they made better than us, but I think our race car is great. The boys have done a really good job overnight – we struggled yesterday [in practice]. The NAPA Andretti Honda boys put their heads together and made it happen today, and the front row is a good place to start.”

 

 

NTT IndyCar Series Honda Indy 200

Circuit:​​Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (2.258-mile road course) Lexington, Ohio

2017 Winner:​Alexander Rossi (Andretti Autosport) 116.957 mph average

Weather:​Mostly sunny, warm, 82 degrees F

 

Top-12 Qualifying Results:

Ps.	Driver​	Team	Manufacturer	Best Time	Notes
1.	Will Power	Team Penske	Chevrolet	1:05.1569	124.577 mph average
2.	Alexander Rossi	Andretti Autosport	Honda	1:05.5317	+0.3748 seconds
3.	Josef Newgarden	Team Penske	Chevrolet	1:05.7885	Fast Six Final Qualifying
4.	Simon Pagenaud	Team Penske	Chevrolet	1:05.8958	Fast Six Final Qualifying
5.	Sebastien Bourdais	DCR with Vasser-Sullivan​	Honda	1:06.2040	Fast Six Final Qualifying
6.	Felix Rosenqvist-R	Chip Ganassi Racing​	Honda	1:06.4914	Fast Six Final Qualifying
7.	Colton Herta-R	Harding Steinbrenner Racing	Honda	1:05.5650	2nd Round Qualifying
8.	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	1:05.6999	2nd Round Qualifying
9.	Jack Harvey-R	Meyer Shank Racing​	Honda	1:05.7231	2nd Round Qualifying
10.	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti Autosport	Honda	1:05.7328	2nd Round Qualifying
11.	James Hinchcliffe	Arrow Schmidt Peterson	Honda	1:05.7567	2nd Round Qualifying
12.	Marcus Ericsson-R	Arrow Schmidt Peterson	Honda	1:06.0428	2nd Round Qualifying

Other Honda Results

14.	Santino Ferrucci-R	Dale Coyne Racing​	Honda	1:05.7588	1st Round, Group 2
15.	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan	Honda	1:05.9745	1st Round, Group 1
17.	Takuma Sato	Rahal Letterman Lanigan	Honda	1:06.3723	1st Round, Group 1
19.	Marco Andretti	Andretti Autosport	Honda	1:06.4156	1st Round, Group 1
20.	Zach Veach-R	Andretti Autosport	Honda	1:06.2112	1st Round, Group 2