David Malukas Picks Up Best Finish of the Season with a Ninth Place at Mid-Ohio

Lexington, OH (Sunday, July 3, 2022) – Dale Coyne Racing driver David Malukas (#18 Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports) picked up his best finish of the season at the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course while Takuma Sato (#51 Nurtec ODT – Dale Coyne Racing with RWR) placed 14th. Details for both drivers are below.

• Malukas, who led the morning warmup earlier in the day fell to ninth in the opening laps from his eighth place on the starting grid.
• The rookie then moved up to seventh on a Lap 13 restart and ran in that position until his first pit stop on Lap 26.
• He was running 11th when a full course caution came out on Lap 31 but he would fall back to 13th 10 laps later when the action returned to green.
• Following a Lap 58 restart, he gradually made his way back into the Top 10, before taking over ninth place on Lap 64.
• Today’s ninth place finish was Malukas’ best finish of the season after finishing 11th twice earlier this year at Detroit and Texas Motor Speedway. 

David Malukas, #18 Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports Honda
“It’s our first top 10 finish. I’m really happy with a ninth place after starting eighth. The yellow flags were the worst thing that could have happened to us but we still managed to get a P9 out of it. We had some really good racing with veterans. I went inside and outside of Pagenaud and Harvey and then was behind Castroneves. It was cool to see what they were doing and learn from following them as well. Overall, I’m really happy with our race.”

• Sato immediately gained a couple of positions at the start of the race to move into 17th place from his 19th spot on the grid.
• He spent most of his first stint in 15th place and was running seventh when he headed to pit lane for his first stop on Lap 28.
• Unfortunately for Sato, he went off track in Turn 9 while running 16th during his middle stint and that sent him to the back of the field in 24th.
• Following his final stop on Lap 52, Sato climbed his way back up the field.
• He moved into 15th on the Lap 63 restart before taking over 14th place with 10 laps remaining.
• In eight races this season, Sato has a best finish of seventh at the GMR Grand Prix and a best start of second in Detroit.

Takuma Sato #51 Nurtec ODT Honda – Dale Coyne Racing with RWR
“The Mid-Ohio race was a pity. I think we had a good start using the advantage of the red tire and moving up quite a few places. Then the restart was also strong, and I was on my way to getting close to the top 10. Then I went a little wide on our middle stint and fell to the back of the field. The 51 guys did a good job today. It was a shame that we could get any higher in the field, but we still learned a lot of things from Mid-Ohio. The next one is Toronto and we’re really looking forward to that one after three years. We’ll keep pushing and hopefully we can have a good result there.”

Next Up:
Honda Indy Toronto
Race 10 of 17
Sunday, July 17, 2022