Pre-Race Notes: Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio
The NTT INDYCAR SERIES and INDY NXT By Firestone are set to hit the track for this Independence Day weekend’s Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio, close to the Ohio community where Harvey Firestone founded a company and began its legacy of tire manufacturing in 1900.
This weekend more than 150 Firestone Race Tire Engineering and Production team members will be guests at Firestone’s trackside hospitality to enjoy their home race. The Advance Tire Production Center (ATPC), where more than 32,000 Firestone Firehawk race tires are designed and manufactured for the race season, is located in Akron, Ohio. ATPC opened in 2022 and is certified by the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) system for its transparency and traceability of sustainable raw materials*.
On-track action at the 42nd edition of the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Presented by the All-New 2026 Passport begins Friday on the 2.258-mile, 13-turn (8 right-hand and 5 left-hand turns) natural terrain permanent road course. The circuit features Turn One’s blind left-hand high-speed corner, the tight “keyhole” corner, a flowing “carousel”, as well as 136 feet of elevation changes
NTT INDYCAR SERIES
Firestone will supply approximately 1,500 primary and alternate race tires for practice, qualifying (including the Firestone Fast Six), and Sunday’s 90-lap (203.22 miles) race.
Each NTT INDYCAR SERIES entry will receive the following allocation:
- Primary (black sidewall): 5 sets per entry (Rookies receive an extra set for Practice 1)
- Alternate (red sidewall): 5 sets per entry
- Rain (gray sidewall): 5 sets per entry
Firestone Racing provides a real-time tire tracker at Livetiming.net/firestone for media and fans to follow tire strategies in qualifying and the race. As per INDYCAR rules (15.3.3.2-2.7), each entry must use one set of primary and one set of new (sticker) alternate tires for at least two laps after the green flag is given to start the race.
Notes from Cory Williams, Principal Program Engineer:
The primary tire for this weekend’s race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course has the same construction as we had last year for the debut of the hybrid-era, however, we developed a new primary compound. It is expected to exhibit a slight decrease in grip and provide increased durability as compared to the 2024 event.
The red-sidewall alternate tire construction is the same as the primary tire, and the alternate compound remains unchanged from 2024. It is expected to exhibit slightly less grip and wear than we saw last year at Mid-Ohio.
Should rain tires be needed during the race weekend, they have the same construction, compound and tread pattern as 2024 wet tires.
INDY NXT by Firestone
Firestone will supply nearly 400 race tires for INDY NXT by Firestone practice, qualifying, and Sunday’s 35 lap (79.03-mile or 55-minute) race.
Each INDY NXT by Firestone entry will receive the following Firestone Firehawk race tire allocation:
- Primary: 3 sets per entry
- Rain: 1 set per entry
Notes from Cory Williams, Principal Program Engineer, on INDY NXT by Firestone tires:
The INDY NXT by Firestone Firehawk race tires provided for Mid-Ohio are the same tire specifications as we supply for all INDY NXT street and road course races this season (with the exception of Road America.)
*Recycled material is allocated using the International Sustainability & Carbon Certification (ISCC) mass balance approach. Find out more about ISCC and our ATPC ISCC Plus certification at: www.iscc-system.org.