STEAM CORNERS, Ohio — It was a challenging session for the NTT IndyCar Series drivers as they continued to learn the nuances of the hybrid engine in Saturday morning’s Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio practice session.
Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward was the fastest driver in the session at 1:05.9862 around the 13-turn, 2.258-mile Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. O’Ward drives the No. 5 Chevrolet.
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“It has influenced the balance of the car quite a bit, so we are playing around with the mapping of when to regen,” O’Ward said. “It’s a new hurdle and challenge that will be the same for everybody. So far, we have one of the strongest cars we have had to start the weekend with, so I’m pretty happy with that.
“I miss starting at the front.”
Ohio’s own Graham Rahal was second in the No. 15 Honda at 1:06.0439 for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Andretti Global’s Colton Herta was third at 1:06.1639 in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda followed by Meyer-Shank Racing’s David Malukas, at 1:06.2076.
Scott Dixon of Chip Ganassi Racing rounded out the top five in the No. 9 PNC Bank for Chip Ganassi Racing at 1:06.2189.
The Team Penske trio of drivers had just one driver in the top 10, Scott McLaughlin in eighth at 106.3078. Will Power was 13th and Josef Newgarden 19th.
The early moments of the session were very low paced as drivers struggled to find a big enough gap on the track from the other cars to make a simulated run and test out the hybrid engine.
During regen, there is a drag on the rear axle that throws the car off balance. That creates one more variable for the drivers to learn.
“All these guys want a five-second gap,” O’Ward radioed to his crew. “C’mon. Take the one-second lap and move on.”
Herta stuffed the No. 26 Honda into the Turn 12 tire barrier to bring out the red flag shortly after Marcus Ericsson had gone to the top of the timing screen.
Another red flag came later in the session when Kyffin Simpson’s Honda spun and stopped in the middle of a turn. He was unable to manually restart the end, which created a red flag for the AMR Safety Team to tend to his stopped car.
Power’s No. 12 Chevrolet went skittering through the grass but returned to the track without any contact. He drove the Chevrolet onto pit lane and his Team Penske crew gave it a quick survey.
With eight minutes left in the session, O’Ward went to the top at 1:06.1415 in the No. 5 Chevrolet.
Even Alex Palou went off track and through “China Beach” with 53 seconds left in the session, the second time his Honda went off course in a lap-and-a-half as drivers continued to find the new balance to the hybrid unit a challenge.