It wasn't a classic race in the sense of dramatic passes and exciting on-track action, but after 85 laps on the 2.2-mile Mid-Ohio Sportscar Course, Target Chip Ganassi driver Dario Franchitti returned to victories since Indianapolis 500 after dominating over pole-sitter Will Power and the rest Penske Racing drivers who kept chasing him down for the whole race.
However, most of the action took place during the pitstops when Franchitti was faster over Power on the first stop and overtook him as the two streaked towards pit-out. After nosing ahead at the line, the two-time Indy 500 winner was never seriously challenged for the lead, crossing the start/finish line 0.5234 ahead of the Power who never managed to threaten him back. However, with only one more road course event ahead the Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma, Power scored enough points to win the inaugural Mario Andretti Road Championship Trophy.
"It's fantastic. [I've] got a Mario Andretti trophy, fantastic, one of the best IndyCar racers of all time but we're going for that world championship. You know we couldn't get Dario today but I gave everything I got, but yeah it was still a strong day. He got us in the pits and we couldn't get him back, and I was hoping to get a lap longer than him, get him on the next stop, but couldn't get him, he didn't make a mistake and I couldn't get by."
Dario Franchitti completed a victorious racing weekend for his team who won all 3 competitions that took part. Chip Ganassi Racing driver Juan Pablo Montoya was victorious at Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at the Glen Sprint Cup race and Scott Pruett - Memo Rojas won the Crown Royal 200 race for the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series.Moreover it was also his 25th IndyCars victory.
"I don't distinguish between one [win] or the other...to win 25 I'm quite surprised by that, that we got there and I'm really proud and it's a lot to do with driving great equipment throughout my career and I couldn't be happier to be part of Team Target. That first pit stop today, that won us the race. So it's good we [won] for Team Target and Chip Ganassi; Montoya won one, and one in the GRAND-AM race last night...so in Scotland, that's what we call a hat trick!"
Helio Castroneves was almost as strong as he'd been at Edmonton, keeping the rest of the runners at bay to finish 3rd, 3.5649 seconds behind his teammate Power.
A gamble on strategy by Rob Edwards boosted Alex Tagliani's chances, and as the only owner/driver in the field, he led the race for a significant portion of the race before finishing 4rth. Franchitti's teammate, Scott Dixon, was one of few drivers to make meaningful passes on the track, and vaulted himself up to 5th at the checkered flag ahead of Ryan Briscoe.
"We had a pretty good run go, a solid 3rd place car. We tried a few things strategy wise, but 5th place wasn't too bad in the end."
Ryan Briscoe had a bad race after an early contact due to a three-way shunt involving his teammate, Helio Castroneves, and Ryan Hunter-Reay as the trio rocketed out of their pit stalls.
With the tighter Mid-Ohio pit boxes -- shortened to accommodate a 27th car -- the three drivers launched for the same piece of track, with RHR pushing Castroneves into the outside pit wall while Briscoe hit RHR's left front suspension. Briscoe suffered a cut tire and would eventually finish 6th while Hunter-Reay returned to the pits to replace a bent a-arm, dropping him to the back of the cars on the lead lap.
The IZOD-sponsored driver went from the lead pack to having to make up more than 20 positions to regain what he'd lost in the incident. He'd claw his way back up to 10th, passing three of his five teammates in the process, with only Marco Andretti ahead of him in ninth, .8104 up the road. With the amount of ground he had to reclaim on a track where passing is nearly impossible, RHR's performance once again stood out as the best of the Andretti Autosport camp.
Another driver on the charge in the final laps was de Ferran Dragon's Rafa Matos, had a fast and clean race without making any of the desperate moves that usually ends his day in tears finished 7th. While been on Firestone Blacks, Simona De Silvestro finished an impressive 8th-place result.
With Andretti in 9th and Hunter-Reay in 10th, another rookie that made a strong finish was Belgium's Bertrand Baguette and gave clear indication of his road course capabilities placing 11th for Eric Bachelart's Conquest Racing team.
After running strongly in 3rd position, Takuma Sato lost brake point at the end of the back straight and noced into the tires on Lap 57 throwing away one of his best performance at the IndyCars series.
For one more race, Milka Duno wandered aimlessly and off the pace for the majority of the race, blocking the leaders and almost taking out Danica Patrick. Beyond being placed on probation, the Venezuelan driver's total lack of situational awareness continues to serve as a public embarrassment for the series.
