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The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course belonged to papaya as Pato O’Ward captured the victory ahead of teammate Christian Lundgaard to lead Arrow McLaren’s first 1-2 in the IndyCar Series.
O’Ward and Lundgaard, who started on pole, combined to lead 86 of 90 laps in what became a grueling, caution-free race in hot and humid conditions at the 13-turn, 2.258-mile natural terrain road course. The pivotal moment came on Lap 42, when Lundgaard pushed wide in Turn 2, allowing O’Ward to close and eventually get the race-clinching lead in Turn 5. O’Ward went on to win by 0.9877s over Lundgaard.
There were 97 total passes, with 82 for position. Additionally, there were 24 cars still on the lead lap, a record for the event.
Here are the winners and losers from the 11th round of the 2026 season.
WINNER: Arrow McLaren
Tony Kanaan, Pato O'Ward, Arrow McLaren
Photo by: Penske Entertainment
Anytime an organization gets a 1-2 result, they’ll likely end up on this list. However, Arrow McLaren were the only team to have all three cars in the top 10, courtesy of Nolan Siegel pushing to a top 10 result.
Despite the off-track drama Arrow McLaren opting not to re-sign Lundgaard, who came into the race weekend as the only driver to win (twice) or even touch the podium (four times), and allowing the Dane to leave at season’s end, the team enjoyed its best race weekend of 2026.
With O’Ward earning his breakthrough victory, it’ll be interesting how the rest of the season shakes out, but clearly everyone is pushing to maximize the present.
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Marcus Ericsson, Andretti Global
Photo by: Brandon Badraoui / Lumen via Getty Images
There were some thoughts that Ericsson might have been a dark horse for the race last Sunday, especially considering he’s a former runner-up at Mid-Ohio.
After qualifying seventh in the #28 Andretti Global Honda, though, the Swede never fully got going and everything started to go downhill when, on his first pit stop on Lap 11, a stall during the stop cost him valuable track position and dropped him near the back of the pack. From there, he made up some ground but was then issued a penalty for avoidable contact with Scott Dixon’s #9 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, costing him two track positions.
In the end, Ericsson was left finishing 21st, while teammates Kyle Kirkwood and Will Power finished third and sixth, respectively.
Rinus VeeKay, Juncos Hollinger Racing
Photo by: Brandon Badraoui / Lumen via Getty Images
Rinus VeeKay put Juncos Hollinger Racing’s (JHR) #76 Chevrolet into the Fast Six, qualifying sixth, and at one point was running down Arrow McLaren’s lethal duo of O’Ward and Lundgaard.
The only thing that ultimately kept the Dutchman off the podium was a slow final stop, which allowed Kirkwood to vault ahead and take the final podium spot while VeeKay held off reigning and four-time IndyCar champion Alex Palou to take fourth.
The result marked the second fourth-place result for VeeKay and JHR over the last three race weekends, matching the performance at Road America. Additionally, it marks the best finish for JHR on a road course since Romain Grosjean secured the same finish at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca during the 2024 season.
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Romain Grosjean, Dale Coyne Racing
Photo by: Penske Entertainment
It was an abysmal weekend for Dale Coyne Racing (DCR).
Romain Grosjean qualified 19th and was left finishing 23rd, while rookie teammate Dennis Hauger was stuck in last; qualifying and finishing 25th - the only car a lap down.
Overall, it was a bit of a shock considering last year the team collected a ninth-place result with VeeKay.
This latest showing put a spotlight, in the worst of ways, on what has been a challenging past month-and-change for DCR, with Hauger’s 13th-place result the best standout of five combined finishes of 20th or worse between him and Grosjean.
WINNER: Kyle Kirkwood
Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global w/ Curb-Agajanian
Photo by: Penske Entertainment
It’s staggering that, for a guy that had eight wins in nine starts in the junior categories at Mid-Ohio, Kirkwood just now got his first podium at the track - which also, perhaps even more odd, is his first IndyCar podium at a road course.
Better late than never, though, as the third-place finish for Kirkwood came after a less-than-stellar 10th-place effort in qualifying.
The 27-year-old Florida native now has four podiums on the season (including his win in Arlington) and has pushed himself back into second in the championship standings. Perhaps even more of note, though, is how he has actually chipped away six points into Palou’s lead over the past three race weekends; sitting 56 points (404-348) behind with seven rounds to go.
Read Also: LOSER: Mick Schumacher
Mick Schumacher, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Photo by: Penske Entertainment
Simply put, it was a tough weekend for Mick Schumacher.
Although the German qualified 16th (started 15th after Sting Ray Robb’s grid penalty for an unapproved engine change), starting on the softer alternate tires proved to be too tricky. From the drop of the green flag, he went backwards and was never truly able to put together a clean stint. And just when it looked like he could get some clean running, he found traffic in the form of Robb or Grosjean, and was never able to get by.
In the end, it was Schumacher’s worst finish since Barber Motorsports Park in April, where he also finished 24th. Whether it’s track adaptation, or Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing trying newly-developed parts and making him the guinea pig, something isn’t quite clicking at the natural terrain road courses.
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