2014 Mid-Ohio

The 2014 IndyCar series opened March, 30 at St. Petersburg and ended at Auto Club Speedway on October, 30. The Championship had a good mix of ovals, temporary street circuits and road courses. There were eighteen races – three of which were double-headers (Detroit, Houston and Toronto).

The series continued to use the Dallara DW12 which was introduced in 2012 to replace the Dallara IR5. The philosophy behind a spec car was to control costs ($349,000/chassis). The DW12 also incorporated many new safety features – most obvious was the bodywork surrounding the rear tires. The DW designation was in honour of the late Dan Wheldon, who had performed much of the testing on the new car.

There were two manufacturers providing engines for the season – Chevrolet (Chevy IndyCar V6) and Honda (Honda HI14TT Indy-V6). The 2.2-liter twin-turbocharged V6 engines produced approximately the same horsepower – 550-700-hp depending on the turbo boost. The engine lease contracts ended prior to the 2014 season and as a result, some teams switched manufacturers.

As usual, drivers played the game of ‘musical chairs’ but the biggest news was the return of Juan Pablo Montoya to open wheel racing. After a thirteen-year absence, Montoya joined Team Penske.

It was proving to be a very competitive season in fourteen rounds seven different teams had at least one victory.

Mid-Ohio would be race fifteen of the eighteen contested in 2014. A total of twenty-two drivers would compete in the Honda Indy 200 for 90-laps around the 2.258-mile thirteen-turn road course.

Defending IndyCar champion, Scott Dixon started last after a spin in qualifying but by lap-40 he was in the lead. Dixon maintained first place for twenty-two laps until he stopped for his final pit-stop. After all teams had cycled through last stop, Dixon moved back out front and held the position to the checkered flag. This was not the first time Dixon came from the back of the grid and was victorious. In 2001, he started twenty-third at Nazareth and won.

Sebastien Bourdais topped the qualifying sheet. This was Bourdais’ thirty-third career Indy car pole and places him seventh in the record books - tied him with Dario Franchitti. Bourdais driving a Chevrolet-powered Dallara for KV Racing Technology led the first twenty-five laps before surrendering the lead to Ryan Hunter-Reay. He would be in first place for a total of thirty-eight laps but could not match the pace of Scott Dixon and finished second.

It was a miserable weekend for the point’s leader, Helio Castroneves. Heading into Mid-Ohio, Castroneves had six podium finishes which included a victory at Detroit. In qualifying, he was fifteenth quickest in a field of twenty-two cars. But things went from bad to worse in the race. Issues with the throttle on the grid caused him to lose four laps. The team was able to make repairs - Castroneves finished nineteenth and lost his first place in the standings.

Canadian, James Hinchcliffe drove for Andretti Autosport in a Honda-powered Dallara. The previous season, Hinchcliffe notched up victories at St. Petersburg, Sao Paulo, Brazil and Iowa but in 2014 he was yet to finish on the podium. The highlight of his season was starting in the middle of the front row for the Indianapolis 500. At Mid-Ohio, that changed when Hinchcliffe took the final position on the podium after qualifying in seventeenth place.

Tony Kanaan drove the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara. Kanaan was making his 230th consecutive start – he began this record at the Portland CART race in 2001. There was a reason for Kanaan to be optimistic about his chance of winning as he had set the third quickest time in qualifying. Unfortunately for Kanaan, it all went wrong on the first lap of the race. He spun out on in corner one and collected Marco Andretti – Kanaan retired on the spot.

One of the bigger teams, the Andretti Autosport line-up included – Marco Andretti, Ryan Hunter-Reay, James Hinchcliffe and rookie, Carlos Munoz. Munoz drove the No. 34 Honda-powered Dallara and had impressed series regulars with podium finishes at Long Beach, Houston and Pocono. He was gridded fourth at Mid-Ohio and at the checkered flag, he matched his qualifying performance.

Josef Newgarden drove a Honda-powered Dallara for Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing. Newgarden’s best finish to date was a second in round twelve at Iowa. At Mid-Ohio, he demonstrated both talent and a lack of experience. Newgarden tied his best qualifying performance of the season – starting on the outside of the front row. During the event, it appeared that he might challenge for the win but Newgarden received a pit lane penalty and finished twelfth.

Will Power was able to capitalize on his teammate’s misfortune and take the lead in the driver’s standings. Power qualified sixth in the Verizon-sponsored Dallara. It was an uneventful race for the Australian as he was sixth at the checkered flag. However, Helio Castroneves’ problems on the grid which resulted in a nineteenth place finish, flipped the standings. Power now led the championship by four points.

Entering Mid-Ohio, Ryan Hunter-Reay trailed – Helio Castroneves and Will Power in the driver’s standings. In qualifying, Hunter-Reay was fifth quickest which placed him ahead of Castroneves and Power. During the event, he received a penalty for speeding in the pits and then brought out the race’s final caution on lap-37 when he spun into the tire barrier at turn twelve. Despite these setbacks, he finished tenth and retained his third place in the standings.

FIN.	START	DRIVER	CAR	ENTRANT	LAPS	RETIREMENTS
1	22	Scott Dixon	Dallara DW12 / Chevrolet	Chip Ganassi Racing	90	-
2	1	Sebastien Bourdais	Dallara DW12 / Chevrolet	KVSH Racing	90	-
3	17	James Hinchcliffe	Dallara DW12 / Honda	Andretti Autosport	90	-
4	4	Carlos Munoz	Dallara DW12 / Honda	Andretti-HVM	90	-
5	7	Graham Rahal	Dallara DW12 / Honda	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	90	-
6	6	Will Power	Dallara DW12 / Chevrolet	Roger Penske Racing	90	-
7	20	Charlie Kimball	Dallara DW12 / Chevrolet	Chip Ganassi Racing	90	-
8	19	Ryan Briscoe	Dallara DW12 / Chevrolet	Chip Ganassi Racing	90	-
9	9	Simon Pagenaud	Dallara DW12 / Honda	Schmidt Peterson Hamilton	90	-
10	5	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Dallara DW12 / Honda	Andretti Autosport	90	-
11	11	Juan Pablo Montoya	Dallara DW12 / Chevrolet	Roger Penske Racing	90	-
12	2	Josef Newgarden	Dallara DW12 / Honda	Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing	90	-
13	12	Mike Conway	Dallara DW12 / Chevrolet	Ed Carpenter Racing	90	-
14	13	Mikhail Aleshin	Dallara DW12 / Honda	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	90	-
15	8	Justin Wilson	Dallara DW12 / Honda	Dale Coyne Racing	90	-
16	18	Jack Hawksworth	Dallara DW12 / Honda	BHA/BBM with Curb-Agajanian	90	-
17	10	Carlos Huertas	Dallara DW12 / Honda	Dale Coyne Racing	90	-
18	21	Takuma Sato	Dallara DW12 / Honda	A.J. Foyt Racing	89	-
19	15	Helio Castroneves	Dallara DW12 / Chevrolet	Roger Penske Racing	86	-
20	14	Sebastian Saavedra	Dallara DW12 / Chevrolet	KVAFS Racing	24	Engine
21	3	Tony Kanaan	Dallara DW12 / Chevrolet	Chip Ganassi Racing	0	Accident
22	16	Marco Andretti	Dallara DW12 / Honda	Andretti Autosport	0	Accident