Two-stop strategy propels Rossi to Honda Indy 200 victory

By Mark Robinson | Published: Jul 29, 2018

Alexander Rossi

LEXINGTON, Ohio – Alexander Rossi gambled for the second straight day at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and came up a winner again. The Andretti Autosport driver won the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio on Sunday on the strength of making one fewer pit stop than the competition.

Rossi, in the No. 27 NAPA AUTO PARTS Honda, won by 12.8285 seconds over Robert Wickens in the 13th race of the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series season. The triumph also moved Rossi into second place in the championship, unofficially 46 points behind Scott Dixon with four races remaining.

HONDA INDY 200 AT MID-OHIO: Unofficial results

Rossi led 66 of the 90 laps around Mid-Ohio’s 2.258-mile, 13-turn permanent road course. While all other competitors in the 24-car field needed to make three stops to complete the race, Rossi made just two and that made all the difference.

Graham RahalA day after he took the pole position in Verizon P1 Award qualifying by running just one timed lap in the decisive round, Rossi drove to the fourth win in his Verizon IndyCar Series career and second this season. Rossi won the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach on April 15.

Sunday’s victory was No. 60 for Andretti Autosport in Indy car competition, but its first at Mid-Ohio.

Wickens, the Schmidt Peterson Motorsports rookie, equaled his best finish of second place set at ISM Raceway in the second race of the season. The driver of the No. 6 Lucas Oil SPM Honda now has seven top-five finishes this season.

Will Power finished third in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, just ahead of teammate Josef Newgarden in the No. 1 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet. Dixon, driving the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, finished fifth and saw his unofficial points lead shrink by 16 points.

Sebastien Bourdais, starting last after crashing in qualifying on Saturday, carved through the field to finish sixth in the No. 18 Team SealMaster Honda. It’s the Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan driver’s best finish since he placed fourth at the INDYCAR Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in May.

The race ran under green-flag conditions the entire way, the third time in 34 Indy car races at Mid-Ohio. An encore telecast of the race airs at 6:30 p.m. ET today on NBCSN.

The Verizon IndyCar Series returns to action with the ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway on Sunday, Aug. 19. Live coverage starts at 1:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN and the Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network.