RacinToday.com

Dario Franchitti won the IZOD IndyCar Series race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Sunday. The victory in the Honda Indy 200 was the second of the season for Franchitti, who also won the Indianapolis 500.

The victory gave Franchitti’s team owner, Chip Ganassi, his third victory of the weekend as Juan Pablo Montoya won the Sprint Cup race and Scott Pruett/Memo Rojas won the Rolex Grand-Am race.

“Great weekend for Ganassi,” Franchitti said. “That’s what we call a hat trick in Scotland.”

Here, too.

The victory was the 25th of Franchitti’s open-wheel career.

Will Power, who started the race from the pole, finished second. With that finish, he kept his points lead, which was 50 when the race started.

Power was able to get up to the rear end of Franchitti’s Dallara with a couple laps to go but could not execute the pass.

“We couldn’t get Dario,” Power, who won the road course championship with his finish, said. “It’s really tough to pass here. If he didn’t make a mistake, I wasn’t going to get him.”

Power has a season-best four victories on the season, all on road courses.

Third was Power’s Team Penske teammate, Helio Castroneves.

“It was a good result for the No. 3 car today,” said Castroneves. “We picked up some good points and worked our way back into the top-five in the championship. We had a good strategy that helped us, but unfortunately, we had the black tires and the other leaders had the (alternate) reds at the end. We raced hard with Will but we were smart, keeping the championship in mind. It was a great day for Team Penske, getting two of the top three spots.”

Alex Tagliani of FAZZT Racing, who led 30 laps but lost the lead in the pits, was fourth. Ganassi’s Scott Dixon was fifth.

Danica Patrick finished 21st.

—

Results Sunday of the Honda Indy 200 IZOD IndyCar Series event on the 2.258-mile Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):

1. (2) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running

2. (1) Will Power, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running

3. (6) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running

4. (14) Alex Tagliani, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running

5. (5) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running

6. (7) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running

7. (19) Raphael Matos, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running

8. (10) Simona de Silvestro, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running

9. (9) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running

10. (4) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running

11. (15) Bertrand Baguette, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running

12. (16) Mario Moraes, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running

13. (21) Alex Lloyd, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running

14. (13) Dan Wheldon, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running

15. (24) Vitor Meira, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running

16. (18) JR Hildebrand, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running

17. (20) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running

18. (12) Hideki Mutoh, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running

19. (17) Adam Carroll, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running

20. (25) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running

21. (22) Danica Patrick, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running

22. (23) Francesco Dracone, Dallara-Honda, 82, Running

23. (27) Milka Duno, Dallara-Honda, 81, Running

24. (26) Jay Howard, Dallara-Honda, 38, Suspension

25. (3) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 28, Contact

26. (8) E.J. Viso, Dallara-Honda, 22, Contact

27. (11) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 22, Contact

—

Race Statistics

Winner’s average speed: 100.542

Time of Race: 1:54:32.2568

Margin of victory: .5234 of a second

Cautions: 5 for 15 laps

Lead changes: 4 among 4 drivers

Lap Leaders: Power 1-25, Tagliani 26-55, Franchitti 56-60, Hunter-Reay 61, Franchitti 62-85

Point Standings: Power 461, Franchitti 420, Dixon 379, Briscoe 352, Castroneves 340, Hunter-Reay 336, Kanaan 304, Andretti 266, Wilson 262, Wheldon 259

No Comment