Graham Rahal celebrates his second victory of the season. [Andy Clary Photo]
Lexington, Ohio – Two days ago Graham Rahal dreamed that he was going to win the Honda Indy 200 at his home track, the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, and on Sunday his dream came true as he won before a highly partisan, sunbaked crowd that cheered loudly as their hero took the checkered flag.
“Of all the races, except the (Indianapolis) 500, this would be the one that means the most to me,” the smiling victor said. “To win here in Central Ohio wearing a (Ohio State-themed) Buckeye helmet, having Joey Galloway here and all the hometown fans here is special. Also, my mom was here and she has never seen me win, my dad along with my sisters and brothers made it such a special day. This win is special and means more to me than any other win.”
Discussing the race, Rahal noted, “In the caution flag that set up the win, I said to the guys we have to come in or we are going to lose out to Justin Wilson and if we go hard, we can beat them. But they didn’t come in, and I did just as a yellow came out. I thought to myself, ‘This is phenomenal.’ The last 24 laps were very intense, but if you ever wanted to race against someone in that situation, it is Wilson. He’s by far the cleanest racer out there and a lot of fun.
“I was nervous on that last restart as I didn’t have a push-to-pass and he did. He did catch up to me but gave me room, and I slid under him and took off. I knew if I got out front I was confident that no one could catch me, but the trick is to get out front.”
Driving the Steak ‘n Shake Honda fielded by Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Rahal won for the second time in 2015 and the third time in his career. In 2015, he now has eight top-five finishes.
In seven previous races at Mid-Ohio, Rahal’s best finish had been fifth a year ago.
This is the 22nd all-time win for the team and its third victory at Mid-Ohio as co-owner Bobby Rahal won here in 1985 and 1986.
Starting back in 13th, Rahal steadily worked his way through the field, taking the lead on the 68th lap and then had to persevere through two restart to score his second Verizon IndyCar Series victory of the season with two races remaining.
In total, Rahal led 23 of the 90 laps around the 2.258-mile road course and his margin of victory over runner-up Wilson was 3.3409 seconds.
And the Rahal team’s victory broke the victory skein and track dominance of Chip Ganassi Racing.
Coming into the race, Rahal was 42 points in arrears but when Montoya ended up 11th today, the point race tightened up considerably.
From the 14th spot, Wilson also took advantage of miscues of others and clawed his way to an impressive second place in the Andretti Autosport Honda. He did lead once for six laps.
Said the tall driver, “It feels great to get second place. I was pushing like hell to try and get by Graham on that last restart, keeping in mind he’s a Honda driver going for the championship. At the same time, I wanted to make him honest and make him earn it. He did a fantastic job, and all the credit goes to him.”
Simon Pagenaud came from 15th to third in the PPG Automotive Refinish Team Penske Chevrolet. The Frenchman was pleased with the outcome after a rough weekend. “We qualified badly and then we are on the podium,” he said.
Seeking his sixth win at Mid-Ohio, Scott Dixon ended up fourth after leading 22 laps.
Tony Kanaan took fifth.
Sixth through 10th were Tristan Vautier, Iowa winner Ryan Hunter-Reay, Jack Hawksworth, Carlos Munoz and Marco Andretti.
Honda-powered cars took seven of the top-10 finishers.
In finishing 11th, Montoya wasn’t downcast after having a rough weekend before the race started. “The race was playing out for us, but unfortunately we got a caution with about 2 to go that we didn’t need,” he commented.
The series goes to the Pocono Raceway in two weeks and closes out the season a week later at the Sonoma Raceway.