Qualifying Report: Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio

LEXINGTON, Ohio (July 1, 2023) -- Qualifying under cloudy skies, the competitors in the NTT INDYCAR Series escaped the rain forecasted for the session at the 2.25-mile Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Benjamin Pedersen and Santino Ferrucci improved their cars in the practice sessions but not enough to make a difference in the final qualifying results as they will start 23rd and 26th respectively.

Pedersen posted a lap time of 1 minute, 7.3960 seconds (120.612mph) in group 1 while Ferrucci timed in at 1 minute, 7.2807 seconds (120.819mph) in group 2 of the first round.

“We’re just missing speed as a team," Pedersen said. "Obviously, we have very similar setups to what

we thought was going to be the fastest for qualifying and we’re just both struggling to make the car go fast. The feedback is very similar. The car feels pretty balanced, just struggling to get the tires activated we think and get the lap time out of it. Regardless, we’re working really hard and the race strategy tomorrow will be really exciting with weather. We’ll work hard with the whole team here and Team Chevy to be the most prepared for tomorrow.”

Teammate Ferrucci said, "Trying to go in a certain direction from practice and trying to chase a balance and we found a balance that we like but we just have zero pace.

"So back to the drawing board to understand why that's happening so we can actually move through the field tomorrow. With the cars being set up the same, I think it's very clear to see what's wrong with them and just hope we can manage to adjust in the correct direction to find the second that we lost from practice," he concluded.

Colton Herta stole the pole from Ohioan Graham Rahal in the final seconds of the Firestone Fast Six round with a lap time of 1 minute, 6.3096 seconds (122.589mph) to Rahal's 1 minute, 6.3528 seconds (122.589mph). Third through sixth were Kyle Kirkwood, Alex Palou, Christian Lundgaard and Scott Dixon.

Following a 30-minute final warmup in the morning, the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio will be broadcast on the USA Network tomorrow afternoon starting at 1:30 p.m. ET.