{"id":59577,"date":"2026-07-05T18:58:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T23:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=59577"},"modified":"2026-07-06T07:01:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T12:01:07","slug":"oward-uutduels-lundgaard-as-arrow-mclaren-scores-first-1-2-finish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/05\/oward-uutduels-lundgaard-as-arrow-mclaren-scores-first-1-2-finish\/","title":{"rendered":"O\u2019Ward outduels Lundgaard as Arrow McLaren scores first 1-2 finish"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Pato O’Ward – Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio – Photo by Chris Owens<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Courtesy of the NTT IndyCar Series<\/em><\/p>\n

LEXINGTON, Ohio \u2013 Same papaya, different day. Different driver, too.<\/p>\n

That was Arrow McLaren\u2019s swap at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course where Pato O\u2019Ward \u2013 and not polesitter Christian Lundgaard \u2013 won The Honda Indy 200 Presented by the 2027 CR-V Hybrid, the 11th race of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES season.<\/p>\n

SEE: Race Results<\/a><\/p>\n

Lundgaard and O\u2019Ward had started the 90-lap race together on the front row, and they effectively held their positions throughout a caution-free race except when they pitted. But on Lap 42, O\u2019Ward capitalized on the polesitter\u2019s wide exit off Turn 2, swiping the lead and holding it the rest of the way.<\/p>\n

The win was the first for O\u2019Ward in nearly a year since he won last season\u2019s Toronto street race. That was 15 races ago, a drought he couldn\u2019t accept, especially as Lundgaard has won two races this year, including the most recent race at Road America.<\/p>\n

The win also gave Arrow McLaren its first 1-2 finish in this series.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Ward hadn\u2019t even scored a top-three finish this season despite being fifth in the standings. His best runs had been three fourth-place finishes and three fifth-place finishes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a year, it\u2019s been a tough one for sure,\u201d the Mexican driver said. \u201cI think today is just a perfect example of execution. I waited for the perfect time pounce and from there we just controlled it.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Ward\u2019s pass of Lundgaard was noteworthy for a couple reasons, not the least of which stemming from what happens at year\u2019s end. They are in their second season as teammates, but all signs point to Lundgaard driving elsewhere next year as Scott Dixon and Felix Rosenqvist join O\u2019Ward on the team.<\/p>\n

That situation made O\u2019Ward\u2019s pouncing opportunity all the more interesting.<\/p>\n

Lundgaard drifted a bit wide on the exit of Turn 2, allowing O\u2019Ward to size him up and get a better run down the long straightaway that serves as the race\u2019s starting point. By the time they arrived at the tricky, right-turning fourth corner, the cars were side by side, O\u2019Ward on the outside. They touched at least twice at corner exit, and O\u2019Ward had the preferred line into Turn 5 \u2013 and he used it.<\/p>\n

By the time the Arrow McLaren twosome charged into Thunder Valley, O\u2019Ward had the lead. Later, he used a key pass of series rookie Dennis Hauger to create additional separation leading into the final pit stop. O\u2019Ward stayed out as Lundgaard, along with two other challengers pitted, and he then ran two laps longer to pad his lead.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Ward\u2019s winning margin was .9877 of a second, earning his second Mid-Ohio victory in the past three years. This win was the 10th of his career, almost divided equally by circuit (four on ovals, three on street circuits, three on road courses).<\/p>\n

Lundgaard\u2019s second-place finish continued his strong season on road courses. In addition to winning races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Road America, he also finished second at Barber Motorsports Park. With Chip Ganassi Racing\u2019s Alex Palou finishing fifth, Lundgaard drew within 65 points of the series leader.<\/p>\n

Andretti Global\u2019s Kyle Kirkwood finished third, getting a few points closer to Palou. Their separation is now 56 points, and Kirkwood overtook Team Penske\u2019s David Malukas, who finished eighth, for second place in the standings. Lundgaard also jumped Malukas with O\u2019Ward fifth. The top four drivers are separated by 66 points with seven races remaining, led by the July 19 Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix presented by OnlyBulls at Nashville Superspeedway.<\/p>\n

VeeKay scored his second fourth-place finish in the past three races following another such finish last month at World Wide Technology Raceway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Courtesy of the NTT IndyCar Series LEXINGTON, Ohio \u2013 Same papaya, different day. Different driver, too. That was Arrow McLaren\u2019s swap at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course where Pato O\u2019Ward \u2013 and not polesitter Christian Lundgaard \u2013 won The Honda Indy 200 Presented by the 2027 CR-V Hybrid, the 11th race of the NTT […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":59580,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[12],"tags":[22,319,672,823],"class_list":["post-59577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-indycar","tag-indycar","tag-mid-ohio","tag-ntt-indycar-series","tag-pato-oward"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Pato-O_Ward-Honda-Indy-200-at-Mid-Ohio-By_-Chris-Owens_Ref-Image-Without-Watermark_m159887.jpg?fit=1080%2C720&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-fuV","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59577"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59577\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59582,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59577\/revisions\/59582"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}