Race Recap -- Mid-Ohio

Hello Internet! It's Guido, back with you for a Scoring Indy Race Recap. Last weekend, the IndyCar Series made its way to the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for a rollicking afternoon of four-wheeled excitement. Ok, ok enough superlatives, but I thoroughly enjoyed this race, and we had a quite deserving first-time race winner in Charlie Kimball. So, let's get down to the numbers:


2013 Mid-Ohio Race Scores

Driver	Qualifying	Grid	Laps Led	Completed	A.R.S.	RSWC Points
Kimball	5	5	46	90	86.79	25
Pagenaud	8	8	14	90	74.78	18
Franchitti	6	6	0	90	61.82	12
Power	2	2	0	90	55.57	8
Hunter-Reay	1	1	30	90	62.98	15
Castroneves	15	14	0	90	59.68	10
Dixon	3	3	0	90	45.83	4
Wilson	7	7	0	90	46.13	6
Andretti	4	4	0	90	37.62
Hinchcliffe	13	12	0	90	45.59	2
de Silvestro	9	9	0	90	38.27
Bourdais	14	13	0	90	38.78	1
Jakes	10	10	0	90	30.00
Servia	18	17	0	90	30.37
Davison	17	16	0	90	30.77
Filippi	24	24	0	90	34.80
Viso	12	11	0	89	16.67
Rahal	22	22	0	89	23.95
Saavedra	21	20	0	89	21.47
Carpenter	23	23	0	89	16.62
Vautier	11	21	0	89	3.29
Sato	16	15	0	89	-0.83
Newgarden	19	18	0	88	1.48
Kanaan	20	19	0	64	5.42

Observations

- I'm not one for stating the obvious, since my recaps come out long after the races have been hashed, re-hashed, re-re-hashed, and corned-beef-hashed. However, I am going to state publicly that Charlie Kimball is a first-time race winner that I'm stoked about. There's a poll on some IndyCar site or blog out there, which asked (after Pagenaud's win at Detroit) who the next first-time winner would be. I voted for Kimball like 10 times. Really happy about this.

- Ok, now for some not-obvious. Notice who is quietly riding a three race RSWC points streak: Sebastien Bourdais. Now, the first two races of that streak weren't quiet, but this one was. Bourdais climbs up one little spot from P13 to P12, as well as pulling down an average running position of 11.58. That's something that looks like consistency (not something I'm used to saying about either Dragon Racing car).

- As a spectator, I enjoyed how the combination of strategy and track position worked together in this race. Yes, it is hard to pass at Mid-Ohio, but I'll tell you what: having multiple viable strategies (and knowing when to make what call (see Dixon and Franchitti's disparate results)) certainly helps make an entertaining event.

RSWC Update

Now, this won't be as pretty as the RSWC Spreadsheets that I've been using. Don't worry, the color-codes will be back on Friday for our little look at the Team RSWC.

Driver	RCWC Points	Points Back
Castroneves	150	0
Dixon	143	-7
Hunter-Reay	124	-26
Andretti	96	-54
Pagenaud	90	-60
Franchitti	86	-64
Kanaan	78	-72
Sato	76	-74
Kimball	76	-74
Conway	65	-85
Hinchcliffe	65	-85
Wison	65	-85
Newgarden	56	-94
Bourdais	42	-108
Viso	41	-109
Power	37	-113
Carpenter	29	-121
Rahal	23	-127
Servia	18	-132
Munoz	12	-138
Jakes	8	-142
de Silvestro	8	-142
Tagliani	7	-143
Hildebrand	4	-146
Allmendinger	4	-146
Briscoe	1	-149

Observations

- Much like in the IndyCar series itself, Castroneves extends his Championship lead after Mid-Ohio.

- This has become a pretty solidly three-horse race. Dixon could snap up that lead at any moment, and with Baltimore in the mix, Hunter-Reay is very much alive.

- Joining our three leaders in the "I Can Feel Good about This Season So Far" category above the Conway Line are Marco Andretti, Simon Pagenaud, Dario Franchitti, Tony Kanann, Takuma Sato, and Charlie Kimball.

- I'm not sure that Marco and Taku feel as good about their seasons as the numbers suggest they should. My hunch is that Marco would like more big numbers. And, Sato's boss (AJ Foyt), if not also Sato himself, would like more consistency. Ironically, each wants what the other has.

Prediction Review

#Honda200 Prediction 1) Filippi finishes in the Top 15 (which is to say he gains at least 9 spots).

VERDICT -- Nope. He came tantalizingly close, though. Does anyone know how both Servia and Davison got past him on the last lap? I would like to know that. Then, I would like to send Mr. Seriva and Mr. Davison each a sternly worded letter for making me wrong. 0 for 1.

#Honda200 Prediction 2) Simona de Silvestro breaks her RSWC pointless streak, by getting into this week's points.

VERDICT -- File this one, also, under "Close, Tantalizingly."  Simona winds up P11 on the Race Score chart, owing to the fact that Bourdais went forward and she went back. Ugh. 0 for 2.

#Honda200 Prediction 3) The winner comes from the first 3 rows. 3a) It's the Gallant Fox (Dario Franchitti).

VERDICT -- YES. I win. VERDICT A) You're off by one grid spot. You meant Kimball. 0.5 for 3.

#Honda200 Prediction 4) The RSWC points match up with the race's Top 10.

VERDICT -- Nope. This match-up has happened a lot lately, and at a course where it's so hard to pass, it felt like a gimme. Not to be. 0.5 for 4. Who knew Mid-Ohio was an oval? I'm usually only this bad when ovals are involved.

Stay Tuned

I'll be getting the Technicolor back out for a look at the Team RSWC next week, should be a lot of fun. Also, after Robin Miller's little speech in the Mid-Ohio pre-race, I'm having all sorts of fun doing Silly Season stuff in my head. Maybe some of it will spill on to Twitter. The only way to know is to follow @ScoringIndy.

See you out there!

-- Guido