Going into the Honda 200 at Mid-Ohio, some observers worried there wouldn't be good racing on the fast and challenging track, which always makes it notoriously difficult for drivers to pass.
Those doubters could not have been more wrong after a furiously fought 90 laps of the undulating 13-turn, 2.258-mile Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course produced some of the best action of the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series season.
There were side-by-side battles, daring out-braking maneuvers and fierce battles between teammates with a bit of wheel banging sprinkled in for good measure — all on a track where that stuff isn't supposed to happen on a regular basis.
And that doesn't even include the audacious race by Sebastien Bourdais who started dead last in 24th and finish sixth.
“It was a heck of drive and I don't think it gets much better than that going from 24th to sixth in a straight-up fight on a track that's difficult to pass,” the Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan driver said. “It's sad, as this car could have been a winner with our pace.”
Once again — as it has for many race weekends in 2018 — the close quarters boiled down to the job the Verizon IndyCar Series has done to improve the racing with the new universal aero kit introduced this year, said Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden.
“The car has been great to drive — you can really slide it a bit more and it’s more forgiving — but it's difficult and it makes you work for it,” said Newgarden, who won last year’s championship in the previous generation car.
“It’s really the driveability of the car because you don’t have all this downforce on it now and you don’t have this string that snaps so quickly. Guys have a little bit more room to play with it and you can get sideways with the car and get away with it sometimes.”
Many drivers have noted that the 2018 car gives them the ability to catch and correct the car when they step over a line, while the same situation in the more unforgiving 2017 downforce package would have found them in a wall or gravel trap.
It's hard to argue with the results after a cracking race in Toronto in mid-July, a nail-biter in Iowa before that and an action-packed late-June weekend at Road America. Looking farther back thorough the 2018 season, the new configuration has allowed wheel-to-wheel racing at pretty much every venue, created drama at almost every turn and upped the pace, too.
“The cars are really fast this year,” said Simon Pagenaud, Newgarden’s teammate at Team Penske.
“INDYCAR’s aero package makes for a great show. I think the cars are really good-looking, as well. It's awesome, awesome to be in this sport at this time. I think we're about to see something very exciting for the next years to come.”
On top of it all, the talent in the Verizon IndyCar Series only adds to the on-track action and makes predicting a winner on any given weekend difficult at best. Right now, there are seven past season champions in the field, four drivers who have raced in Formula One, and a mix of veterans and young drivers champing at the bit for a win on every weekend.
“Everyone else is so good in this series that you just have to have everything perfect,” said Will Power, the third driver in the Team Penske stable. “It’s just a series full of really good drivers now and no one makes mistakes.”
The high quality of the Verizon IndyCar Series is getting noticed, and not just in its traditional North American market. British racing driver and former co-host of “Top Gear,” Timothy “Tiff” Needell singled out INDYCAR as the one to watch after Sunday’s race.
“If motor racing is going to keep attracting fans and TV viewers, it has to be entertaining racing and right now it doesn't get better than IndyCar!” Needell tweeted.
“Proper tracks, wheel to wheel battles and on-board shots that just make you want to climb in the cockpit.”