LIVE BLOG: Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio

11:15 AM ET — Ryan Hunter-Reay topped the final practice session before qualifying this morning with a lap time of 1:05.708. That was set on blacks and isn’t too far off the current track record of 1:05.347 held by two drivers: Dario Franchitti, who set it in 1999, and Gil de Ferran, who tied it in 2000. However, I was reminded that with the rain coming this afternoon it’s unlikely we’ll see a new record set today. (I keep forgetting about the rain. There aren’t really any signs of it here yet, but we keep being assured it’s coming.) The complete time sheet from morning practice will be available shortly, and the stats mentioned above are always available, in our Honda Indy 200 Event Summary.

IndyCar released a couple of notes this morning that are worth sharing. From their press release:

Verizon Wireless has installed four temporary cell sites called COWs (Cell On Wheels) to provide additional network calling capacity in Central Ohio in anticipation of the crowds for the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio, the Ohio State Fair and Dublin Irish Festival.

Each COW is a fully functional, generator-powered cell site, which has the same call capacity as a freestanding cell site. The deployed COWs support voice coverage and 4G LTE data, as well as XLTE.

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Rick Pearson of Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing won the 10th anniversary Pilot Flying J Truck Driver Challenge. Jake Klomp of Target Chip Ganassi Racing was second. The competition was started to showcase and spotlight the abilities of professional transport drivers. They demonstrate their driving abilities through a series of chicanes as well as knowledge of Department of Transportation regulations.

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Jack Hawksworth’s father, Andrew, is taking in the action at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. It’s his first visit to a Verizon IndyCar Series event.

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9:55 AM ET — Qualifying for Indy Lights just concluded, and Jack Harvey claimed pole with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports teammate Luiz Razia lining up alongside. Title contenders Zach Veach and Gabby Chaves will start together on row 2. Apart from the go-fast bits, the session was largely uneventful. Race 1 of the weekend for Indy Lights is scheduled to run at 3:25 PM today.

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9:18 AM ET — Good morning from Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, where it looks like the weather intends to keep things interesting throughout a full slate of track activity today at the Honda Indy 200.

On deck we have IndyCar practice and qualifying, Indy Lights qualifying and race 1, USF2000 race 2 of 3, and Pro Mazda race 1 to close things out at the end of the day. That last one is scheduled to end at 6:15, so there are probably a couple of hours of usable wiggle room in track time if rain or storms complicate things. As always, the full weekend schedule can be found by checking our Event Summary: 2014 Honda Indy 200 Event Summary.

Let’s hope that the rain lets up at the right time to allow the tweet-up to go off unscathed. That’s scheduled for 5:30 PM at the spot where the tables are behind the infield restaurant overlooking the Esses. I always look forward to the Mid-Ohio tweet-up because it’s very well-attended and gives us all a chance to catch up with so many awesome IndyCar fans. If you’re at the track, I hope to see you there!

Last night was mostly uneventful, which I’ll count as a good thing because rain could very easily have spoiled the party. Instead, Steve Wittich joined me once again and we had another evening of comfortable conditions, fireflies, and refreshments around the campfire. I’m even sleeping decently well, all considered. Hoping for the same again tonight might be pushing our luck, but we’ll see how it goes.

It’ll be an interesting day today with the main feature being Firestone Fast 6 qualifying for the Verizon IndyCar Series, which IndyCar has confirmed will be streamed live at racecontrol.indycar.com. If you choose to avail yourself of that option, allow me to make a humble suggestion: it would be a good idea to tune into the NBCSN qualifying show at 5:30, even just to have it on in the background or PVR it for later. If the session can be streamed without a corresponding dip in ratings, there’s a greater chance that streaming will continue.

Please bookmark us here and check in frequently for live updates from trackside all weekend long!

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NEXT PAGE: Updates from Friday at the 2014 Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course