LIVE BLOG: Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio

Welcome to More Front Wing’s live blog from the 2014 Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course! MFW Co-editor Steph Wallcraft is trackside tapping out updates all weekend long. Updates are posted with the most recent at the top, so if this is your first visit to the live blog please go to the last page and work your way forward. For Verizon IndyCar Series time sheets and race info, visit the 2014 Honda Indy 200 Event Summary.

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SUNDAY

8:02 PM ET — Here’s a quick final link and run to close out the weekend at the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. These stories will get you caught up on the events of the day:

Dixon posts historic last-to-first run to victory at Mid-Ohio

Event Summary: 2014 Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio (results, reports, and unofficial post-race points)

More Front Wing’s First Impressions of the 2014 Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio (please add your own)

Mazda Road to Indy: Harvey, Grist, Latorre claim wins on day 3 at Mid-Ohio

In summary: as race weekends go, this was just about perfect. It had a great track, great camping fun, great people, and genuinely great racing. In terms of my personal impressions after the end of a race weekend, this is high on the list of my favorites. It certainly doesn’t have the glamor of big city event and it comes across as a bit of a glorified club track, but the character of this place and the experience it can provide are unique, and every race fan should give it a try at least once.

Time to head out for the long drive home. We’ll continue to analyze today’s event over the next couple of weeks before we shift our attention forward to Milwaukee. Thanks very much for following along with everything this weekend!

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1:06 PM ET — Once things finally got under way, it became a very busy morning of track activity.

In USF2000, the only major incident happened when Adrian Starrantino went hard into the tires in turn 2. He reported on Twitter that the issue was a suspension failure. It came late enough in the race that it ended under yellow with Florian Latorre taking the win, Peter Portante in second, and RC Enerson third.

The Pro Mazda race was a little more odd. Coming to the start, Shelby Blackstock was somehow involved in race-ending contact before the green flag fell. His Andretti Autosport teammate Garett Grist made up for it, though, by getting a great jump off the start and keeping that lead until the end. He was joined on the podium by yesterday’s race winner, Nicolas Costa, and Scott Hargrove in third. (Can’t help noticing that makes for a great day for the Canadians.)

In Indy Lights, Jack Harvey became the weekend’s only repeat winner by running away with Indy Lights race 2. The only major incident was off the start when Matthew Brabham and Luiz Razia made contact in the Esses. Brabham’s race was ended by damage, but Razia was able to continue after having his front wing replaced and finished the day in 11th. Harvey was joined on the podium by Brabham’s teammate, Zach Veach — who narrowly missed being involved in Brabham’s incident — and Gabby Chaves.

The IndyCar warm-up this morning was largely uneventful. James Hinchcliffe had a spin that was a little too close to Mikhail Aleshin for comfort, but both of them got through unscathed. The time sheet from that session and the starting line-up with tire selections can be found in our 2014 Honda Indy 200 Event Summary.

Next up is the final Pirelli World Challenge race of the weekend, and then the Verizon IndyCar Series will grid up for this afternoon’s Honda Indy 200. From here, we’ll likely jump to Twitter for the majority of our updates until after the conclusion of the race. If you’d like to follow our live updates, you can find them @MoreFrontWing!

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9:46 AM ET — Good morning from Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, where we were delayed getting things under way this morning due to fog. This is a relatively common occurrence here, the primary concern being that the medical helicopter isn’t able to land until the mist burns off. The USF2000 cars got under way at about 9:45, which will put us under a delay of a little more than half an hour that we’ll be contending with for the rest of the day.

I forgot to update the live blog before I packed up last night (sorry!), so here are a couple of links to get you caught up on the results of yesterday’s activities:

Bourdais claims pole for Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio

MRTI: Harvey, Costa, Eidson, and Enerson victorious thus far at Mid-Ohio

Event Summary: 2014 Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio (IndyCar session results and notes)

The tweet-up took place yesterday afternoon, and as always it was a fantastic opportunity to catch up with all the fantastic race fans who make their way to Mid-Ohio every year. I also got to meet a number of new people as well. Pippa Mann was there signing autographs, and a whole bunch of folks from USF2000 team ArmsUp Motorsports came out as well, including all three drivers: Aaron Telitz, Peter Portante, and James Dayson. Thanks so much to Pippa and to Shay Hazen for organizing the event and giving us all a time and a place to get together.

Last night was another good night of camping here at Mid-Ohio. It was a bit more chilly and I woke up searching for more blankets at one point, but it was otherwise comfortable and quiet and I feel like I rested well. Waking up to the revving of two-seater engines as an alarm clock isn’t so bad at all.

We’ve got another full slate of track activity today with USF2000 race 3 under way now, an IndyCar warm-up to follow, and the second races of the weekend for Pro Mazda and Indy Lights thereafter. For the full schedule of events for the day, click on our Event Summary link above. We’ll do our best to keep you updated here at the live blog as events progress throughout the day.

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