LEXINGTON, Ohio — Scott Dixon won the 2014 Honda Indy 200 of Mid-Ohio from the rear of the grid.
He’ll start up front when the green flag flies Sunday at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
Dixon, whose well-documented dominance at the 2.25-mile, 13-turn permanent road course has earned him the moniker “Master of Mid-Ohio,” shattered the qualifying record with a lap of 1 minute, 04.5814 seconds during the Firestone Fast Six portion of the three-tier knockout qualifying session Saturday afternoon. He was one of 11 drivers to top the former mark of 1:05.347 set in 1999 by Dario Franchitti and matched the following year by Gel de Ferran.
“I’m much happier starting on the pole than where we did last year,” said Dixon, the Target Chip Ganassi driver who has won five times at Mid-Ohio since 2007. “The car feels good. We rolled off fairly good and made a pretty good change (during) the second session yesterday and the car has been very nice to drive.”
Dixon will be joined in the front row by Will Power, who turned a lap of 1:04.6782. Sebastien Bourdais, last year’s pole champ, was third (1:04.9965) while Helio Castroneves (1:05.0625) was fourth.
“If everything falls our way we can definitely win and we need to,” said Power, last year’s series champ who is fifth in the points standings.
Josef Newgarden (1:05.0728) and Charlie Kimball (1:05.0784) rouned out the Firestone Fast Six.
They will all be chasing Dixon on Sunday.
“Part of it is just how smooth he is around here, said Kimball, Dixon’s Ganassi teammate. “I think he does a really good job of staying on that edge.”
G Force: The aerodynamic bodywork packages introduced this year played a significant factor in the fast times Saturday.
“It’s unbelievable,” Castroneves said. “I’m not sure how many G’s we’re pulling, but it’s much more than it used to be.
“You keep getting faster and faster and the car keeps accepting it. I don’t know where is the limit.”
Grand Marshal: Former Ohio State receiver and ESPN college football analyst Joey Galloway will serve as the grand marshal. He will give the command for drivers to start their engines shortly after 2 p.m. Sunday.
“We are thrilled to have Joey join us as Grand Marshal of the Honda Indy 200,” track president Craig Rust said. “Ohio State pride runs deep here at Mid-Ohio and our team looks forward to welcoming Joey to the track.”
