Pato O’Ward’s fortunes did a complete 180° at the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio; the Arrow McLaren driver finally took home his first win of the season at the same place he was victorious in 2025.
The 26-year old’s main opponent was none other than his teammate, Christian Lundgaard, who was the polesitter at Mid-Ohio; he Danish driver put up a fierce fight for the win and joined the #5 driver on the podium in P2.
The chances of a podium — let alone a win — felt unattainable for the #5 crew. Despite his consistency throughout the season, qualifying pace, race strategy, and pit stops constantly hindered O’Ward’s chances of victory.
However, Mid-Ohio turned the tables as all three Arrow McLaren drivers finished in the top-10 for the first time in the 2026 IndyCar season.
O’Ward credits #5 pit crew for success at 2026 Mid Ohio
The Arrow McLaren driver described Sunday’s race as the first weekend in which every aspect of the No. 5 team’s performance came together, allowing him to capitalize on the car’s pace and secure his first win —and first podium — of the 2026 season.
“It’s great. It’s great that the first podium of the year for me is a win. We’ve had performances, and I think today was a textbook showing of execution. I want to give it to my guys in the pits; they were phenomenal. I know they’ve been working so hard because this year that has been a bit of a challenge, and I know they’re working so hard to give me the pit stops that they gave me today.
“I know they’ve been working hard for that. I really want to recognize that because they make or break my race. They truly allowed me to fight my way and keep my position today as we were fighting on track. Obviously the cars have been strong all weekend. It’s been a very strong weekend for all three cars. It was a matter of being perfect.“
Lap 42 battle with Lundgaard at IndyCar Mid-Ohio
Pit-stop execution had been one of the No. 5 team’s recurring weaknesses throughout the opening half of the season, making Sunday’s clean performance particularly rewarding for both driver and crew.
That execution proved especially important during O’Ward’s battle with teammate Lundgaard when the two Arrow McLaren teammates closely matched on Lap 42/90. Lundgaard had a moment in Turn 2 that forced him to go wide, giving O’Ward the opportunity to capitalise on the polesitter’s mistake — a moment fueled by immense patience.
“The pace has been so close between Christian and I. We’ve basically matched each other every single session. It’s been the weekend that obviously the team wants to have every single weekend. We want to be fighting exactly where we were today every single time.
“I was positioning myself to bounce on an opportunity whenever he would make a mistake, so I was banking on that he was going to make one, and he did. That’s what ultimately gave me the opportunity, and I took full advantage of it. It’s always more fun to do it on track over a pit stop sequence or something.”
A battle shaped by mutual respect
Although the two raced aggressively, O’Ward said the battle was dictated more by mutual respect than the fact they drove for the same team.
“I think it depends who you’re racing. You can really tell who you can race side-by-side with or who’s going to tell you, no thanks. Obviously, Christian is one of the best in the series. Like obviously Palou is not an Arrow McLaren driver, but I think if I was in that situation with him, he would also respect me like that, and I think you can say that about a lot of other guys, like Malukas.
“I don’t think it really makes a difference. But obviously as for the team’s instance, we obviously don’t want to take both cars out. We knew that we were going to race hard, and it was either his or mine. I ran a cleaner race.”
Ending the narrative of zero wins and podiums in 2026
The win also put an end to the narrative surrounding O’Ward’s lack of victories and podium finishes in 2026. However, the Mexican insisted he never allowed the statistics to affect his confidence and had unwavering faith that he’d earn at least one race win before the season ended,
“Honestly, I wasn’t really worried. I’ve been in this business for a long time. I know there’s plenty of other guys that have had many more years than I have, but I’ve got plenty under my belt to understand how things flow. The bad luck doesn’t last forever, but the good luck also doesn’t.
“Today was a simple showing of execution, and even coming off of Road America, I had so much pace. I’ve had so much pace in the last two road courses. Sadly, Road America we weren’t even able to fight because we got hosed by that yellow. I knew my win was coming. Whether it was going to be in the last couple races or in the middle, I don’t know. But obviously I made it happen today.
“It’s just nice to kind of put ourselves in a position to keep on climbing, keep on building on this great momentum that we’ve had because I do feel like some good results have ran away from us just from little details. But today I really want to thank my guys for giving me an amazing race car and in the pits. Like I said, that is so important.”
A game of luck for Arrow McLaren in 2026 Mid-Ohio
O’Ward echoed that sentiment when asked about finally putting together a complete race after months of setbacks involving strategy, pit stops and race circumstances beyond his control. Sharing that essentially, being in this business can feel like a game of luck for a driver.
“Well, it’s been great. Obviously this is why I’m here, and the reality is I’ve really strived for perfection from my side every single race weekend. I don’t want to make mistakes. I want to be clean. I want to be smart. I want to put the car and pick my battles, and I really feel like I’m driving better than ever.
“But I don’t think it’s a reason to lose motivation, lose hunger. I know it was just a matter of time for things to kind of click, or at least not go against us. Obviously it’s sometimes on the extremes. You might have horrible luck or you might have insane luck. We haven’t had that insane luck yet, so maybe we do, and it would be nice to keep racking up some more. But yeah, it’s just great to get this first win of the season for me.”
Championship fight remains alive despite 94-point deficit
The Mid-Ohio victory moved O’Ward back into the championship conversation, with the Mexican sitting 94 points behind leader Alex Palou with seven races remaining. While acknowledging the gap, O’Ward dismissed the idea that his title hopes had disappeared.
“Yeah, obviously it’s doable. I think at this point last year I was somewhere there, as well, and if it’s not first in the championship, a repeat of a second would be great. It’s not the end of the world. We’re obviously still working hard. We’re still getting better.
“When you see the two biggest goals that any race team in INDYCAR has, it’s winning the Indy 500 and winning the INDYCAR championship, which we’ve been very close on both. We’re going to keep working hard.”
Mid-Ohio win gives Arrow McLaren momentum heading into final stretch
With the second half of the season approaching, O’Ward believes there are still several opportunities to close the championship deficit, pointing to circuits where Arrow McLaren has historically performed well and tracks that have the potential to enhance their position on the leaderboard.
“If we keep having weekends like today, certainly so,” O’Ward said when asked whether a championship push was realistic. “That would be fantastic.
“Obviously Nashville has been a great place for me and the team. Portland we’ve been very strong, as well. Markham, we’ve had the best street course results that we’ve had in quite some time this year. I’m excited for Markham. I’m excited for Washington. That one is going to be crazy. Milwaukee, we’ve won there before.
“There’s plenty of opportunities left. Like I said, I’m not changing my approach. It’s going to be the same as it’s been all year. I didn’t really change it this weekend, either.”
Changing conditions did not alter confidence in the car
O’Ward also shared his thoughts on the changing track conditions at Mid-Ohio, after Lundgaard noted the difference between the morning warm-up session and the race itself.
While addressing that the circuit evolved as temperatures rose and rubber was laid down, O’Ward said the changes were typical of road-course weekends rather than something that completely altered the balance of the race car.
“I thought it was a little bit warmer for sure, but I think it was the same change that we usually get on the other road courses, as well, when all this rubber starts getting laid down. The cars do seem to change a little bit. But I wouldn’t say that it completely transformed what we’ve had. I think in terms of pace, we were right where we have been compared to the rest of the weekend.
“Obviously the track will fluctuate and things need to change, but we’ve got things inside of the car that we can mess around with to put it in a bit more of a happy place.”
The end of a 14-race podium drought at Mid-Ohio
The victory also ended a 14-race podium drought for O’Ward, the longest stretch without a top-three finish of his IndyCar career. However, the driver said he does not focus heavily on statistics and instead remains committed to improving each weekend.
“Yeah, it’s obviously nice that the first one has been a win because, yeah, a win does hit different than just a second or a third, I had a bit of a sniff of it in Road America. I really did. I was positioning myself there to take the win, and we had so much pace.
“Coming into here, I knew that we were going to be able to do something similar to that, and we went out there and executed. That was the most important part. Yeah, it’s been nice, but honestly, I don’t really look at all of that. I just go every single weekend with the open mind that we always want to do better than the previous year. We always want to do better than the previous weekend. That’s what we did.”
