Twin-race format will feature 75-lap races on Saturday and Sunday
Honda drivers have won nine of the last 13 Indy car races at Mid-Ohio
Honda lineup includes three former Mid-Ohio winners

TORRANCE, Calif. (Sept. 8, 2020) – Honda drivers and teams will have two chances to add to the manufacturer’s already impressive victory total this weekend at The Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, as the weekend schedule for the Honda Indy 200 now includes a pair of NTT INDYCAR SERIES races on the challenging 2.258-mile road course.
Five-time Mid-Ohio race winner – and current championship leader with four wins this season – Scott Dixon comes to central Ohio as the defending race winner. The Chip Ganassi Racing driver this weekend chases a sixth Mid-Ohio victory, a fifth win in the 2020 season, and a sixth Indy car Drivers’ Championship.
Alexander Rossi used a two-stop strategy to win at Mid-Ohio in 2018 for Andretti Autosport; while home town favorite Graham Rahal was victorious in 2015. Other Honda-powered winners have included Ryan Briscoe in 2008, Dario Franchitti in 2010 and Charlie Kimball in 2013.
In all, Honda drivers have won 10 of the 13 Indy car races since the series returned to Mid-Ohio under the Honda Indy 200 banner in 2007; including a 1-2-3 podium sweep last year as Dixon scored his fifth Mid-Ohio win, followed by teammate Felix Rosenqvist and Ryan Hunter-Reay. Dixon’s other Mid-Ohio wins have come in 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2012, leading his nickname “Mr. Mid-Ohio.”
“We had a heart-stopping 1-2-3 sweep last year at the Honda Indy 200, our second IndyCar Series podium sweep of the season,” said Ted Klaus, president of Honda Performance Development, Honda’s North American Racing arm. “It was a big part of our successful effort to achieve a second consecutive INDYCAR Manufacturers’ Championship. With the doubleheader format this year’s event, it’s also shaping up to be a key event in our chase of a third consecutive title.”
In the Championship Auto Racing Teams era, Honda drivers won five of the nine races from 1994-2002, more than any other manufacturer. Alex Zanardi led a 1-2 finish for Target Chip Ganassi Racing in 1996 with Jimmy Vasser second. Zanardi won again in 1997. Juan Pablo Montoya led a 1-2-3-4 result for Honda in 1999, being followed to the checkers by Paul Tracy, Franchitti and Jimmy Vasser. Helio Castroneves and Gil de Ferran finished 1-2 for Honda and Team Penske in both 2000 and 2001.
American Honda has a long history of involvement in central Ohio and at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Honda was the first Japanese company to establish auto manufacturing operations in the United States, opening Honda of America Manufacturing in Marysville, Ohio, in 1982. The company has had an Official Vehicle relationship with Mid-Ohio since 1994.
Today, Honda operates multiple manufacturing facilities and a major Research & Development center in Ohio. Combined, they employ more than 13,000 associates and have the capacity to produce more than 650,000 vehicles and 1.18 million engines annually.
Honda’s Indy car win total of 251 in 26 years of North American open-wheel racing – including 12 Indianapolis 500 victories since 2004 – is unmatched by any other manufacturer in the same period.
Eleven wins from 17 races in 2018 brought Honda the company’s seventh IndyCar Manufacturers’ Championship, highlighted by a 1-2 finish in the Drivers’ Championship for Honda-powered Scott Dixon and Alexander Rossi. Another eight victories for Honda highlighted the company’s second consecutive manufacturers’ title, and eighth overall, in 2019.
Seeking a third consecutive Manufacturers’ Championship, and on the strength of six wins from nine races this season, Honda comes to Mid-Ohio a 73-point lead in the 2020 NTT INDYCAR SERIES Manufacturers’ Championship, with 747 points to 674 for Chevrolet. Dixon currently holds a 96-point lead in the Drivers’ Championship, with 416 points to 320 for Josef Newgarden in second.