McLaughlin in hunt for victory from Row 4 at Mid-Ohio

Scott McLaughlin will try to defend his 2022 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course victory from eighth on the IndyCar Series grid for Sunday’s Indy 200.

The 2019 Bathurst 1000 winner set a best lap time of 1:06.1926s to average 122.805 mph around the 13-turn, 2.258-mile natural terrain road course.

By setting the eighth-fastest lap in the second round of qualifying, McLaughlin could not advance to the Fast Six, qualifying 0.2081s slower than Alex Palou’s sixth-fastest lap in Round 2.

“I think they were really good,” McLaughlin said of his Round 2 effort.

“Some of my best laps of the weekend, I think we’ve made the car a lot better, we just missed it. It’s IndyCar, it’s so tight.

“We can win from eighth, really proud of everyone, lot of perseverance here this weekend, working hard, who knows what the weather’s going to bring and we’ll see what we’ve got.”

McLaughlin was eighth-fastest in Friday’s practice session and sixth-fastest in Saturday’s practice session, so the three-time Supercars champion has reason to believe in the pace of his #3 Team Penske Chevrolet.

“Just think we’ve got a really consistent car,” McLaughlin said.

“You know, it may not be the fastest car, but I feel like we’re really good over the run and yeah, there’s no dramas with what we’ve got.

“Outright speed’s just not quite there, that’s fine, but we’re one of the first couple Chevies, so we’ll be okay.”

Honda completely locked out the Fast Six and McLaughlin starts alongside team-mate and fellow Chevrolet competitor Will Power.

There was rain overnight that washed all of the rubber off the surface and there is another sizeable chance of rain for Sunday morning.

“It’s actually faster this morning, so it almost gives it a clean and then we go again,” McLaughlin said.

“So yeah, I’m excited for tomorrow. Rain or dry, should be fun.”

McLaughlin was also complimentary of fellow Kiwi Shane van Gisbergen on his NASCAR debut in their race on the streets of Chicago. Van Gisbergen will start third in Sunday’s race behind Denny Hamlin and Tyler Reddick.

“I know he was fastest in practice, but yeah, awesome,” McLaughlin said of van Gisbergen.

“Following it all the time, he’s killing it. The better he goes, the more opportunities for everyone Down Under and I think it’s great.

“I’d love him in IndyCar, but at the end of the day, him and NASCAR, him and America is great for his career and yeah, I’m excited for him.”