A wet/dry track makes for some interesting tactical calls. (LAT photo)

FORTUNE FAVORS THE BOLD -- AND THE MIDFIELDERS
Vitor Meira and Darren Manning were justly rewarded by bold strategies adopted by their crews in the early stages of the race, as they emerged in the lead after stopping for slick tires at the first opportunity -- namely the end of the first lap.

“John Barnes made a great pit call,” said Meira of his Panther Racing team manager. “We came into the pits after taking the green on the first lap to go to dry tires. That’s the second time we’ve done that this season (St. Petersburg being the first) and both times we shot to the front. That put us in the lead of the race.

“The car was good. It was picking up some push as the race went on, and I was sliding a lot at the end. But I was able to keep (Tony) Kanaan behind me at the end. We would have been in a position or two better, but coming out of the pits on my last stop I had contact with one of the Ganassi cars and that let (Oriol) Servia get past me.”

Manning was similarly effusive in his praise of Foyt Racing strategy, although he was unable to keep Kanaan behind him.

“We discussed pitting straight away before the race because I don’t mind being on the wet in slicks. We made the right decision, coming out second. Our first stop was a tad slow, and we lost three spots, but overall the ABC Supply crew did a good job for me today. Towards the end when everyone’s fuel load got down, I was a bit off the pace and (Tony) Kanaan got me when I had to burp the throttle because it pushed a bit. But it’s another top-10 for us.”

On the other hand, as Oriol Sevia noted, it’s easier to gamble on bold strategies early in the race when you start from the midfield.

“It’s a very tricky call on a track that’s part dry and part wet,” he said. “Even when the lap times are better on slick tires, there are still parts of the track that are wet and you can go off -- and then the lap times don’t matter so much. Today, Turn One was still wet and so was the straight from the Keyhole to Turn Four. Besides, it’s always the guys at the back who take the gamble. They have less to lose!”

FOR THE RECORD
Ryan Briscoe’s win made is a doubly successful weekend for Team Penske at Mid-Ohio, coming on the heels of yesterday’s ALMS LMP2 win by Romain Dumas and Timo Bernhard in a Porsche RS Spyder. The Briscoe and Helio Castroneves 1-2 gives Penske Racing its eighth 1-2 finish in IndyCar Series history and its 35th in open-wheel racing history.