Ohio
Alex Palou kicks off IndyCar hybrid era with pole at Mid-Ohio
LEXINGTON, Ohio – With a brand-new tool at the drivers’ fingertips and countless more data figures to track and analyze, two of the best teams and drivers in IndyCar couldn’t help but make series history Saturday afternoon.
In the debut of hybrid technology in qualifying at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou edged Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward by 24 ten-thousands of a second to take pole for Sunday’s 80-lap race, marking the tightest front row in the Fast 6 qualifying format’s history that dates back to 2005 (0.0027 seconds in the 2023 GMR Grand Prix on the IMS road course).
“It means he went to the bathroom before qualifying,” quipped O’Ward to thunderous laughs in the Mid-Ohio media center. “We’re all out here pushing, pushing, pushing. That’s the beauty of it and what makes it exciting and fun. I’m looking forward to tomorrow.
“It’s irritating and annoying to miss it by just that little bit. I was really happy with the lap, but there’s always more available. You find little bits and pieces here and there, but this is a really strong start for tomorrow, and it should be a good race.”
At a track that has seen nine different winners in its last 10 IndyCar races – with seven of those winners coming from the front row – starting position means everything at Mid-Ohio, particularly with a brand-new repave and where teams will be learning on the fly about how to best maximize the new 60 horsepower boosts available each lap.
‘Combatting the change’: How introduction of hybrid will (and won’t) change IndyCar in 2024
O’Ward and Palou agreed that a car, driver and team reaping the full benefits from IndyCar’s new Energy Recovery System might gain a maximum of two tenths a second per lap, making the bespoke system something too impactful to ignore – but not something to prioritize while forgetting about traditional driving and optimal car balance across an entire lap.
“You don’t want to give up one-and-a-half tenths for free that’s available to you, but it’s a lot of work to get those,” Palou said. “But it’s free lap time, so you need to take it.”
“I think tomorrow, it’ll be a challenge for everybody to see whether you’re going to keep the same strategy or change it up a little bit,” added O’Ward. “It’s become a tool for all the drivers and the teams to either make your lives a lot easier or harder. I think it will be interesting.”
The relatively small amounts of boost – drivers are allowed to use 310 kilojoules of energy from the ERS per lap, amounting to eight or so seconds of 60 additional horsepower – have made for a bit of a paradox for teams in the leadup to this weekend as they try to decipher what to tinker with and how much.
Every change leads to another – potentially leading to information overload, Palou admitted. The system isn’t expected to lead to or allow for a massive sea change in the drivers finishing on podiums, winning races or capturing poles, but it’s also something that can have just enough an impact that teams can’t ignore it entirely and solely treat it as a 100-pound brick in the back of their cars either.
“There’s too much stuff to look at now – too many options to get distracted with,” said Palou, adding that the amount of information to scroll through in the cockpit has already made an impression. “The engineers have the ability to focus on what’s really important. This morning, I was saying, ‘Let’s take a look at deploy and regen,’ and my engineer said, ‘Don’t look at that. Look at your driving first, and then focus on the percent of charge.’”
After nearly five years, it’s arrived: Explaining IndyCar’s new hybrid system
Several of Palou’s title challengers starting in a hole Sunday
Staring from pole Sunday at a track that has favored strong qualifying performances has a chance to pay big dividends for Palou, as the two-time champ enters the oval-heavy portion of the 2024 schedule starting next weekend. Yet to log an oval win among his 11 career victories that have all come in the last three-plus years, Palou currently holds a 23-point cushion over 2022 champ Will Power and 32 over his Ganassi teammate and six-time champ Scott Dixon.
Only three members of the current top-10 made Saturday’s Fast 6 – Colton Herta qualified 4th – and five of those failed to make it out of the first round, including Power (who qualified 16th and is 2nd in points), Dixon (14th/3rd), Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood (15th/5th), Josef Newgarden (18th/9th) and Felix Rosenqvist (13th/10th).
Standout performances
Two of IndyCar’s young guns shined Saturday, including:
- David Malukas: qualified 3rd in just his second race back from his surgically-repaired left wrist and in his second race with Meyer Shank Racing. The 22-year-old’s results also marks the best for the team’s home track in MSR’s history.
- Christian Rasmussen: After a rough start to his rookie IndyCar campaign where he currently sits 22nd in points, the young Dane made his first career Fast 12 Saturday at Mid-Ohio. Ahead of this weekend, he’d only started inside the top-15 twice. The Ed Carpenter Racing driver qualified 9th for Sunday’s race.
How to watch, listen: IndyCar Series Mid-Ohio schedule, TV, streaming in hybrid engine debut
IndyCar qualifying results at Mid-Ohio
1. Alex Palou
2. Pato O’Ward
3. David Malukas
4. Colton Herta
5. Marcus Armstrong
6. Marcus Ericsson
7. Scott McLaughlin
8. Alexander Rossi
9. Christian Rasmussen
10. Christian Lundgaard
11. Linus Lundqvist
12. Romain Grosjean
13. Felix Rosenqvist
14. Scott Dixon
15. Kyle Kirkwood
16. Will Power
17. Nolan Siegel
18. Josef Newgarden
19. Graham Rahal
20. Rinus VeeKay
21. Santino Ferrucci
22. Agustin Canapino
23. Pietro Fittipaldi
24. Kyffin Simpson
25. Toby Sowery
26. Sting Ray Robb
27. Jack Harvey
*For undergoing an unapproved engine change by moving to their fifth of the year, Armstrong, Rosenqvist and Fittipaldi all will drop six spots on the grid for tomorrow’s race.
Ohio
Lorain woman killed, three children injured in Ohio Turnpike crash in Elyria (UPDATED)
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Ohio
Licking County real estate transfers for June 1-5, 2026, hit $865,000
Real estate transfers in Licking County, Ohio, range from $85,000 to $865,000
The following are property transfers recorded in Licking County from June 1-5, 2026.
First name indicates the seller; second name represents the buyer
Buckeye Lake
- 502 Providence Lane; Cohagen, Christopher C and Lori A; Adams, Jeffrey L and Boyce-Adams, Jo Anna; 6/1/2026; $511,000
- 131 Cranberry Lane; Smart, Amy and Kidwell, Kevin K; Sew and Minor, Christian; 6/1/2026; $262,000
Etna Township
- 116 Cameron Drive SW; Ray, Erica L; Darjee, Sanjay and Laxmi and Dil; 6/2/2026; $412,000
- 119 Kraner St. SW; Adkins, Zane and Amy; Culbertson, Brenton Howard; 6/1/2026; $368,500
- 160 Dusky Willow Drive; Willow Reserve LLC; Martin, Alaina K; 6/2/2026; $290,940
Granville
- 119 Derwyn Del Way; Lifer, David C and Julia H; Martin, Michael and Lisa; 6/1/2026; $865,000
- 39 Victoria Drive; Acton, Wendy S and Paul J; Cannon, Matthew Evan and Zywica, Natalie Nicole; 6/2/2026; $835,000
Granville Township
- 49 Alberry Drive; Halliday, Lucas and Breayne; Howe, Jason and Kathryn; 6/2/2026; $570,000
Harrison Township
- 102 Whirlaway Loop; Rice, Dawn (Trustee); Bope, Maria and Shane; 6/2/2026; $420,000
Heath
- 1306 Kacey Court; Fischer Homes Columbus II LLC; Owens, Blake Andrew and Taylor Marie; 6/2/2026; $437,779
- 805 Fieldson Drive; Flowers, Ingrit; Harder, Noah C; 6/2/2026; $250,000
Hebron
- 802 Cumberland Meadows Circle; Lines, Marlene S; Gerhart, Jamie A and Ralph W Jr; 6/2/2026; $232,000
Johnstown
- 101 Bigelow Drive; McGovern, Matthew S and Jennifer L; Sanford, Jessica; 6/2/2026; $442,500
Liberty Township
- 5844 Nichols Lane Road NW; La Jeunesse, Garth E and Debra; Nesselroad, William Heath and Annie; 6/1/2026; $629,000
- 7211 Northridge Road NW; Devault, Robert E Jr and Joann; Esbenshade, Travis M and Lowe, Shelby M; 6/1/2026; $495,000
Newark
- 2110 Overlook Way; D.R. Horton-Indiana LLC; Tarsha, Michele A; 6/1/2026; $433,335
- 1162 Taylor Ave.; Heath Fluid LLC; Anglada, Gabriel P and Salina T; 6/1/2026; $200,000
- 32 Postal Ave. W.; Palmisano, Phil; Moore, Dominic Michael and Miksich, Paige Elizabeth; 6/1/2026; $198,900
- 75 Gay St.; Velez, Marcos A; Camell, Campbell; 6/1/2026; $155,000
- 655 Evans St.; TNL; McRada Properties LLC; 6/1/2026; $145,000
- 63 Wallace St.; FDA Peachtree LLC; Burns, Amber L; 6/2/2026; $86,500
- 404 10th St.; Synergy Group Properties LLC; Busy Boys Restoration LLC; 6/2/2026; $85,000
Reynoldsburg
- 8447 Rodebaugh Road; Collins, Carol J; Thorpe, Kimberley Lynn and Henry, Steven; 6/2/2026; $340,000
Ohio
Court orders Ohio restrictions on kids’ use of social media restored
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio’s law requiring children under 16 to get parental consent to use social media apps must be restored, a divided panel of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday.
The decision comes as a blow to NetChoice, which has won court victories against identical digital identification laws in other states, including Arkansas, Louisiana and Georgia. The trade group representing TikTok, Snapchat, Meta and other major tech companies said the Ohio decision went against “clear national consensus” and that it intended to keep fighting.
“An unconstitutional law protects no one, and we remain focused on ensuring the First Amendment rights of Ohioans are protected,” said Paul Taske, director of the NetChoice Litigation Center.
Netchoice brought suit against Ohio’s law in 2024, arguing that it was overly broad, vague and represented an unconstitutional impediment to free speech.
The Cincinnati-based Sixth Circuit’s panel disagreed. In a 2-1 decision, it found that the law was not unconstitutional and sent it back to a lower court to have a block on the law’s enforcement vacated.
“At bottom, the Act imposes a parental consent requirement,” Judge Eric Clay wrote in the lead opinion. “That requirement constitutes a marginal burden that precisely targets the multi-faceted problem that Ohio has identified: Children’s unsupervised assent to terms and conditions for use of platforms that take advantage of and harm them.”
Judge Alice Batchelder concurred, writing that “a statute is not vague just because it has a wide berth.”
Known as the Social Media Parental Notification Act, the Ohio law was part of an $86.1 billion state budget bill that Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed into law in July 2023.
The administration pushed the measure as a way to protect children’s mental health, with then-Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, now a U.S. senator, saying at the time that social media was “intentionally addictive” and harmful to kids.
The law requires companies to get parental permission for social media and gaming apps and to provide their privacy guidelines so families know what content would be censored or moderated on their child’s profile.
Republican Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson called Thursday’s ruling “a win for Ohio families.”
“The court agreed that parents –- not social media companies –- should get a say in what kids see online,” he said in a statement. “We have an obligation to keep our children safe, and today, the most dangerous place for our kids is the internet. This decision gives parents the tools to be involved and provide oversight.”
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