Penalties cost Aleshin at Mid-Ohio

During the Honda 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Mikhail Aleshin, driver of the No. 7 Schmidt Peterson Racing Honda, would see his race get away from him after two penalties.

The Russian had qualified in the 10^th position for the start of the race and early on, he took his car to the front and would lead 33 laps during the race, the most laps led.

“The car was amazing,” he said. “The team did a fantastic job to bring the No. 7 SMP Racing Car up to speed. No one was really faster than we were. I felt quite competitive up there in the front and I wasn’t pushing like crazy because I was also saving fuel”

Then on Lap 65, he was issued a penalty for pit safety infraction which made him restarting in the back after the caution. He would be assessed another penalty on Lap 66 for hitting personal that he would have to serve by completing a drive thru. He would end up finishing 17^th on the day.

“I think the incident (In the pits with the No. 21 car) was unfortunate,” he said. “I don’t want to discuss it though. I want to just say that sometimes these things happen in the race and we’re ready to win but we just got a little bit unlucky today.”