| All The Best Spots to Watch Over the O’Reilly Auto Parts 4 Hours of Mid-Ohio June 9, 2025By John OreoviczIMSA Wire Service |
| LEXINGTON, Ohio – Road racing offers many attractions; most notably, freedom and variety. As a spectator, you’re not tied to a seat like you might be at an oval track. At a road race, you’re free to roam and take in an event from multiple vantage points. And every corner is different – left, right, fast, slow, off-camber or banked. Watching a road race from trackside is a great way to discover new perspectives and get your steps in. Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 4 Hours of Mid-Ohio – the fourth round of the 2025 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge – was ideal for fans who didn’t feel the need to be rooted to one spot to watch a race unfold. Mid-Ohio packs 13 turns into 2.258 miles, and the layout of the circuit makes it easy to catch action from every corner in a one-hour practice, much less a four-hour race. This is one of the hidden gems on the IMSA schedule, a weekend where Michelin Pilot Challenge takes center stage and puts on a show worthy of headlining status. Both classes – Grand Sport (GS) and Touring Car (TCR) – were decided by less than a second after four hours of intense competition. Light rain was falling when I arrived at Mid-Ohio at 10 a.m., two hours ahead of the scheduled noon start of the Michelin Pilot Challenge main event and just in time for the green flag of the second of two Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by Michelin races. The slick conditions were conducive to mayhem, but the MX-5 Cup field kept it clean and rookie Ethan Goulart prevailed for the victory after a three-wide battle into Turn 4. |
| Next up was the grid walk prior to the Michelin Pilot Challenge race. This is a highlight of every IMSA weekend, where fans get to meet and greet the stars and cars of sports car racing before they take to the track for anywhere from 100 minutes to 24 hours of competition. This grid walk was particularly busy for the teams as nearly all the competitors made late changes from wet-weather Michelin tires to dry weather slicks on the grid as the track began to dry from the morning’s rain. If you’re going to roam throughout a race, one of the biggest decisions is where to take in the start. At Mid-Ohio, the start takes place entering the Esses, so I positioned myself at the entrance to Turn 4 anticipating close action at the green flag. Both classes passed through cleanly, and I was glad to set up my pop-up chair and relax. About an hour in, the caution flag flew. It was the perfect excuse to grab an order of fresh-cut French fries from a food vendor and walk through the tunnel to the new grandstand outside of the Esses. In more than 30 years of spectating at Mid-Ohio, it was the first time I’ve viewed a race from that position. Walking a lap during the IMSA race provided ample evidence of the improvements that track owners Kevin Savoree and Kim Green have been implementing at one of America’s most beloved and rustic road courses. Many of the paddock roads are newly paved, and the fencing surrounding the circuit has been upgraded. After watching the first hour at the Esses, I switched my vantage point to the exit of Turn 1, a high-commitment 90-degree left-hander. This is one of my favorite places to watch racing cars. You can really tell who is hanging it out and who is lollygagging. A great corner. At the two-hour mark, I was positioned at the Keyhole, the second of Mid-Ohio’s 13 corners. It looks like a simple 180 on a track map, but there is actually plenty of elevation change involved, and the overlooking hillside is a great place for spectating. After stopping at my car for a refreshing Coca-Cola, I embarked for the far side of the circuit. Mid-Ohio’s compact layout enables you to get just about anywhere in 15 minutes, even without the benefit of a scooter or golf cart. Having started the race at the entrance to the Esses, I made my way to the Turn 5 and 6 Esses exit, then walked the inner perimeter of the track over to Turn 9, the fast left-hander leading into Thunder Valley and the closing sequence of a lap. |
 My logic was to put myself in position to be in the Carousel for the finish, figuring that’s where there might be a desperate last-lap lunge for win.But like the MX-5 Cup race earlier in the day, fireworks were not forthcoming. The racing was clean, like it’s supposed to be. The other advantage to watching the end of a race at Mid-Ohio from the Carousel is the proximity to Victory Lane. By the time the cars complete a cool-down lap, you’ve almost already walked there. Most often these days, I watch races from the media center. It’s a privileged place to be, with wall-to-wall television coverage and scoring monitors. It helps us do the job of reporting the overall events of a race. But it lacks the immediacy of watching from trackside. The sensory overload of sound and sight and the overall vibe. My Mid-Ohio race day ended up totaling about four and a half miles, or 10,000 steps. Fitting to go over four miles in a four-hour race. Through Peacock, YouTube and IMSA.com, fans watching from Franklin, Ohio to Frankfurt, Germany, enjoy the same technology that we use in the media center – the same video and timing and scoring feeds supplied to the world. But I’m here to tell you. Nothing replicates the actual experience of watching from trackside. |
