By Amy Konrath
TORONTO (Sunday, July 8, 2012) – Following his final service stop with 30 laps remaining in the Honda Indy Toronto, Ryan Hunter-Reay was enjoying a Sunday drive on the Exhibition Place street circuit.
Hunter-Reay, in the No. 28 Team DHL/Sun Drop Citrus Soda Chevrolet, inherited the lead on Lap 57 when JR Hildebrand pitted and upped his margin over Tony Kanaan from .6040 of a second to 4.0794 seconds in the matter of five laps on the 1.75-mile, 11-turn course.
Though Charlie Kimball replaced Kanaan as the protagonist on Lap 72, the challenger didn’t matter. Hunter-Reay pulled away by 7.6 seconds with 10 laps left and — staying ahead of restart pileups in Turns 1 and 3 with three laps left — went on to his third consecutive victory.
Hunter-Reay crossed the start-finish line under caution, with Kimball securing a career-best runner-up finish and Mike Conway coming from the 11th starting spot to place a season-high third (the first podium for A.J. Foyt Racing since Brazil in 2010). Tony Kanaan finished fourth and Oriol Servia was fifth.
Hunter-Reay, who entered the race three points behind front-runner Will Power in the IZOD IndyCar Series championship standings, heads to the Edmonton Indy with a 34-point lead as Power’s No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car finished 15th (contact with the car driven by Josef Newgarden on Lap 56). Helio Castroneves, who finished sixth, overtook Scott Dixon (out early with an engine issue) for third (46 points back).
Ten different teams were represented in the top 10 of the standings.
DAY 3 NOTEBOOK:
Inactivity? Sebastien Bourdais grins at the notion. Whether at home in St. Petersburg, Fla., with his two daughters or in his profession, rarely does the four-time CART champion have extended time to kick back.
Take his IZOD IndyCar Series month break – June oval races at Texas, Milwaukee and Iowa during which Katherine Legge drove the TrueCar car for Dragon Racing. Following the June 3 race at Belle Isle, Bourdais competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series’ Six Hours of the Glen (third place).
Returning for the Honda Indy Toronto, Bourdais qualified a season-high fourth and was in line for a podium finish until sliding into the Turn 1 tire barrier because of slight contact with the car driven by Charlie Kimball on a restart with three laps left. His seventh race of the season didn’t end as he would have liked, but it showed progress for the team.
“That would have been great for the whole Dragon Racing crew. But we’ll try again,” said Bourdais, who will drive in the next four races in addition to testing a Grand-Am car July 9 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Bourdais’ season didn’t kick off the way he’d like, with the team having an underpowered engine until switching to Chevrolet for the Indianapolis 500 in late May and no testing since he shared a Dallara chassis with Legge at Sebring International Raceway in early March.
“It’s interesting sometimes to put yourself in positions where you’re really kind of struggling,” Bourdais said. “As long as you can see some light at the end of the tunnel.”
Bourdais will test the Dragon Racing car July 12 at Sonoma Raceway and is scheduled to spend a day at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on July 26 in advance of the Honda Indy 200 on Aug. 5.
Expanded Canadian schedule possible: Toronto Mayor Rob Ford praised Green Savoree Promotions and INDYCAR for another successful event at Exhibition Place. The race (in its 26th year) has an estimated $50 million economic impact for the city.
“It creates thousands of jobs. I’m a businessman, that’s why I got into politics. We have 189 cranes in the air and we’re turning the city around, and this is one of the best events we have every year.”
Added Honda Indy Toronto vice president and general manager Charlie Johnstone: “We try to make this a community festival event and we couldn’t do this without the support of the city. It’s one of the best stops on the IndyCar circuit.”
INDYCAR CEO Randy Bernard isn’t ruling out another IZOD IndyCar Series event in Canada to complement Toronto and the Edmonton Indy on the City Centre Airport circuit (July 22).
“It’s no secret we would like to have that third race (in Canada), (but) not at the expense of Toronto and Edmonton,” Bernard said. “It needs to be a market that we can continue to grow INDYCAR. I know many people would like to see that Canadian triple crown again.
“This is the right time to build (the series) up here. When you have someone like James (Hinchcliffe) who is up there kicking butt, who has a great persionality, a great sponsor and is with a great team, you want to build around him.”
Bernard expects the 2013 schedule to be finalized by Sept. 1. He will meet with Phoenix International Raceway president Bryan Sperber this week about a race in the future, and he said Pocono Raceway president Brandon Igdalsky is “doing a complete analysis” about the prospects of an IZOD IndyCar Series race.
Dixon the first out: Scott Dixon, who started fifth, climbed out of the No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing car in the Turn 1 runoff on Lap 8 because of an issue with the Honda engine, according to team managing director Mike Hull.
Dixon entered the race 15 points behind front-runner Will Power in the championship standings. He was using the fifth engine (the final fresh engine allowed under the lease agreement for the season), but will not face a 10-grid spot penalty if an engine change is necessary because it occurred in the race.
Of note: INDYCAR is in discussions with Rogers Sportsnet to be its Canadian broadcast partner. TSN/TSN2 currently broadcasts IZOD IndyCar Series races. ABC and NBC Sports Network are the U.S. broadcast outlets. … Robert Herjavec, star of ABC’s “Shark Tank” and a Toronto resident, was the grand marshal.
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IZOD IndyCar Series officials have penalized #19 Jakes with a 10 grid spot penalty for an unapproved engine change following qualifying. With the penalty, the following cars will have grid penalties for today’s race: #19 Jakes, #27 Hinchcliffe, #78 De Silvestro and #98 Tagliani.
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England’s Jack Hawksworth of Team Pelfrey won Saturday’s Star Mazda Race #1 at Exhibition Place. It was his third win of the season and allowed him to regain the point lead in the Star Mazda Championship. Zach Veach of Andretti Autosport was second and Gabby Chaves of JDC Motorsports was third. Hawksworth, who has a 13-point lead over Connor De Phillippi, will start today’s Race #2 from pole.
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England’s Jack Hawksworth of Team Pelfrey won today’s Star Mazda Race #2 at Exhibition Place. It was his second win of the weekend and his fourth win of the season and allowed him to extend his point lead in the 2012 Star Mazda Championship. Juan Piedrahita of JDC Motorsports was second followed by Sage Karam of Andretti Autosport, who started 21st in the 21-car field.
HONDA INDY TORONTO RACE SPECIFICS:
•The race is 85 laps, 148.75 miles on the 11-turn, 1.75-mile street course. The time-limit of 2 hours, 30 minutes will go into effect in the event of rain.
•The pit road speed limit is 60 mph.
•Pole sitter Dario Franchitti has chosen to grid drivers’ left.
•The green flag to start the race will be shown the third time by the start-finish line.
•The E85 ethanol allotment for today’s race is 68.5 gallons.
• Three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Johnny Rutherford will drive the Honda Civic si Safety Car.
•There will be no tow-ins or returns from the garage within the final 15 minutes of the race.
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HONDA INDY TORONTO PRE-RACE
At 12:45 p.m., the ambient temperature was 80 degrees with a relative humidity of 48 percent. Skies were partly cloudy. The track temperature was 115, according to Firestone engineers.
12:53 p.m. – “Dragons’ Den” and “Shark Tank” star Robert Herjavec gave the command, “Drivers, start your engines.” All cars have started and are rolling on the grid..
HONDA INDY TORONTO COM RACE RUNNING:
Lap 1: GREEN. #10 Franchitti leads the field to Turn 1. #18 Wilson passes #12 Power for second place in Turn 3.
Lap 3: #10 Franchitti leads #18 Wilson by .6015 of a second.
Lap 5: #10 Franchitti leads #12 Power by .4363 of a second.
Lap 6: #12 Power takes leads from #10 Franchitti in Turn 3. He leads at the line at 1.0433 seconds.
Lap 7: #9 Dixon off course in Turn 1. Crew reports mechanical issue.
Lap 8: #78 De Silvestro on pit road.
Lap 9: #12 Power leads #10 Franchitti by 1.5951 seconds.
Lap 11: #12 Power leads #10 Franchitti by 2.3253 seconds.
Lap 12: #5 Viso on pit lane for four red tires and fuel.
Lap 13: #12 Power leads #10 Franchitti by 2.0476 seconds.
Lap 14: #77 Pagenaud and #8 Barrichello on pit lane for four red tires and fuel.
Lap 15: #12 Power leads #10 Franchitti by 2.0912 seconds, #2 Briscoe on pit lane for four red tires and fuel.
Lap 16: #98 Tagliani on pit lane for four black tires and fuel. Team also makes front wing adjustment.
Lap 17: #12 Power leads #10 Franchitti by 3.3517 seconds. #27 Hinchcliffe on pit lane for four black tires and fuel. Team also makes front wing adjustment.
Lap 18: #11 Kanaan and #22 Servia on pit lane for four tires and fuel.
Lap 20: #12 Power leads #10 Franchitti by 3.1794 seconds. #18 Wilson on pit road for four tires and fuel.
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IZOD IndyCar Series officials have penalized #11 Kanaan with a drive through for hitting pit equipment.
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Lap 23: #12 Power leads #10 Franchitti by 4.4198 seconds.
Lap 24: FULL COURSE YELLOW. #38 Rahal has made contact with the wall at the exit of Turn 1. Leaders under caution are #12 Power, 10, 7, 14, 3.
Lap 26: Leaders on pit road for four tires and fuel. New leader is #77 Pagenaud, who did not stop. Pit report: #10 Franchitti was slow to refuel the car. #98 Tagliani changed the nosecone.
Lap 28: GREEN. #77 Pagenaud leads the field into Turn 1. #27 Hinchcliffe on pit road with a mechanical issue.
Lap 30: #77 Pagenaud leads #28 Hunter-Reay by 1.4784 seconds.
Lap 34: #18 Wilson passes #8 Barrichello for sixth in Turn 3.
Lap 36: #77 Pagenaud leads #28 Hunter-Reay by 3.5797 seconds.
Lap 38: #77 Pagenaud leads #28 Hunter-Reay by 2.7479 seconds. #5 Viso on pit lane for four tires and fuel. #27 Hinchcliffe has retired from the event with a mechanical issue.
Lap 40: #77 Pagenaud leads #28 Hunter-Reay by 1.9884 seconds.
Lap 43: #77 Pagenaud leads #28 Hunter-Reay by 1.4311 seconds.
Lap 45: #77 Pagenaud leads #28 Hunter-Reay by 1.6175 seconds.
Lap 47: #77 Pagenaud leads #28 Hunter-Reay by 1.5649 seconds.
Lap 48: #8 Barrichello on pit lane for four red tires and fuel. Team
Lap 49: #77 Pagenaud on pit lane for four red tires and fuel. New leader is #28 Hunter-Reay. Car had an issue and was slow to exit.
Lap 50: #28 Hunter-Reay leads #11 Kanaan by .6823 of a second.
Lap 51: #11 Kanaan on pit lane for four tires and fuel.
Lap 53: #28 Hunter-Reay leads #18 Wilson by 1.0110 seconds. #14 Conway and #12 Power on pit lane for
Lap 55: Leaders, #28 Hunter-Reay and #67 Newgarden on pit road for four tires and fuel. New leader is #4 Hildebrand.
Lap 57: #12 Power makes contact with the barrier in Turn 12. Car continues back to the pit lane where he pits for new tires. #4 Hildebrand on pit road for four tires and fuel. New leader is #28 Hunter-Reay.
Lap 59: #28 Hunter-Reay leads #11 Kanaan by .5955 of a second.
Lap 60: #12 Power on pit lane to change nosecone.
Lap 61: #28 Hunter-Reay leads #11 Kanaan by 1.1269 seconds.
Lap 63: #28 Hunter-Reay leads #11 Kanaan by 2.7871 seconds.
Lap 65: #28 Hunter-Reay leads #11 Kanaan by 4.0790 seconds.
Lap 66: #18 Wilson, running fifth, brushes the wall on the frontstretch and is slow on course.
Lap 68: #28 Hunter-Reay leads #11 Kanaan by 5.3205 seconds. #18 Wilson has retired with a suspension damage due to contact.
Lap 70: #28 Hunter-Reay leads #11 Kanaan by 6.0360 seconds.
Lap 72: #83 Kimball passes #77 Pagenaud and #11 Kanaan for second place in Turn 3.
Lap 73: #28 Hunter-Reay leads #83 Kimball by 8.3401 seconds.
Lap 75: #28 Hunter-Reay leads #83 Kimball by 7.6056 seconds.
Lap 77: #28 Hunter-Reay leads #83 Kimball by 7.5963 seconds.
Lap 79: #67 Newgarden makes bid for the third in Turn 3 and can’t make the corner and stops on course. FULL COURSE YELLOW. Leader under caution are: #28 Hunter-Reay, #83 Kimball, #77 Pagenaud, #2 Briscoe and #8 Barrichello.
Lap 82: GREEN. #28 Hunter-Reay leads the field into Turn 1. #83 Kimball makes light contact with #7 Bourdais, who makes contact with the wall, behind #8 Barrichello is spun. In Turn 3, there are a pair of multi-car incidents. #10 Franchitti makes contact with #2 Briscoe entering the corner. #26 Andretti stops mid-corner and collects #77 Pagenaud and #20 Carpenter.. FULL COURSE YELLOW.
Lap 85: CHECKERED. Ryan Hunter-Reay wins the Honda Indy Toronto – his third race win in a row.
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Following the event, IZOD IndyCar Series officials penalized #77 Pagenaud with 30-second penalty for blocking #67 Newgarden on Lap 79.
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HONDA INDY TORONTO POST-RACE NOTES:
• This is Ryan Hunter-Reay’s third straight win and his eighth career Indy car win. It is his first win on the streets of Toronto.
• Hunter-Reay is the first American to lead the IZOD IndyCar Series point standings since Sam Hornish Jr., won the series title in 2006.
• This is Andretti Autosport’s first win in Toronto. Team owner Michael Andretti won here seven times as a Indy car driver.
• Charlie Kimball finished second, his career best finish in the IZOD IndyCar Series. His previous best finish was eighth, three previous times.
• Mike Conway finished third, his best finish of the 2012 season. His previous best finish was seventh at Barber.
• Tony Kanaan finished fourth, his fifth top-five finish of the season.
• Oriol Servia finished fifth, his fourth top-five finish of 2012.
IZOD INDYCAR SERIES POINT STANDINGS
1. Ryan Hunter-Reay 335
2. Will Power 301
3. Helio Castroneves 289
4. Scott Dixon 281
5. James Hinchcliffe 268
6. Tony Kanaan 267
7. Simon Pagenaud (R) 264
8. Dario Franchitti230
9. Ryan Briscoe 217
10. Oriol Servia 215
IZOD INDYCAR SERIES MANUFACTURERS CHAMPIONSHIP
Chevrolet 81
Honda 68
Lotus 40
SUNOCO ROOKIE OF THE YEAR STANDINGS
Simon Pagenaud 264
Josef Newgarden 143
Katherine Legge 103
Bryan Clauson 13
Wade Cunningham 13
Jean Alesi 13
HONDA INDY TORONTO POST-RACE QUOTES:
MIKE CONWAY (No. 14 ABC Supply/A.J. Foyt Racing Honda): “The guys at A.J. Foyt Racing have been working really hard all year. We’ve been getting in there, getting in there, and this weekend I felt like we started off better than we have before, so we just kept dialing in and come warm-up this morning, I was pretty happy with it. I knew that we could walk a way forward, but I was surprised at how good we were on that first stint and we could just move our way forward and work our way out to the front. But you know with that yellow, we got caught out there, I was in the back and had to do it all again, but it was a lot of fun, so big thank you to my crew.”
RYAN HUNTER-REAY (No. 28 Team DHL/Sun Drop Citrus Soda Chevrolet): “No it doesn’t. It’s so much more fun doing it this way. I think we’d rather just keep doing this. This is awesome. There’s a championship run going on right now. I’m a part of it as much as everybody on this team is and they did excellent pit stops. They gave me the car to win today. We had it when it mattered again – at the end. We don’t need to win the beginning of the race. We need to win the end and it’s been such a pleasure. I can’t even believe – three races. This is going to take a second to settle in. Now. I’m thinking we’ve got to do it again next weekend.We started seventh in Iowa, and it is a little bit harder to pass here but in IndyCar and these street races you just have to stick with it, no matter if you’re fourteenth, you just have to keep giving 110 percent and sometimes it shakes out for you. Today we had the right strategy; we had the right race car; we had the good pit stops; and I did it on the track.
CHARLIE KIMBALL (No. 83 NovoRapid FlexTouch Honda): “I know that there were only 25 of us out there, but the amount of times I passed people there felt like there were about 50 cars, so a lot of credit to the Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing crew, the 83. It was quick and all I had to do was turn and make a couple of moves when they were there. That last restart got pretty busy, but at the end of the day we came home with a clean results and all credit to Ryan. They worked the strategy, started up front and stayed there, Mike ran me reasonably clean at that last restart. Only a couple of marks on my sidepod, we made it through the corner, and as he said, it’s kind of unfortunate that with all the marbles, Seb got caught up in Turn 1.” (Were you conservative because of all the action, or push the whole way?) I think today, ‘conservative’ was maximum attack. When you’re going for it, the thing was sideways everywhere. You really had to push. What they did on the repaving made for great racing. I don’t know about everybody in the stands, but I sure had a lot of fun in the cockpit. And I can’t wait to get back, not only here next year, but in Edmonton in two weeks.”
JR HILDEBRAND (No. 4 National Guard Panther Racing Chevrolet): “”For me the biggest takeaway is that we got to the point where we had a good car in the race. Today it was nice to be able to lean on Oriol a little bit (on the setup) and last year when we finished well here it was about just not crashing into people that put us in the Top Ten,whereas I think honestly if we had caught the first yellow on the right side we could have had a podium finish. It’s a testament to what the National Guard Panther Racing guys do that we were able to figure everything out and have this kind of success on raceday. This weekend, up until today, had been a bit of a disaster; all kinds of things that aren’t anybody’s fault, but it’s the kind of thing that just happens sometimes in racing that we all learn from.”
JAMES HINCHCLIFFE (No. 27 Team GoDaddy.com Chevrolet): “We had a mechanical issue and started losing power in the engine and it’s too bad. We started off a bit on the back foot, we lost our pit lane speed limiter so I had to do that first stop just watching the speed – the guys had a great stop and I think our tire strategy was good. We got some good passes done early and then that yellow came out, and finally it was a stroke of luck our way and we got up to fourth there. Another great strategy call by these Go Daddy guys. It’s a heart ache to go out early here. The whole weekend has been incredible – all the support from everybody here in Toronto. Like I’ve said, it’s the best city in the world, I love coming here to race and thank you to everybody for the support. This has been awesome. And if I couldn’t win it I’m happy to see one of my teammates in victory lane. Congrats to Ryan (Hunter-Reay) on his third in a row!”
DARIO FRANCHITI (No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda): “Another tough day for the Target guys. We got caught out with a yellow and then had an issue on the pit stop with the fueling. That put us to the back and we tried to make something happen on strategy but couldn’t make the fuel number. We finally got the yellow we needed on the last restart. There were massive amounts of marbles and cars going three-wide, and I went for a gap that closed. It was just one of those things today.”
WILL POWER (No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet): “Today’s finish for the Verizon car is certainly a shame because I felt we had one of the quickest cars. We did a good job on fuel but unfortunately we stayed out and got caught. I really enjoy racing here, just a tough break. It is going to be a tight finish with only five races to go.”
JUSTIN WILSON (No. 18 Sonny’s BBQ Honda): “The Sonny’s Bar-B-Q Honda was pretty good out there and we were having a good race. In that last stint I was just battling away to get on the podium and I thought we had a good shot at that. About half way round that last lap I started to lose power, but it was intermittent, so it would just die and accelerate, die and accelerate. Eventually I got to Turn 11 and it died as I entered. As I got to the apex suddenly it gave me full power back. It spun the wheels, the rear came out and clipped the wall and bent the suspension. So I’m very disappointed. We’ve found the part that failed which caused the power loss and we’ll just have to learn from that. We’ve got a quick race car, so bring on the next race.”
SCOTT DIXON (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda): “I think it was the engine. It was definitely something mechanical. I’m not very happy of course, but Team Target will do a lot between now and Edmonton.”
ALEX TAGLIANI (No. 98 Team Barracuda – BHA Honda): “I’m very proud of Team Barracuda – BHA. We lost sixth gear at some point early in the race but we never gave up. To finish the day with a 10th place position is pretty amazing. I think we had a fast car but we never had the chance to prove it. We had a wing problem early on, then some tire pressure and then finally when the car was good we didn’t have sixth gear. I’m very proud. The guys just never give up. That’s kind of like our motto this year. We have things to overcome every single race but we always stick with it. And that’s what counts.”
SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS (No. 7 TrueCar Dragon Racing Chevrolet): “”Yes, it was a great day. We had a potential third place going on. I was really happy with that. We benefited from (Scott) Dixon’s problems. We went after Justin (Wilson). We had a better race car. We took better care of our tires, and we were going to make it. That yellow came out at the worst time. A bunch of guys had gone out of sync already (pit stops). That cycle put us to the back of the pack. I knew it was going to be super hard from there, but we stuck together and tried to run mistake-free, which I did. The car was pretty good. It is just very difficult to pass. Made a few moves, and just tried to make it stick from there. Things started to play out in our favor at the end because some guys couldn’t make it on fuel. I passed (Charlie) Kimball on the restart…I don’t know what he did. Mistake…completely lose mind. If I didn’t give him the room, it was going to throw me in the tires, so I avoided the contact. I saw him coming so suddenly, I had to open the steering like super quick. I got on the marbles, and there was no way I could make the corner from there. Very disappointing because we should have finished on the podium, whatever place that was. That would have been great for the whole Dragon Racing crew. But, we’ll try again.”
ED CARPENTER (No. 20 Fuzzy’s Vodka/Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet): “I made a mistake early, going into the runoff in Turn 8. But I was able to stay on the lead lap and we worked with car. It felt better towards the end. We were able to soldier on and be in position at the end to pick up some positions when people up front had to pit late. But it was frustrating that we got caught up in the turn three crash at the finish. I thought I could have finished higher. That is the biggest disappointment for me. I was the last one to stop in the mess and I was the last one to get restarted. There were guys who caused the crash who got restarted before me. That doesn’t make sense. They move me out of the way and restart those guys. That cost us today. I need to talk with IndyCar and Beaux (Barfield) since the guys who blocked the track and caused everything in turn three get to go before guys who had to stop because the track was blocked. That is very frustrating. Our Fuzzy’s Vodka Chevy needed to be better in the race but we’ll work on it for Edmonton.”
SIMONA DE SILVESTRO (No. 78 Nuclear Clean Air Energy Lotus HVM Racing Lotus): “I’m pretty disappointed. Something happened with the engine. We were hoping for a good finish, trying to stay out of trouble. It’s hard to say right now, we just did a couple of laps. We’ll have to see what happened and go to Edmonton and try to do better.”
SIMON PAGENAUD (No. 77 Schmidt Hamilton HP Motorsports Honda): “I don’t know whether to be happy or mad. The HP car was pretty awesome during the race. We led and controlled the race for a little while. The team did an awesome job. It just didn’t go our way on the strategy. We tried to go for the win with a little bit of strategy. It just about worked out. Unfortunately, we did not have enough fuel to go to the end, so we had to pit.” (About penalty): “You know, I am eager to watch the replay. I have no doubt on what I did. I think I respected the rule, which is to keep your line. I kept my line, but Newgarden went into a hole where there was no space. If I didn’t move back, he was never going to stop. I had to move back to make sure he wasn’t going to take me out. So, I don’t see why I got penalized. But again, I need to see the replay. Sometimes, from the inside of the car, it looks a little different. But from my standpoint, I really don’t understand the penalty.”
TAKUMA SATO (No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda): “It was a tough race. We chose to start with the primary tire and tried to hold our position but a couple of people got by with the quicker alternate tire. We settled into a pace and it was, in a way, surprising to see not much yellow at the beginning of the race. It was good to see all of the cars get through Turn 1 and 3 but then we tried a little different sequence and made our first pit stop earlier and put on the alternate tire and tried to stretch the run but unfortunately we had a little balance issue on the second set of tires and lost quite a bit of time and gradually lost positions which was a shame. We need to look into it that but it also seems we have a small problem on the brakes because I am losing them too. It was a tough race and in the end it’s good to finish in the top-10 but I wanted to be a little higher. Good job by everyone though.”
JAMES JAKES (No. 19 Boy Scouts of America Honda): “Thanks to all the guys, obviously for staying here late last night and working hard for the engine change, and thanks to Honda as well for giving us a fresh one. Hopefully we can get qualifying sorted for the next time at Edmonton so we can battle to be in the top three. We had a good car at the end of the race and we managed to pick quite a few guys off. A lot of people were saving fuel there so that was good because we were good to go til the end. Very happy today.”
RYAN BRISCOE (No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet): “In our strategy for the No. 2 Hitachi we were counting on a yellow a little bit earlier, but we got it in the end there. We certainly based our strategy off catching a couple more yellows than we did, so unfortunately we had to pit at the end which got us out of track position. We were looking alright for a top ten finish but during the melee down in turn three during that last restart we got hit in the back end and it ended our day. It was great having our sponsors from Hitachi here at the track today, just too bad the day ended how it did.
HELIO CASTRONEVES (No. 3 Penske Truck Rental Chevrolet): “It was very crazy out there today. I am very proud of the whole Penske Truck Rental team today, my crew, mechanics, engineers, the Chevy engine, everybody did a great job. I think finishing sixth here in Toronto is my best finish so I am pleased with that. This is the first time I have been able to keep my nose clean out here, literally I had no damage on my nose and how things were going today that was good. Our car was certainly good enough to finish in the top six and I am glad that we were able to stay out of the wrecks and finish like we did.”
JOSEF NEWGARDEN (No. 67 Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Honda): “”We had such a great car today just like we have all year. The car was coming into its stride and we had a great strategy. Unfortunately at the end I attempted a pass on Pagenaud that l don’t think I should have tried. I went into the tires and that was the end of our fantastic run today. We showed that despite missing two practice sessions and qualifying in the back of the pack we have the ability to move up the field and threaten for a podium finish. We were right where we need to be today. We just need to seal the deal.”
ORIOL SERVIA (No. 22 Panther/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Chevrolet): “This Sunday wasn’t the most spectacular day of the Panther/DRR 22 Valspar machine. Honestly, we just didn’t have the speed. I felt a lot better in the practices, but not during the race. We just didn’t have the speed. Dennis has a great strategy. We were able to keep our nose clean. There were a lot of drivers that were not driving that smart out there. It was just a question of letting them make the mistakes. We’ll take the fifth place.
TONY KANAAN (No. 11 GEICO/Mouser Electronics/KVRT Chevrolet): (About his penalty): “I have to say that on that pit stop there, I had no room. I don’t know if it was just me that spun the tires too much or the Dreyer & Reinbold guys didn’t leave me enough room, I can’t say. I kind of disagree with the call, but we had to do it. Then, after that it was just the same story. We go from the back, back to the front. I’m a little bit upset. We can’t get a win, but I’m trying as hard as I can.” (From a team perspective, how close are you (to a win)?): “I think we’re close. We’ve got to do a better job in qualifying for sure, and a couple of other things that are happening during the races in our pit stops. Strategy-wise between me and my engineers, we’ve got to sort it out, but we’re close. We’ve been knocking on the door. We’ve been in the top four for the past three races – two podiums and a fourth place. So close.”
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The next IZOD IndyCar Series race is the Edmonton Indy on July 22 at Edmonton City Centre Airport. The race will be broadcast live by NBC Sports Network at 2:30 p.m. (ET).
IZOD IndyCar Series
Honda Indy Toronto
TORONTO – Results Sunday of the Honda Indy Toronto IZOD IndyCar Series event on the 1.755 mile Streets of Toronto, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):
1. (6) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Chevy, 85, Running
2. (13) Charlie Kimball, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
3. (11) Mike Conway, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
4. (17) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Chevy, 85, Running
5. (14) Oriol Servia, Dallara-Chevy, 85, Running
6. (7) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Chevy, 85, Running
7. (15) JR Hildebrand, Dallara-Chevy, 85, Running
8. (24) James Jakes, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
9. (9) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
10. (16) Alex Tagliani, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
11. (18) Rubens Barrichello, Dallara-Chevy, 85, Running
12. (8) Simon Pagenaud, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
13. (20) Josef Newgarden, Dallara-Honda, 84, Running
14. (4) Sebastien Bourdais, Dallara-Chevy, 84, Running
15. (2) Will Power, Dallara-Chevy, 84, Running
16. (22) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Chevy, 84, Running
17. (1) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 84, Running
18. (21) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Chevy, 84, Running
19. (12) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Chevy, 83, Contact
20. (23) EJ Viso, Dallara-Chevy, 81, Running
21. (3) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 67, Contact
22. (19) James Hinchcliffe, Dallara-Chevy, 28, Mechanical
23. (10) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 23, Contact
24. (25) Simona de Silvestro, Dallara-Lotus, 9, Mechanical
25. (5) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 7, Mechanical
Race Statistics
Winners average speed: 95.787
Time of Race: 01:33:26.5096
Margin of victory: Under Caution
Cautions: 8
Lead changes: 5
Lap Leaders:
Franchitti 1 – 5
Power 6 – 25
Pagenaud 26 – 48
Hunter-Reay 49 – 55
Hildebrand 56
Hunter-Reay 57 – 85
Point Standings: Hunter-Reay 335, Power 301, Castroneves 289, Dixon 281, Hinchcliffe 268, Kanaan 267, Pagenaud 264, Franchitti 230, Briscoe 217, Servia 215.