“Then, on the second-to-last lap, they said, ‘You’re P2; get to 59.5 for P1.’ I just stayed on it and I’m looking forward to starting up front”.
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Will Power has his third Honda Indy Toronto title, surviving a wild 30th running of the famous street race along Lake Ontario for the crown.
A caution with four laps remaining – first Jack Hawksworth hit a tire barrier, and in an unrelated incident, Juan Pablo Montoya hit the same barrier – to set up one final restart with one lap remaining.
“It’s an issue we’ve been chasing all weekend and we thought we’d fixed it”, he said.
Cal Crutchlow bounced back from a Q1 elimination on Saturday to finish second ahead of Dovizioso, while Scott Redding and Andrea Iannone rounded out the top five.
James Hinchcliffe notched his best-ever finish on home soil – third place, which matches his previous best finish this season, while Helio Castroneves came in second. “That was a great call (to pit). I wish I had the energy that I had when I was in my 20’s, but the experience I have now because I’m a much different driver”.
Power began the race third in the standings and 75 points back. Pagenaud has won three street/road course races so far this season.
The major knock on Team Penske in 2015 was that having multiple drivers in contention for the championship ultimately cost them, as they had to spread out their efforts compared to Ganassi, where the whole team could support Dixon.
Power, who drives for Team Penske and entered the race third in the championship points standings, has now won three of the series’ last four races.
Organizers are hoping the main event is as exciting as the Saturday main event, the NASCAR stock auto Pinty’s Grand Prix, which featured a drag race to the finish line between Tagliani and Ranger, with Kevin Lacroix third. “If we can close that gap going into (the season finale) Sonoma, we can do this”.
FLAT: Castroneves surrendered second place on Lap 26 when he sustained a flat left front tire. Castroneves led 15 of the 85 laps in last years contest and knows how to navigate through Toronto’s bumpy streets. The 25-year-old winced in pain following contact with the wall and did not finish the race. Newgarden was coming off a dominating victory last week on the oval at Iowa despite a broken right wrist suffered in a crash at Texas in June.
The track changes to this year’s edition of the race have been a common discussion point in the lead up to the race. Due to construction of a hotel on the Exhibition Place grounds, the pits had been moved, which created tighter space on Turn 11.
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Notes: Two CF-18 Hornets from the Canadian Armed Forces flew over the track following the performance of the national anthem.The drivers have a week off before the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio on July 31.
