Round 13 - Toronto 2
“Groundhog Day” - Katelyn Elders
IndyCar. Toronto. Two words that when combined leave me feeling a strange mixture of terrified and excited. Double the word count with the words ‘standing start’ and you had all the hallmarks of an interesting weekend!
Race one got off to a disappointing start and left me wondering how much Newgarden was paid to ensure the race started the usual way (views entirely that of the author and meant in jest. Mostly!). The plan was foiled however and we were instead promised a standing start for race two, with two attempts possible should it all go wrong.
Before the start was even attempted James Hinchcliffe was left stranded in pit lane with a stuck throttle; a massive shame for the home-town hero who deserved better luck round the Streets of Toronto.
In the end we didn’t need two start attempts as one was enough. Although Ed Carpenter struggled to get off the line, the rest of the field made their way into turn one where Will Power and Dario Franchitti once again occupied the same space of track! Race one saw a last lap disagreement between the pair going into turn 3 which resulted in Franchitti penalised and then reinstated, and saw Will Power end the race in the tyres. The race two clash resulted in a damaged front wing to Franchitti’s car, sending him to the back of the pack on a fresh pair of black tyres (more on that later!).
Also on blacks at this point were Kimball, Wilson and rookie Carlos Munoz who was drafted in to replace Ryan Briscoe who was hit by Wilson in race one and suffered a fractured wrist. Munoz is currently leading the Firestone Indy Lights championship having finished 4th on Saturday. His last outing in an IndyCar was at the Indianapolis 500 where he finished a very impressive 2nd on his debut.
The first round of pit stops was fairly straight forward, with the main drama coming from Saavedra who was black flagged due to a disconnected radio. Even Ryan Hunter-Reay managed to get out of his pit box smoothly; something he massively struggled with in race one.
Just as the first round of pit stops ended, Tony Kanaan was in for his second stop. We later learnt he was three stopping due to a poorly handling car, however stop 2 would be his last as he hit the wall coming out of the final turn. TK got the car to the end of the start-finish straight where it was stationed behind the wall ready for a full-course caution to return the car to pit lane.
For a while it looked like we would have a repeat of Barber when Hinch sat in his car all race waiting for a yellow, but with 21 to go we got our first full course caution when James Jakes went hard into the wall. There were questions over drivers’ abilities to hold on to the steering wheel following race one, with Bourdais suffering from blisters the size of quarters (10 pence pieces for us Brits) and Jakes saying that the wheel was ripped straight out of his hands. Unlike Briscoe, Jakes came away unscathed. While the track was swept there was some talk of whether the drivers will allow double headers next year if they are having problems holding the wheel in race two (we were told that Toronto want to continue with the format which I have loved).
14 to go saw the track go green, with plenty of close racing from everyone including Mike Conway, winner in Belle Isle, who made his way through the field from the back. However with 6 laps to go Ed Carpenter went straight into the wall bringing out another full course caution.
(During this caution I noticed a waved yellow with a waved white flag just before the location of the accident. After a quick bit of research I discovered that this combination indicates there is an official car or competitor moving at below the normal speed in the section of the track covered by the flag. Just thought I’d pass on that new bit of knowledge!)
With 2 to go we went green with a very poor ‘double file’ restart; however that was soon forgotten when Power and Hunter-Reay made contact on the exit of turn one. Replays showed RHR had no idea Power was on his outside, but as Power later said in his interview, there are always two lanes round turn one… Takuma Sato was also caught up in the clash.
Race two from Toronto ended under caution with Will Power in the tyres at turn three and Scott Dixon on the top step of the podium after completing the first ever actual lights to flag victory in IndyCar history. At one point Dixon’s lead was 15 seconds! His commanding victory, which puts him 7th in the all-time list, also gave him $100,000 for winning both races of the double header ($50,000 rolled over from Detroit), but it was the points collected from his third win in 8 days that gave him the most pleasure.
Helio Castroneves maintained his championship lead with a second place finish, while Bourdais finished on the podium again despite having no push to pass all race. This time he even managed not to break the trophy!
Fourth place was Franchitti, an impressive finish after his first lap drama! There was some debate as to whether he would once again face a post-race penalty due to changing off the red tyres at the end of lap one; IndyCar rules state each competitor should complete at least 2 laps on reds, 2 laps on blacks. However in true IndyCar tradition, the unwritten rule is that for a double header there is special dispensation as Firestone are unable to bring enough red tyres (why? Only IndyCar knows…).
EJ Viso rounded out the top 5, with Conway in 7th deserving a mention after making 29 passes. Munoz finished a lap down in 17th, but everyone was impressed with his street course debut in an IndyCar.
You can follow Katelyn on Twitter
Race one got off to a disappointing start and left me wondering how much Newgarden was paid to ensure the race started the usual way (views entirely that of the author and meant in jest. Mostly!). The plan was foiled however and we were instead promised a standing start for race two, with two attempts possible should it all go wrong.
Before the start was even attempted James Hinchcliffe was left stranded in pit lane with a stuck throttle; a massive shame for the home-town hero who deserved better luck round the Streets of Toronto.
In the end we didn’t need two start attempts as one was enough. Although Ed Carpenter struggled to get off the line, the rest of the field made their way into turn one where Will Power and Dario Franchitti once again occupied the same space of track! Race one saw a last lap disagreement between the pair going into turn 3 which resulted in Franchitti penalised and then reinstated, and saw Will Power end the race in the tyres. The race two clash resulted in a damaged front wing to Franchitti’s car, sending him to the back of the pack on a fresh pair of black tyres (more on that later!).
Also on blacks at this point were Kimball, Wilson and rookie Carlos Munoz who was drafted in to replace Ryan Briscoe who was hit by Wilson in race one and suffered a fractured wrist. Munoz is currently leading the Firestone Indy Lights championship having finished 4th on Saturday. His last outing in an IndyCar was at the Indianapolis 500 where he finished a very impressive 2nd on his debut.
The first round of pit stops was fairly straight forward, with the main drama coming from Saavedra who was black flagged due to a disconnected radio. Even Ryan Hunter-Reay managed to get out of his pit box smoothly; something he massively struggled with in race one.
Just as the first round of pit stops ended, Tony Kanaan was in for his second stop. We later learnt he was three stopping due to a poorly handling car, however stop 2 would be his last as he hit the wall coming out of the final turn. TK got the car to the end of the start-finish straight where it was stationed behind the wall ready for a full-course caution to return the car to pit lane.
For a while it looked like we would have a repeat of Barber when Hinch sat in his car all race waiting for a yellow, but with 21 to go we got our first full course caution when James Jakes went hard into the wall. There were questions over drivers’ abilities to hold on to the steering wheel following race one, with Bourdais suffering from blisters the size of quarters (10 pence pieces for us Brits) and Jakes saying that the wheel was ripped straight out of his hands. Unlike Briscoe, Jakes came away unscathed. While the track was swept there was some talk of whether the drivers will allow double headers next year if they are having problems holding the wheel in race two (we were told that Toronto want to continue with the format which I have loved).
14 to go saw the track go green, with plenty of close racing from everyone including Mike Conway, winner in Belle Isle, who made his way through the field from the back. However with 6 laps to go Ed Carpenter went straight into the wall bringing out another full course caution.
(During this caution I noticed a waved yellow with a waved white flag just before the location of the accident. After a quick bit of research I discovered that this combination indicates there is an official car or competitor moving at below the normal speed in the section of the track covered by the flag. Just thought I’d pass on that new bit of knowledge!)
With 2 to go we went green with a very poor ‘double file’ restart; however that was soon forgotten when Power and Hunter-Reay made contact on the exit of turn one. Replays showed RHR had no idea Power was on his outside, but as Power later said in his interview, there are always two lanes round turn one… Takuma Sato was also caught up in the clash.
Race two from Toronto ended under caution with Will Power in the tyres at turn three and Scott Dixon on the top step of the podium after completing the first ever actual lights to flag victory in IndyCar history. At one point Dixon’s lead was 15 seconds! His commanding victory, which puts him 7th in the all-time list, also gave him $100,000 for winning both races of the double header ($50,000 rolled over from Detroit), but it was the points collected from his third win in 8 days that gave him the most pleasure.
Helio Castroneves maintained his championship lead with a second place finish, while Bourdais finished on the podium again despite having no push to pass all race. This time he even managed not to break the trophy!
Fourth place was Franchitti, an impressive finish after his first lap drama! There was some debate as to whether he would once again face a post-race penalty due to changing off the red tyres at the end of lap one; IndyCar rules state each competitor should complete at least 2 laps on reds, 2 laps on blacks. However in true IndyCar tradition, the unwritten rule is that for a double header there is special dispensation as Firestone are unable to bring enough red tyres (why? Only IndyCar knows…).
EJ Viso rounded out the top 5, with Conway in 7th deserving a mention after making 29 passes. Munoz finished a lap down in 17th, but everyone was impressed with his street course debut in an IndyCar.
You can follow Katelyn on Twitter
