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[/media-credit]For James Hinchcliffe, the on-track activity part of his hometown race he will want to forget as it was not the best weekend to have. He would only complete 22 laps of the race before having to come down pit road and his day ending due to engine issues.
“We had a mechanical issue and started losing power in the engine and it’s too bad,” he says. “We started off a bit on the back foot, we lost out pit lane speed limiter so I had to do that first stop watching the speed – the guys had a great stop and I think our tire strategy was good.”
Up to the fourth position, Hinchcliffe looked to be making his charge to possibly win, despite having to start 19th. Hinchcliffe had qualified ninth, though suffered a 10-grid spot starting grid penalty due to an engine change after the first practice session on Friday. The result was no laps during the second session on Friday and only a few laps in wet conditions on Saturday.
While the result of the day may be full of “heart ache, the weekend was still incredible, in the words of the Oakville, Ontario native.
“Like I’ve said, it’s the best city in the world,” he says. “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 win in a row!”
For Hinchcliffe, it always special to come home to Toronto; it was that first race that he came to as a kid that got him interested in driving.
“I went to that race the first time when I was 18 months old and have been to every one since, so it’s always special to go home,” he says.
Hinchcliffe will continue the Canadian swing of races with his fellow IndyCar drivers as they will head to Edmonton, Alberta to race on the airport.
