When Josef Newgarden scored his first career victory of the season earlier this season, the thought was it would open the flood gates for more victories this season as Newgarden scored the second victory of his career in the Honda Indy Toronto.
Newgarden used a combination of pit strategy and a fast car to seize the victory after staying out when the caution flew for debris in turn eight at lap 41.
“It got a little close there with Luca (Filippi), but we were really just trying to keep up after we got into the final stint,” he commented. “I got a little bit of lapped traffic, but I couldn’t do anything with the lapped traffic, but they wanted me to because of everyone that was coming. It’s close racing and, for sure, I got a little lucky, too, on that yellow.
“But you can’t discount that because it was an amazing effort by this crew at CFH Racing. They gave me amazing pit stops and a car to win. I’m definitely excited because this is Toronto and this is an INDYCAR event.”
While it was a special win for Newgarden, it marked an even bigger day for CFH Racing as Newgarden’s teammate Luca Filippi finished second to give the team a one-two finish. It marks the organization’s first one-two after uniting the former Ed Carpenter Racing and Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing following the 2014 season.
“I’m so happy we were able to get a win, but a 1-2 is just amazing because Luca (Filippi) is such a star,” he commented. “I’m super happy for the whole group. Just an amazing team effort – I can’t believe we had a 1-2.”
For Filippi, it marks his career best-finish in the Verizon IndyCar Series and the first race that he has led laps in for his career.
“We had a goal to be on the podium and we both achieved it with both cars,” he commented. “It’s nice when you set the goal and you achieve it and the team did everything perfectly to give us the opportunity to be up front. But we had a fast car and knew we needed to be kind of in the clean air up in front and this is what we did – just kept pushing. We were faster and we ended up in front.
“I’m very happy. The team did a great job. I thank the Fuzzy’s Vodka team because they believe in me and they gave me the opportunity to race INDYCAR properly and my first podium. Many more to come.”
Helio Castroneves rounded out the podium after bouncing back following problems early in the event. It marks the second straight Toronto podium finish for the Brazilian.
“After all the circumstances today – what a great job from the Hitachi boys,” he said. “Roger (Penske) made a great call. I had no idea how they put me up there, but we were running really strong laps. The car was on rails. It’s a shame, certainly, it was crazy. I was pushing like I stole it. But in the end, it was great.”
Will Power finished fourth after dominating the early stages of the event, closing the gap between himself and Juan Pablo Montoya in the points to being 25 points behind. Defending race winner Sebastien Bourdais finished fifth.
Tony Kanaan was sixth, followed by Juan Pablo Montoya, Scott Dixon, Graham Rahal and Takuma Sato.
After entering the weekend with high hopes, Stefano Coletti finished 23rd after making contact with the wall in turn five on lap 40. The Andretti Autosport teammates of Ryan Hunter-Reay and Carlos Munoz also had poor showings, finishing 19th and 22nd after mechanical issues.
The next Verizon IndyCar Series event is the MAVTV 500 on June 27 at Auto Club Speedway. The event can be watched via NBCSN, with the telecast beginning at 4 p.m. EST.
