Mike Conway scores victory in Honda Indy Toronto Race 2
For the second time in 2014, Mike Conway would reach victory lane as he scored the victory in the Honda Indy Toronto Race 2 for the Verizon IndyCar Series. It marks the fourth victory of Conway’s career after scoring the victory earlier this year at Long Beach.
“It was really difficult conditions and we were kind of struggling out there for a bit and then I knew as soon as I could see the dry line I knew it was time to come in, and it was a great call,” Conway commented. “And the guys were up for it. I wasn’t sure what they were going to say so from there we just kind of took off and just controlled the race. A bit nervous about the red flag there but I knew with Justin (Wilson) behind me, I knew we would be able to cover it. It was good fun out there.”
The race started under the dry conditions, however quickly turned wet when rain began to fall. Teams would switch to wet tires, till the rain stopped and the track started to dry. As it did, some drivers began changing to slicks and Conway was one of the first drivers, therefore using it to his advantage to gain ground throughout the field, making the pass on Justin Wilson in turn eight before a full course yellow. Conway then held off Tony Kanaan and Will Power on a late race restart with two laps to go.
Tony Kanaan finished second for his best finish of the season, following a third place finish in the morning race as teams were forced to run a pair of races today due to yesterday’s race being rained out as result of visibility issues along the Lakeshore.
“We chose at the beginning of the race to run a rain set-up because we knew the rain was coming,” he explained. “So on the last restart I knew that I was a little bit of a sitting duck. I have to thank Target and Chevy. I think it was 1-2-3 for Chevy again, I am not sure who finished third. Its been a great weekend and I made a really bad mistake and I got too excited at the start of the race. One of my typical starts, I made a mistake and I had to catch up. I didn’t want to come back and look at Chip and I hate when I make mistakes. So we made it up, the team did a great job on the stops.”
Will Power would finish third to gain some points in the championship in trying to catch his teammate Helio Castroneves.
“Tony was very good on the half-wet track and I just wasn’t really willing after yesterday to take a big risk and get caught up again,” Power commented. “So I still had to battle hard with Charlie all over me. It was a good day for the No. 12 Verizon Chevy team, typical IndyCar race where they throw everything at you. You just have to survive, and that is what we did.”
Charlie Kimball and Takuma Sato would round out the top five. Rookie Jack Hawksworth finished sixth, followed by Scott Dixon, Marco Andretti, Sebastien Bourdais and Justin Wilson.
With the conditions being a mix of wet and dry throughout the 65 lap race, there would be a total of seven full course yellows. The standing start at the beginning of the race wouldn’t go smoothly as Justin Wilson stalled on the frontstretch, while Kanaan would stop on course after sliding through turn three.
Hometown hero James Hinchcliffe got caught up in the second caution at lap 12 in turn eight as he clipped Juan Pablo Montoya after Montoya got into the turn eight tires. Mikhail Aleshin would be left with no where to go, making contact with Montoya and getting stuck on Montoya’s car as Montoya was nosed in the tire barrier. Everybody was sliding at the time due to simply the track being wet and still on slick tires.
“I realized that only when I started to brake in Turn 8 and I just smacked the car and ended up under the car and that was not such a great feeling at all,” Aleshin commented. “So I’m sorry for my spectators and all the guys who support me but that’s life and the most important thing is everything is fine and I was not hurt.”
There’d be another caution only four laps later as a result of debris scattered among the course due to contact from drivers slipping in the wet conditions. Luca Filippi would not have luck in the rain, either, getting into the tires in turn eight for the fourth caution at lap 33. Sebastian Saavedra was also a victim of wet conditions, sliding into the tire barrier in turn three. The final caution came at lap 51 for a multi-car wreck in turn three involving Ryan Briscoe, Carlos Huertas, Marco Andretti, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Carlos Munoz.
Unfortunately, Simon Pagenaud would have mechanical issues that took him out of the running after leading the final practice on Friday.
Sheldon Creed out-duels Gordon for third straight Honda Indy Toronto victory
After putting on an exciting show in the rain yesterday, the Stadium Super Trucks returned today with an even more exciting show on the dry pavement.
Throughout the course of event, Sheldon Creed and Robby Gordon would trade the lead back and forth and when it was all over, it’d be Sheldon Creed capturing the victory in Sunday’s PEED Energy Formula Off-Road presented by TRAXXAS event. It marks Creed’s third straight Toronto victory after winning the Sunday event last year and Saturday’s event this year.
Paul Tracy would lead till the competition caution at the halfway mark, though would not be as strong on the restart as he would fall back to third with both Creed and Gordon getting by in the span of two corners. Once they were by Tracy, the pair traded the lead on four different occasions before Creed was able to grab the advantage off of turn three on the last lap and capture the victory.
“It was a really good day,” Creed commented. “Started from the back and worked my way up to the front, battling with Robby at every turn as we couldn’t get away from each other. It was really fun. He was right there on the rear bumper, super clean and we were able to come out on top.”
Gordon captured his second straight runner-up finish, despite slipping sideways in turn three on the last lap.
“Our race was much better today in the dry rather than the wet,” Gordon commented, comparing to Saturday’s event. “You could see the difference in the vehicles with how they were hooked up. Yesterday, the track was really slippery. You were probably giving me a ‘Sure, Robby’ but when the pacecar wrecked, you saw how slippery it was. I figured that the pace car would be on the cover today but I looked and that wasn’t the case.”
Scott Steele would finish third making the finishing order for Sunday exactly match the podium from Saturday. Steele’s race didn’t start off that well as he made contact with another truck on the first lap of the race, resulting in the hood being pushed up on his truck. As a result, Steele did not have a clear vision for most of the race till the hood fell off the truck down the Lakeshore.
“My hood was up for most of the race and I couldn’t see that well,” Steele commented. “It was hard down the backstretch as I just judging by about where the wall was – till it flew off on lap seven.”
Tracy would finish fourth with Apdaly Lopez in fifth despite going for a spin in turn three on lap one. Aaron Bambach would slide through the turn three turn when trying to set up a pass on Tracy, resulting in losing the pack and finishing sixth. Nick Vanis and Bill Hynes would round out the field.
The next event for the SPEED Energy Formula Off-Road presented by TRAXXAS is at the Sand Sports Super Show in Costa Mesa, California on September 19th and 20th.
Sebastian Bourdias dominates en route to Honda Indy Toronto Race 1 Victory
For the second straight year in a row, Sebastian Bourdais got to hold one of the crystal trophies in victory lane. However, this time he didn’t drop it, and it also wasn’t for third. Instead, Bourdais got to hold up the winner’s trophy after dominating the Honda Indy Toronto Race 1 en route to victory. It marks his 32nd career victory, and his first since November 2007 at Mexico City.
Bourdais started on the pole, holding off all challenges as he led all the way till his first pit stop at lap 34. Once the cycle completed, Bourdais would cycle back to the lead at lap 41 and led the rest of the 65 lap event.
“It’s really sweet,” Bourdais commented afterwards. “That (win) didn’t come easy. We had to fight and wait for it for a long time but today was just one of these days when the stars align. I guess I was not expecting it because here I know how things can go. I was very relaxed before the race, just did the job and was hoping that things were going to pan out in our favor and they did, and couldn’t be any happier with this one.”
For KV Racing Technology, it marks their fourth victory as a team, and their first since winning the Indianapolis 500 last year with Tony Kanaan.
Helio Castroneves would run a solid race, staying in the top three all race long, en route to finishing second to further extend his point lead.
“It was a hard weekend, but we’re going to make the best out of it,” Castroneves commented. “Right now, second place isn’t too bad. Certainly we had a good battle in the beginning. Had to work a little bit for it. Had to save energy because I knew there is another race but the car was working really well, and towards the end, it was a little closer out there with two slow cars, and I didn’t know where to go. But, in the end of the day, the PGG car did a great job.”
Tony Kanaan completed the podium, followed by Simon Pagenaud and 2013 Honda Indy Toronto race winner Scott Dixon.
“It was an okay race,” Kanaan said. “I think Bourdais was in a class of his own, so it was pretty hard to fight for the win but I tried to keep up with Helio (Castroneves) and (Ryan) Hunter-Reay at the time and I knew my car, towards the end of the stint, it wasn’t as good as theirs so I was just trying to hang in there. We had a pretty good stop, pretty good start. So it’s an okay day. We still have a little bit to improve, I fthink, if we want to win races but we’re heading in the right direction.”
Graham Rahal finished sixth, followed by Charlie Kimball, James Hinchcliffe, Will Power and Justin Wilson.
The race didn’t start off smoothly as Simon Pagenaud would spin as they headed up towards turn four as a result of contact from Luca Filippi. Being a tight section of the track, Josef Newgarden, Mike Conway, Takuma Sato and Mikhail Aleshin would also receive damage.
“It’s really frustrating,” Newgarden’s car owner Sarah Fisher said. “It’s frustrating because Josef has a really fast car and does really good here in Toronto. What can ya do? You’re at the mercy. We’re just going to do what we can do for this race and be conservative and hope to have a better second race.”
Newgarden’s team would work on the car under the red flag, taking the 20-second drive thru penalty for the repairs. Newgarden fought his way back u pthrough the field, though slid through turn three and then popped the back corner of the car off turn three, resulting in heavy suspension damage and a poor finish.
Filippi’s day didn’t get better, either, as he popped it off the wall, resulting in right suspension damage. When he slowed, Carlos Huertas would get sideways and into the tire barrier, resulting in a couple other drivers making minimal contact.
“My front wing was damaged on the first lap so I was struggling with it in the last corner, and I was struggling and using a lot of the front right and I got a lot of understeer and just lost it,” Filippi said.
Championship contender Ryan Hunter-Reay would suffer a poor finish as a result of contact from Tony Kanaan with 27 to go. The contact caused Hunter-Reay to hit the turn three wall and make heavy left front wing/suspension damage. Bourdais ran over the front ring with his car down in turn five, though did not suffer any complications.
“I expected him to give me more room but I guess that’s my fault for expecting,” Hunter-Reay said afterwards.
“I probably didn’t leave enough there for Hunter-Reay,” Kanaan commented post-race. “I took advantage there. I just took a chance there and it didn’t work out.”
The Verizon IndyCar Series cars will return to the track at 4 p.m. EST for their second of two races today at the Honda Indy Toronto as a result of yesterday’s rain-out.









