IndyCars - Toronto: The return to battle under the Princes' Gate

[MarkyS]

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Sunday morning at Toronto - The IndyCars hold the P-3 practice session…

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The P-3 session is also called the “Warm-Up” and as a post-qualifying session it is impossible to know with certainty what each team or each car is trying to accomplish with the session. They may be checking a race set-up or still searching for a good race set-up. They may be checking tire wear or altering things for a changing track. All we know for sure is no one is checking a qualifying set-up. That’s done. We can say that the fast guys in the Warm-Up are going to be fast in the race. We just also know they won’t be the ONLY fast guys in the race.

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Here was the order of speed for the IndyCars P-3 practice, with times for the TOP FIVE: [R] denotes rookie

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1 - Rinus VeeKay, Ed Carpenter Racing - time of 59.8987s for a speed of 107.341mph

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2 - Alexander Rossi, Andretti Autosport - time of 59.9439s for a speed of 107.260mph

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3 - Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing - time of 1:00.1391s for a speed of 106.912mph

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4 - Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing - time of 1:002080s for a speed of 106.790mph

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5 - Josef Newgarden, Team Penske - time of 1:00.2822s for a speed of 106.658mph

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6 - Marcus Ericsson, Chip Ganassi Racing
7 - Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
8 - Simon Pagenaud, Meyer Shank Racing
9 - Jack Harvey, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
10 - Callum Ilott [R], Juncos Hollinger Racing

11 - Colton Herta, Andretti Autosport
12 - Helio Castroneves, Meyer Shank Racing
13 - Romain Grosjean, Andretti Autosport
14 - Felix Rosenqvist, Arrow McLaren SP
15 - Christian Lundegaard [R], Rahal Letterman Lanigan
16 - Takuma Sato, Dale Coyne Racing w/ Rick Ware Racing
17 - Devlin DeFrancesco [R], Andretti Steinbrenner
18 - David Malukas [R], Dale Coyne Racing w/ HMD Motorsports
19 - Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske
20 - Conor Daly, Ed Carpenter Racing

21 - Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren SP
22 - Jimmie Johnson, Chip Ganassi Racing
23 - Will Power, Team Penske
24 - Kyle Kirkwood [R], AJ Foyt Enterprises
25 - Dalton Kellett, AJ Foyt Enterprises
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Notable:

• While Rinus is showing great speed here, he is also starting from P20 today.

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Rinus VeeKay

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The IndyCar race is scheduled for broadcast on Peacock Premium at 3:00pm EASTERN time. Next up, Indy Pro 2000 holds Race 2. The grid for this is in post # 13…

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[MarkyS]

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Sunday midday at Toronto - Indy Pro 2000 closes out their weekend with Race 2…

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…and performing the SWEEP of the weekend was Louis Foster for Exclusive Autosport from his pole position. P2 went to Jordan Missig for Pabst Racing from his P5 start while P3 went to Reece Gold for Juncos Hollinger from his P4 start.

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Lap 1 of the race saw four cars dive-bombing into Turn 1 and taking each other out. Collected were P2 starter Nolan Siegel for DEForce, teammate Kiko Porto, Enaam Ahmed for Juncos Hollinger and Jonathan Browne for Turn 3 Motorsports, as leader Louis Foster got through cleanly. Immediately, Jordan Missig jumped into P2 passed Reece Gold. A full course caution was called. After the clean-up the only car out of the race was Josh Green as the others were able to restart and stay on the lead lap at the tail of the field. On the lap 5 restart Jack William Miller for Miller Vinatieri immediately took P3 from Reece Gold, while Louie Foster set the first Fastest Lap trying to get away from Jordan. As the field entered Turn 5 Jonathan Browne tagged the wall with his right rear, breaking the tow link. He tried to go through Turn 6 and spun right into Nolan Siegel who was slammed into the wall. Both cars were out and another caution came out to collect them.

On the lap 9 restart Reece Gold reclaimed P3 from Jack and Braden Eves for Jay Howard Driver development followed him through to take over P4. Louie reset Fastest Lap to escape Jordan. By lap 12 Foster was + 1.2 seconds on Missig and getting away. At the same time, Jordan was getting away from Reece. On lap 13 Kiko Porto passed Wyatt Brichacek for Exclusive Autosport to claim P7. The field was now fully stretched out, with little opportunity to pass. Louie kept resetting Fastest Lap as his fuel load reduced. On lap 23 Enaam Ahmed passed Wyatt for the P8 spot. On lap 25 Louis took the WIN by 3.9 seconds over Jordan who was 3.5 seconds over Reece.

Another assured victory for the English points-leader.

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Notable:

• Louis now has 6 WINS and 7 podiums on the season. He collected maximum points this weekend and will probably have to have a building fall on him NOT to take the title. The real fight is now for Vice-Champion and for Team Champions.

• The P3 helps to keep Reece Gold 2nd in the points while the DNF moves Nolan Siegel back to 4th, but barely.

• This was Jordan Missig’s first Road to Indy podium and his best finish in Indy Pro 2000, eclipsing his P6 at the Freedom 90 at Indianapolis Raceway Park in May. He looked very fast and composed out there, too. Jordan is a proven Radical Cup race WINNER so it’s just a matter of getting acclimated more to formula cars. This is his only his 2nd year racing in them.

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Your happy podium - That’s Jordan Missig in P2 on the left, Louie Foster in P1 in the middle and Reece Gold in P3 on the right

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With these results, here are the TOP FIVE in points leaving Toronto:

1 - Louis Foster, 348
2 - Reece Gold, 274
3 - Enaam Ahmed, 256
4 - Nolan Siegel, 253
5 - Josh Green, 239

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The next outing for Indy Pro 2000 will be Round 15 at World Wide Technology Raceway, in support of the IndyCar race weekend on the Gateway oval, August 18-20. Next up, the Porsche Carrera Cup North America gang hold Race 2 of the weekend…

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M

[MarkyS]

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Sunday afternoon at Toronto - Porsche Carrera Cup North America holds Race 2…

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…to close out the weekend and SWEEPING the races was Road to Indy alum Trenton Estep in the # 6 for MDK Motorsports with his WIN from pole. Taking P2 was P3 starter and Road to Indy ace Parker Thompson in the # 9 for JDX Racing while Riley Dickinson in the # 53 for Kelly-Moss Road & Race took P3 from his P4 start.

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Due to necessary track repairs the 40-minute race was reduced to 25 minutes. As Trenton led the field in the first lap everyone got through Turn 1 okay, with Parker getting a great jump and moving into P2. Riley also made a move from P4 and took P3 as his teammate P2 starter Kay van Berlo dropped to P4. At Turn 3 Pro driver Travis Wiley went straight into the run-off with what appeared to be a leaking radiator putting fluid on his tires. Also going off in Turn 3 was ProAm driver Marco Cirone. A full course caution came out. On the restart Trenton got away cleanly as the three cars behind him stacked up.

For the next several laps Riley put increasing pressure on Parker, with Kay waiting inches away to pounce from 4th. At times, Dickinson was punting Thompson’s rear bumper after drafting him down the front straight but wasn’t inclined to spin him out and be penalized for it. Eventually,Parker was able to put a car-length gap between himself and Dickinson. At that point Riley was as much worried about van Berlo as he was at taking P2.

Trenton crossed the finish line almost 7 seconds ahead of Thompson who was onl;y 0.164 seconds ahead of Dickinson at the line.

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left to right, Trenton Estep in P1, Parker Thompson in P2 and Riley Dickinson in P3

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Points have yet to be awarded for this race.

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The next outings for the Porsche Carrera Cup North America series will be at Road America to support the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship weekend August 4-7. next up, the IndyCars close out the weekend with Season Round 10. The grid for this is in post # 18…

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[MarkyS]

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Sunday at Toronto - The IndyCar race!

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Today’s Honda Indy Toronto will be remembered as a great return to a crowd-pleasing and driver-pleasing venue, but also a great return to VICTORY for a series stalwart, as veteran Scott Dixon WINS for Chip Ganassi Racing from his P2 start. Coming in right behind him was one of the leaders of the current youth movement, Colton Herta for Andretti Autosport, from his pole position, while P3 went to another youngster, Felix Rosenqvist for Arrow McLaren SP from a P8 start.

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Dixon seemed the most composed and the most assured driver all day long on the difficult track - perhaps a product of his experience both as a driver and as a driver at Toronto, or perhaps just the look of a guy driving a car that is giving him everything he needs, and then some.

Herta was the early leader from pole and Rinus VeeKay for Ed Carpenter Racing also had his time at the lead. While he was always lurking near the leaders, Dixon didn’t get the lead until lap 32. He then relinquished it for a time to VeeKay again, but once he took it back on lap 61 he held it to the end. While Herta made some attempts to pass him, he ended up far busier keeping a hard-charging Felix behind him. Rosenqvist was probably the best of the rest, behind Dixon, but ran out of time and laps to grab P2 from Herta.

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Here are some of the race highlights:

2022 RACE HIGHLIGHTS // HONDA INDY TORONTO

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Notable:

• The WIN gives Dixon 52 career IndyCar WINS, tying him with Mario Andretti for 2nd place on the all-time WIN list. AJ Foyt’s 67 WINS seems too far off for mere humans but then it all depends on how much longer Dixon remains in the cockpit.

• Dixon last WON in May of 2021 at Texas Motor Speedway - some 23 races ago - and he now has WON at least one race in every season for the last 18 seasons in a row and in 20 seasons in his career. He was clearly loving every minute of it after the race.

• This was his 4th WIN at Toronto and it moved him closer to everyone who was ahead of him in the points chase. He now is tied for 4th place with Josef Newgarden, who finished in 10th place. Will Power wasn’t able to produce the magic that has erased his bad starting spots for other races this year and finished in P15, but stays 2nd in the points. Points leader Marcus Ericsson finished in P5 while Alex Palou had a great day and went from his P22 start to finish in P7, jumping into 3rd in the points over Newgarden and Dixon.

• Graham Rahal had his best result of the year in P4 while teammate Christian Lundgaard was the best series rookie in P8.

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Your happy podium - That’s Colton Herta in P2 on the left, Scott Dixon in P1 in the middle and Felix Rosenqvist in P3 on the right:

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With this result, here are the TOP FIVE in points leaving Toronto:

1 - Marcus Ericsson, 351
2 - Will Power, 316
3 - Alex Palou, 314
4 - Josef Newgarden, 307
5 - Scott Dixon, 307

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The next outings for the IndyCars will be next weekend at Iowa Speedway for a double-header, July 22-24, with support from the Indy Lights on July 23.

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Thank you, Toronto! It was great to see you once again!

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