This article was last updated on April 16, 2022
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American Wins Third Straight Race and Earns First-ever Victory in Toronto
In the final year of his contract, Ryan Hunter-Reay is proving he belongs among IndyCar’s elite in amidst the best stretch of his racing career.
The 31-year-old American raced to his third straight victory and surged to the top the point standings after winning the Honda Indy Toronto on Sunday afternoon. Finishing in second place was Charlie Kimball, a career best finish, and Mike Conway took third to round out the podium for his best finish of the season.
“To win three races in a row is very special,” said Hunter-Reay who picked up his eighth career win. “It’s a dream of mine. This is what I’ve always wanted since I was little, to be able to be competing in the IndyCar series in a top-level team, winning back-to-back races and challenging for the championship.
“Just to be in this position, to be given this opportunity is incredibly special for me and I’m appreciative of every lap I get in this series because I love it.”
After winning the previous two races on oval tracks in Milwaukee and Newton, Iowa, Hunter-Reay showed his critics he is more than capable on a street circuit taking the race with little difficulty.
“We’ve been strong on street circuits in the past. It’s nice to go from the ovals to a street course and win on both. It shows this team (Andretti Autosport) is capable of a lot. It’s all about them. It’s all about the car they give me and the job they do in the pits – just how the whole team is working together, it’s a real pleasure to be a part of.”
Before Hunter-Reay’s win, Michael Andretti has had some trouble in Toronto since he has become an owner. The track has a special place in his heart as he won an impressive seven races as an Indy car driver.
“I love Toronto and I think everyone knows that,” said Andretti. “It has been a great track to me as a driver. We’ve struggled there a little bit from the owner standpoint – it was great to finally get to victory lane. Ryan did a fantastic drive.”
Despite taking the pole for the race, three-time winner in Toronto and the defending champ Dario Franchitti had difficulty catching up after a poor pit on lap 26 before being knocked out at the end of the race. Strangely, Franchitti has had the pole position in each of the last three races with Hunter-Reay winning each time.
To which the American replied, “I don’t know what’s going on with that but I hope Dario gets a lot of poles this year.”
Will Power, who led the standings coming in, has had recent success at this race as well having won in 2010 and 2007. But the Australian finished in 15th after a broken front wing and a pair of slashed tires set him back on lap 57 and was unable to make up ground.
Canadian drivers struggled once again in Toronto with Oakville, Ont native James Hinchcliffe being forced out of the race with engine issues on lap 28. While Alex Tagliani of Lachenai, Que finished in 10th.
“We had a mechanical issue and started to lose power in the engine,” said Hinchcliffe who was having engine troubles all weekend. “It’s a heartache to go out early here. The whole weekend has been incredible – all the support from everybody here in Toronto. Like I’ve said, it’s the best city in the world. I love coming here to race.
“If I couldn’t win it I’m happy to see one of my teammates in victory lane. Congrats to Ryan on his third win in a row.”
Ending on a Yellow
The 1.75-mile (2.824 kilometre), 11-turn street course in Toronto are always challenging and often results in multiple crashes as cars struggle to grip a track that has both concrete and asphalt surfaces. Surprisingly, most of the 85-lap race went without incident…that is until the very end.
Hunter-Reay started in sixth but took advantage of a pit stop by rookie driver Simon Pagenaud to take the lead in the 49th lap. After taking his own pit stop on the 55th lap Hunter-Reay was able to regain the lead on lap 57 and never looked back. He led by as many as 8.3 seconds and was cruising to an easy win before a full course yellow on lap 79 made things interesting.
Rookie Josef Newgarden attempted a bold move to pass Pagenaud for third place on turn three, but instead could not make the corner and slid into the tire barrier. Newgarden was visibly upset with himself afterwards. Following the race, IndyCar Series officials penalized Pagenaud with a 30-second penalty for blocking.
On the ensuing re-start trouble came quickly as the drivers jostled for position around turn one. Kimball made light contact with Sebastien Bourdais forcing the French driver to make contact with the wall. Then in turn three Franchitti made contact with Ryan Briscoe entering the corner ending both of their races. Shortly after, Marco Andretti collided with Pagenaud and Ed Carpenter. With less than three laps remaining the race ended in a full course yellow giving Hunter-Reay the victory.
Hunter-Reay moved ahead of Power in the standings and sits first with 335 points with just 54 points separating the top four drivers that also includes Helio Castroneves in third and Scott Dixon in fourth. The next three drivers are within striking distance as well with Hinchcliffe, Tony Kanaan and Pagenaud within 71 points of the lead. Franchitti sits in eighth and being more than 105 points behind, he has virtually no chance of defending his IndyCar title this season.
With only five races left Hunter-Reay acknowledges that his lead is far from safe and will need positive results in every race if he is to win the title.
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m not getting ahead of myself. The whole thing can change next weekend and we could be struggling to put the results together,” said Hunter-Reay.
“To beat Will, Dario, Dixon, a lot of these guys, it’s just going to be really tough week-in and week-out to do it. It’s going to take something special from us, that’s for sure. Maybe something even more special than what we’ve already done.”
The next race will be the only other Canadian stop on the series schedule at the Edmonton Indy on July 22 at Edmonton City Centre Airport.
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Photos courtesy of JP Dhanoa and John Lucero
Click the links below to view more pictures from the entire racing weekend during Honda Indy Toronto:
Friday:
Saturday:
Sunday:
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