The Honda Indy Toronto will get off and running on Sunday, July 17th at 3:00 pm E.T. on NBC Sports Network. The 11 turn 1.75 mile course throughout the streets of Toronto will test the drivers abilities to operate their racing machines in this popular Canadian city. Last weeks winner Josef Newgarden took home the prize in the 2015 event. Chip Gnassi Racing’s Scott Dixon will start out in front from his qualifying efforts on Saturday.
Scott Dixon barely out-raced Helio Castroneves in the closing moments of the qualifying session for the Honda Indy Toronto. Dixon ran a 59.907 second lap, less than one tenth faster than Castroneves’ 59.942 second pace time. Last years IndyCar champion raced his way to a eighth place finish here last summer. Dixon will have his work cut out for him as four Team Penske drivers will be lined up behind him.
Helio Castroneves is the first of the Penske teammates to have an opportunity to overtake Scott Dixon. The Brazilian phenom had a blistering time in qualifying and will look to jump out ahead early on in the event. Castroneves led 15 of the 85 laps in last years contest and knows how to navigate through Toronto’s bumpy streets. Furthermore, the veteran racer would love to capture the checkered flag at a track he has yet to claim victory at. He started in seventh and finished in third last summer.
The IndyCar veteran Sebastian Bourdais sits in the fifth spot. Bourdais has already won one race this year and will look to make it two on Sunday. The winding track has been good to the speedster. He drove off to victory here in 2014 driving for the Hydroxycut-KVSH Racing team. Bourdais commented on the venue after the qualifying session.
“Historically, Toronto has been a good place for me, including a win in 2014. Obviously it is a very important race for the team because our sponsor Hydroxycut’s headquarters is located just outside of the city. We haven’t been exactly where we want to be with the street course setup this year, but we have some interesting things to try with the car this weekend. We will see where we stack up and hopefully this will be a breakthrough weekend.”
Will Power will start out of the fourth spot for the Honda Indy Toronto in Ontario. The Team Penske stand-out has two wins on the season and two pole positions to his credit. Last year he sat on the pole for the start of the Honda Indy Toronto and finished in third. The steady driver had a slow start to the 2016 season but has steadily moved up to third in the points race. Momentum is on Power’s side and he has won here back in 2010.
Simon Pagenaud will start out of the third position from his efforts in qualifying on Saturday. The Verizon IndyCar Series points leader will try to widen the gap between him and the hard-charging second place Josef Newgardgen. Pagenaud has already served up three wins in the 2016 season. He has never won the Honda Indy Toronto but will look to cross that off his to-do list on race day.
James Hinchcliffe will start off from sixth in the only Honda Indy Torornto. This will be Hinchcliffe’s first contest in front of his home crowd since his near fatal crash at Indianapolis last year. Starting two places behind him, will be defending race winner Josef Newgarden in eighth.
Newgarden also won last weeks race in Iowa and will be looking to take back to back wins, just one month after a horrifying crash at Texas Motor Speedway. Whether or not his ailing right hand can hold up to the rigors of the winding, bumpy course is yet to be seen. Newgarden commented why he enjoys racing at this venue.
“It’s such a wonderful place to race Indy cars and such a cool place to visit. I always enjoy the love we get from the fans, the atmosphere we get to race in and the great racetrack with all the history that it has. I think we will have a really strong package to come back with and will have a really solid chance to get another win. It worked out really well for us last year getting the one-two finish for the team. Everyone involved would love nothing more than to repeat that, so hopefully we can make similar magic happen once again.”
Starting Line-Up for the Honda Indy Toronto:
1. Scott Dixon
2. Helio Castroneves
3. Simon Pagenaud
4. Will Power
5. Sebastien Bourdais
6. James Hinchcliffe
7. Conor Daly
8. Josef Newgarden
9. Juan Pablo Montoya
10. Mikhail Aleshin
11. Luca Filippi
12. Tony Kanaan
13. Jack Hawksworth
14. Max Chilton
15. Carlos Munoz
16. Graham Rahal
17. Charlie Kimball
18. Ryan Hunter-Reay
19. Alexander Rossi
20. Takuma Sato
21. Spencer Pigot
22. Marco Andretti
