Rounds 13 & 14: Honda Indy Toronto. Exhibition Place, Toronto. 18th - 20th July, 2014

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally a CART event, it was known as the Molson Indy Toronto and was first held in 1986 and won by Bobby Rahal. The race eventually morphed into a Champ Car World Series event and continued until 2007. Though the unification of the Champ Car World Series and the Indy Racing League was announced on February 22, 2008, the race was cancelled that year but returned in 2009 and has remained on the calendar ever since. It is the second-longest running street race after Long Beach.

This coming weekend, Toronto will host the third and final double-header of this year's IndyCar season. Like last year's event and even though it was aborted, Race 1 will be a standing start.

The track length has varied over the years, from 1.784 miles in 1986-95, to 1.755 miles from 1996 to now.

Track Layout:


Length: 1.755 mi - 2.824 km
Turns: 11
Lap record: July 17th, 1999. Gil de Ferran, Walker Racing, Reynard99i-Honda, 57.143 seconds, 110.565 mph - 177.937 km/h

Last year's winner, Race 1:
Scott Dixon
Chip Ganassi Racing
Dallara DW12-Honda

Laps: 85
Distance: 149.175 mi - 240.073 km
Race Time: 1:41:17
Average Speed: 88.37

Last year's winner, Race 2:
Scott Dixon
Chip Ganassi Racing
Dallara DW12-Honda

Laps: 85
Distance: 149.175 mi - 240.073 km
Race Time: 1:35:02
Average Speed: 94.177

TV Coverage:
NBCSN
Green flag for both races, 3:00pm ET.

[rwintle]

Thanks for this.

Weather looks like it will be 26-27 degrees C and fine. That's Not Hot by Toronto July standards.

[NaBUru38]

Luca Filippii will race for Rahal.

[rwintle]

A couple of weeks ago, James Hinchcliffe gave Sebastien Bourdais some trophy handling advice (with help from a Scott Dixon cutout):


Hinchcliffe's trophy advice - Toronto 2014 by Richard Wintle, on Flickr

There's a link to the video you can see the guy recording, in the description of the photo.

I had no idea the track length had changed (albeit just a bit) - must go and see what it used to look like.

[HighParker]

Originally Posted by rwintle

I had no idea the track length had changed (albeit just a bit) - must go and see what it used to look like.

Construction of the Direct Energy Centre led to the last turn having to be changed.

[rwintle]

Originally Posted by HighParker

Construction of the Direct Energy Centre led to the last turn having to be changed.

Thank you for that! I tried to look up old maps and didn't get anywhere. The turn 10/11 duo is certainly very different now.

Some folks I work with speak fondly of the old "photo towers" as shown on this map. Lots of other nostalgic things here too - Sports Hall of Fame, the old Exhibition Stadium (saw a few concerts there!), and so forth.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by HighParker

Construction of the Direct Energy Centre led to the last turn having to be changed.

Where did you find that? That would have been great in the intro.

[HighParker]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Where did you find that?

I took a digital photo of a page in the 1986 race program.

[NaBUru38]

Originally Posted by rwintle

A couple of weeks ago, James Hinchcliffe gave Sebastien Bourdais some trophy handling advice (with help from a Scott Dixon cutout):


Hinchcliffe's trophy advice - Toronto 2014 by Richard Wintle, on Flickr

Haha!

[bjohnsonsmith]

Bourdais on pole, his first since 2007.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/115037

Pos Driver Team/Engine Time Gap
1. Sebastien Bourdais KV/Chevy 58.9479s
2. Will Power Penske/Chevy 59.1025s +0.1546s
3. Helio Castroneves Penske/Chevy 59.1499s +0.2020s
4. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti/Honda 59.2672s +0.3193s
5. Simon Pagenaud Schmidt/Honda 59.3972s +0.4493s
6. Tony Kanaan Ganassi/Chevy 59.9987s +1.0508s
7. Luca Filippi Rahal/Honda 59.2753s Round 2
8. Justin Wilson Coyne/Honda 59.3406s Round 2
9. James Hinchcliffe Andretti/Honda 59.3526s Round 2
10. Ryan Briscoe Ganassi/Chevy 59.5319s Round 2
11. Juan Pablo Montoya Penske/Chevy 59.8201s Round 2
12. Scott Dixon Ganassi/Chevy 1m00.2193s Round 2
13. Josef Newgarden Fisher/Honda 59.4455s Group 1
14. Graham Rahal Rahal/Honda 59.9495s Group 2
15. Takuma Sato Foyt/Honda 59.5367s Group 1
16. Mike Conway Carpenter/Chevy 59.9904s Group 2
17. Carlos Munoz Andretti/Honda 59.5708s Group 1
18. Jack Hawksworth Herta/Honda 1m00.1856s Group 2
19. Sebastian Saavedra KV/Chevy 59.6806s Group 1
20. Charlie Kimball Ganassi/Chevy 1m00.2304s Group 2
21. Carlos Huertas Coyne/Honda 59.7244s Group 1
22. Mikhail Aleshin Schmidt/Honda 1m00.2379s Group 2
23. Marco Andretti Andretti/Honda 59.9816s Group 1

[bjohnsonsmith]

Has anyone got a good feed?

[Salamus]

I was on vacation the past couple of days so I thought I was going to miss Race 1. I guess it being postponed was a good thing for me.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Honda Indy Toronto Races 1 and 2.




TV: CNBC telecasts Race 1 at 10:30 a.m. (ET) and NBCSN telecasts Race 2 at 3 p.m. (ET). Bob Varsha is the chief announcer with analysts Paul Tracy and Townsend Bell. The taped Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires race will air at 6 p.m. (ET).

Addendum: I don't know how accurate this is, as the feed I've got for Race 1 shows the telecast is from NBCSN.

[bjohnsonsmith]

I missed the start but apparently there was a big moment with both Pagenaud's car damaged and Sato out and the race has been Red flagged.

[skells22]

now on red flag number 3 for this time a turn 3 pile up on race 1 but at least we had a green

[fieldodreams79]

Here's hoping Race 2 is a little smoother than Race 1. Race 1 has been a crapshow from the onset.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

Here's hoping Race 2 is a little smoother than Race 1. Race 1 has been a crapshow from the onset.

Got to get Race 1 done and dusted first which seems to be somewhat of an impossible task.

[skells22]

time for green flag again, this time single file

[bjohnsonsmith]

Bourdais has almost got a 4 second lead.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Congrats to Bourdais winning from start to finish, not something you usually see in IndyCar. Otherwise I thought it was a fairly indifferent race, initially not helped by a third red flag.

[fieldodreams79]

Was a decent race once it got going, but all the fuss getting it going pretty much ruined it for me. Seabass is back, I guess...

I don't really care for the double weekends like this, but in this case, they have a chance to make up for the calamity of the first race. Here's hoping for a more exciting, cleaner Race 2.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Some rain is forcast, so Derrick Walker said they are going to start the race 10mins early while it is still dry.

[JHamilton]

Good! I appreciate all the coverage, but let's go!

[Marcus666]

SeaBass!!!!

[Salamus]

This was certainly a weekend to forget.

Indycar racing is great but it certainly feels amateurish at times. Not just from a driving view but also from an officiating/race directing view. Seems like when they go to street courses, everyone forgets to pack their common sense.

Glad that Aleshin was unharmed. It's always scary to see a car land on someone's head.