Honda Indy Toronto Fast Facts
Race weekend: Friday, July 14 – Sunday, July 16
Track: Streets of Toronto’s Exhibition Place, an 11-turn, 1.786-mile temporary street course
Race distance: 85 laps / 151.81 miles
Entry List: Honda Indy Toronto (PDF)
Push-to-pass parameters: 200 seconds of total time with a maximum time of 20 seconds per activation.
Firestone tire allotment: Six sets primary, four sets alternate. Teams must use one set of primary and one new set of alternate tires in the race.
Twitter: @HondaIndy, @IndyCar, #IndyTO, #IndyCar
Event website: www.HondaIndyToronto.com
INDYCAR website: www.IndyCar.com
2016 race winner: Will Power (No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet)
2016 Verizon P1 Award winner: Scott Dixon (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet), 59.9073 seconds, 107.326 mph
Qualifying record: Gil de Ferran, 57.143 seconds, 110.565 mph, July 17, 1999 (Note: Will Power set a qualifying mark of 59.7747 seconds, 107.564 mph for the current layout in 2016.)
NBCSN television broadcasts: Qualifying, 6:30 p.m. ET Saturday, July 15 (same-day delay); Race, 3 p.m. ET Sunday, July 16, CNBC/Sportsnet 360 (live); 7 p.m. ET Sunday, July 17, NBCSN (re-air); Kevin Lee is the lead announcer for the NBCSN broadcasts this weekend alongside analysts Townsend Bell and Paul Tracy. Pit reporters are Jon Beekhuis, Katie Hargitt, Anders Krohn and Robin Miller.
Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network broadcasts: Mark Jaynes is the chief announcer alongside analyst Davey Hamilton. Jake Query and Nick Yeoman are the turn announcers with Dave Furst, Rob Howden and Jim Murphy reporting from the pits. All Verizon IndyCar Series races are broadcast live on network affiliates, Sirius 214, XM 209, IndyCar.com, indycarradio.com and on the INDYCAR Mobile app. All Verizon IndyCar Series practice and qualifying sessions are available on IndyCar.com, indycarradio.com and on the INDYCAR Mobile app.
Video streaming: All practice sessions and qualifying for the Honda Indy Toronto will stream live on RaceControl.IndyCar.com and on the INDYCAR YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/indycar)
INDYCAR Mobile app: Verizon’s INDYCAR Mobile app is available across all carriers. Exclusive features for Verizon Wireless customers will stream live through the app and include enhanced realtime leaderboard and car telemetry; live in-car camera video streaming for select drivers during Verizon IndyCar Series races; live driver and pit crew radio transmissions during races and live Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network audio streaming during all track activities.
At-track schedule (all times local):
Friday, July 14
10:40 – 11:25 a.m. – Verizon IndyCar Series practice #1, RaceControl.IndyCar.com (Live)
2:15 – 3 p.m. – Verizon IndyCar Series practice #2, RaceControl.IndyCar.com (Live)
3:05 – 3:20 p.m. – Verizon IndyCar Series pit stop practice
Saturday, July 15
10 – 10:45 a.m. – Verizon IndyCar Series practice #3, RaceControl.IndyCar.com (Live)
2:15 p.m. – Qualifying for the Verizon P1 Award (three rounds of knockout qualifying), RaceControl.IndyCar.com (Live); NBCSN (Same-day delay, 6:30 p.m. ET)
Sunday, July 16
11:30 – Noon – Verizon IndyCar Series warmup, RaceControl.IndyCar.com (Live)
3:02 p.m. – Driver introductions
3:40 p.m. – Command to start engines
3:47 p.m. – Honda Indy Toronto (85 laps/151.81 miles), CNBC/SportsNet 360 (Live)
Race notes:
• There have been nine different winners in the 11 previous Verizon IndyCar Series races in 2017: Sebastien Bourdais (Streets of St. Petersburg), James Hinchcliffe (Streets of Long Beach), Josef Newgarden (Barber Motorsports Park), Simon Pagenaud (Phoenix Raceway), Will Power (INDYCAR Grand Prix and Texas Motor Speedway), Takuma Sato (Indianapolis 500), Graham Rahal (Raceway at Belle Isle-1 and Raceway at Belle Isle-2), Scott Dixon (Road America) and Helio Castroneves (Iowa Speedway). Bourdais’ win at St. Pete on March 12 gave him sole possession of sixth on the all-time Indy car victory list. Power’s win at Texas on June 10 tied him with Dario Franchitti and Paul Tracy for ninth on the all-time list with 31 wins. Dixon’s win at Road America on June 25 was his 41st career victory and he will tie Michael Andretti for third all-time with his next win. Castroneves’ win at Iowa on July 9 ended a 54-race winless streak and gave him sole possession of 12th all-time with 30 wins.
• The Honda Indy Toronto will be the 33rd Indy car race on the streets of Exhibition Place. Will Power won the race in 2016. The race marks the 50th anniversary of Indy car racing in Canada. Indy cars first raced at Mosport (now Canadian Tires Motorsport Park) in Bowmanville, Ontario in 1967. Twin 100-mile races were scheduled and Bobby Unser won both, though the second race was cut short because of rain.
• The Honda Indy Toronto will be the eighth race on a road/street course in 2017. The first seven races were won by Sebastien Bourdais (Streets of St. Petersburg), James Hinchcliffe (Streets of Long Beach), Josef Newgarden (Barber Motorsports Park), Will Power (INDYCAR Grand Prix), Graham Rahal (Raceway at Belle Isle-1 and Raceway at Belle Isle-2) and Scott Dixon (Road America).
• Will Power has won three times at Toronto, the most wins by an active Indy car driver at the track. He is among four past Toronto winners entered in this year’s race, along with Ryan Hunter-Reay (2012), Scott Dixon (2013) and Josef Newgarden (2015). Michael Andretti has the most wins at the track with seven.
• The Verizon IndyCar Series champion has won in Toronto in four of the last eight seasons. Dario Franchitti, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Scott Dixon all won on the streets of Toronto before eventually claiming the championship. Franchitti won in 2009 and again in 2011. Hunter-Reay won in 2012 and Dixon swept both races in 2013. Seven other drivers have claimed the Indy car championship in the same season they won at Toronto. They are: Bobby Rahal (1986), Al Unser Jr. (1990), Michael Andretti (1991), Alex Zanardi (1998), Cristiano da Matta (2002), Paul Tracy (2003) and Sebastien Bourdais (2004).
• Drivers who have won poles at Toronto entered in this year’s race are: Scott Dixon (2013 Race 2 and 2016), Will Power (2011 and 2015) and Helio Castroneves (2000). Castroneves also started on pole in Race 2 in 2014, but was awarded the pole based on entrant points.
• Scott Dixon has finished on the podium in three of the last eight races at Toronto. He has seven top-five finishes in 12 starts.
• Nineteen drivers entered in the event have competed in Indy car races at Toronto. Castroneves and Tony Kanaan (14) have the most starts among the entered drivers. Eleven of those drivers have led laps at the track (Will Power 161, Scott Dixon 151, Helio Castroneves 77, Josef Newgarden 37, Ryan Hunter-Reay 36, Simon Pagenaud 31, Tony Kanaan 23, Graham Rahal 23, Charlie Kimball 2, Conor Daly 1 and JR Hildebrand 1).
• Chip Ganassi Racing has won six times at Toronto: Michael Andretti (1994), Alex Zanardi (1998), Dario Franchitti (2009 and 2011) and Scott Dixon (2013, both races). Team Penske has three wins at the track (Paul Tracy 1993 and Will Power 2010 and 2016). It has seven pole positions at the track: Danny Sullivan (1988 and 1990), Emerson Fittipaldi (1993), Helio Castroneves (2000), Gil de Ferran (2001) and Will Power (2011 and 2015).
• Two rookies – Esteban Gutierrez and Ed Jones – are entered. Jones has raced at the circuit before in Indy Lights.
• Tony Kanaan seeks to start his 277th consecutive race this weekend, which would extend his Indy car record streak that began in June 2001 at Portland. Teammate Scott Dixon has made 218 consecutive starts heading into the weekend, which is the second-longest streak in Indy car racing. Andretti Autosport’s Marco Andretti has made 194 consecutive starts, which is the fourth-longest streak in Indy car racing.
• Helio Castroneves will attempt to make his 339th career Indy car start, which ranks third on the all-time list. Tony Kanaan is fourth all-time with 337 starts.
HONDA INDY TORONTO PRE-EVENT QUOTES:
SIMON PAGENAUD (No. 1 DXC Technology Team Penske Chevrolet): “Toronto is a good track for us. It’s a fun track. I really enjoy driving that track. It’s a great city with the best restaurants you can find. I love going there. It’s a classic event for INDYCAR. We haven’t had the best luck there for strategies, but hopefully this year we can turn it around and translate that into good speed and maybe another win.”
JOSEF NEWGARDEN (No. 2 DeVilbiss Team Penske Chevrolet): “Toronto is a really great place. It’s a fun city that really gets behind the race, so it’s hard not to love that. It’s a track that I’ve had success and won at before. I think we come into the race with some confidence, but the DeVilbiss Chevy group is hungry, too. We’ve had some things work against us in the last few races. Maybe we can turn that around a little and pick up some momentum. We’re past the halfway mark in the season and everyone is going to dial it in a little tighter.”
HELIO CASTRONEVES (No. 3 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet): “I am so excited to be heading to Toronto after our win at Iowa. It was incredible to be back in victory lane and I know myself and the whole No. 3 Hitachi Chevrolet crew are hungry for more. Last year we had a great finish at Toronto, so I feel confident we can have the car to give us a shot for back-to-back wins. Toronto is a fun course with great fans, so I’m really looking forward to this weekend.”
JAMES HINCHCLIFFE (No. 5 Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda):“As you’d expect, this is an event I look forward to every year. It’s one of the busiest for me, but one of the most enjoyable, then to go home and race in front of the home crowd at the racetrack that I went to as a kid that really made me fall in love with Indy ar racing. Getting the chance to race there every year is exciting. The support that I felt from the city, and the entire country, has been overwhelming the last 100 starts of my career, and it’s going to be exciting to have number 101 there.”
MIKHAIL ALESHIN (No. 7 SMP Racing Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda): “With the way our weekend ended in Iowa, I’m looking forward to switching gears to the street course in Toronto. We had a pretty good finish last year in sixth, and because it is such a bumpy and technical track, it will be a good challenge. With my teammate James (Hinchcliffe) being from Canada, it is always a great time with the fans there as well.”
MAX CHILTON (No. 8 Gallagher Honda): “Toronto is just a great city and I love going there. The Canadian fans always show up and are into the race and follow along very closely. We qualified mid-pack there last year, learned a lot in the race and completed all 85 laps. I think that gives us a solid foundation to build on and we want to improve on what we did last year and get a strong result for the Gallagher team.”
SCOTT DIXON (No. 9 NTT Data Honda): “Toronto is one of the longest-running street courses around and it’s always a challenging layout to master. It’s similar to Detroit, in that you have a number of surface changes and areas that you really need the car balanced in order to manage the rough downtown roads and streets. We know what it takes to win there and hope to get a quick start and be a contender at race’s end when it counts.”
TONY KANAAN (No. 10 NTT Data Honda): “Toronto is one of my favorite stops on the Verizon IndyCar Series schedule. The atmosphere is a lot of fun to race in and the history is so strong. The street course can be difficult, but there’s so many passing opportunities that make for a great race for the fans and the drivers. We had a decent weekend in Iowa last weekend, but I think we had so much more potential for a good result. We are way overdue for a good race result, so hopefully, we can make it happen this weekend in Toronto.”
WILL POWER (No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet): “Toronto is a great course for myself and the No. 12 Verizon Chevy team. We won the event last year and had a really great car to make it happen. We’ve gotten a win at a road course and an oval this season already, so a win at a street course would be really exciting. We continue to have a really strong car as we had a great one at Iowa. We’re looking forward to racing for the fans at Toronto this weekend and building on consistently solid cars this season.”
GRAHAM RAHAL (No. 15 Rousseau Metal Honda): “Toronto is a special race for all of us. It’s always a fun, great atmosphere and a track I really enjoy. I think the Canadian fans always love and respect what we do and come out and support us in big numbers. My expectations are pretty high for the Honda Indy Toronto. I feel like we are in a pretty good spot with the basic setup for our race car for street courses, so I hope it’s a really strong weekend for the Rousseau Metal Honda. The course is very similar to Detroit in many ways. It’s very bumpy, very tight and there are no margins for error. There are a lot of different pavement types and it’s very slippery on the concrete, which make it similar to Detroit. Going there with the setup basics that brought us two wins in Detroit gives us reason to be confident heading to Toronto and hopefully it works out like it did in Detroit.”
ESTEBAN GUTIERREZ (No. 18 Unifin Honda): “It’s been an incredible challenge, so far, to jump from a street course to a road course to a short oval and now back to a street course. Three different types of racing in a very short period of time, but it’s been very fun. Now for Toronto, I don’t know a lot about the track as I’ve never been there before, but I’ve been told that it’s very bumpy. It will be important to have a stable car over the bumps, so hopefully, we can find a good setup. I think with the experience I’ve gained so far, knowing the car better every race, every step I am getting more and more confident and gaining more knowledge in what the car is doing in every situation, so I hope I can use that experience to move forward and as a team that we can bring a good package to be competitive.”
ED JONES (No. 19 Boy Scouts of America Honda): “Toronto is one of my favorite races on the calendar, even if I didn’t do that great there in Indy Lights. It’s a difficult track and very bumpy. It’s also very technical and tight in some sections, so all that combined makes it very tricky, but I’m looking forward to it. It will be interesting to see how I get on after struggling at Detroit, but we were good at St. Petersburg and Long Beach. I’m hoping my foot will be better when we get there because there is much more braking than this last weekend in Iowa, but it should be alright. I’ll be resting it up this week.”
SPENCER PIGOT (No. 20 Fuzzy’s Vodka Chevrolet): “Toronto is always a great event. I really enjoy both the city and the track. It’s one of the most challenging street courses we go to. It’s very unique in the amount of surface changes we encounter during a lap. In some cases, you can drive over three different surfaces in one corner, so it’s difficult to find a setup that is compliant around the entire circuit. Ed Carpenter Racing and I have both had success there in the past, so hopefully, we can have a good weekend together in our Fuzzy’s Vodka Chevy.”
JR HILDEBRAND (No. 21 Preferred Freezer Service Chevrolet): “I am looking forward to going back to Toronto. After a good weekend in Iowa, we hope to continue to build that momentum through the second half of the season. I felt like we figured a few things out at the last street course race in Detroit that will hopefully translate to a solid weekend in Toronto.”
TAKUMA SATO (No. 26 Andretti Autosport Honda): “I feel pretty positive going into Toronto. It is a race you want to remember for a long time. So I’m happy to get back at the track and in the car in a couple days. Toronto is always an exciting race – very challenging. It is one of the bumpiest tracks on the schedule. I have a lot of good memories there and hopefully we can come bounce back strong and score some good points.”
MARCO ANDRETTI (No. 27 Andretti Autosport Honda): “I really love driving the streets of Toronto and love the Canadian fans who come out for the show. They’re really enthusiastic about racing and I think we can put on a good show for them. We need to leave Toronto with a good result, and I think we have a really good chance at bringing one home. The package we bring to this track should be competitive across the board and I look forward to seeing the outcome of the race.”
RYAN HUNTER-REAY (No. 28 DHL Honda): “Toronto is such a great track and is a great city. It’s one of my favorite cities to go to and Racing for Cancer is having The Rally there this year, co-hosted with James Hinchcliffe. It’s going to be a fun weekend, and hopefully, we can go for win No. 2 for the DHL team in Toronto. Going from a short oval to a road course, you just really climb in and go for it. Toronto is a really challenging circuit with a very small margin for error, so we’ll have to work hard.”
CHARLIE KIMBALL (No. 83 Novo Nordisk Honda): “I’m looking forward to getting back into street course mode this week for the Honda Indy Toronto, and hopefully, we can recreate some of the magic from our podium finish in 2012. Toronto is easily a favorite stop on our tour. The city is so vibrant, and the Canadian fans at the track help make the weekend a lot of fun for us drivers, too. The Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing team had a strong car last year, finishing just outside the top 10, but I know we’re better than that. Each time we roll out to pit lane our goal is to finish up front, so that’s what we’ll be working toward again this weekend.”
ALEXANDER ROSSI (No. 98 Andretti Autosport/Curb Honda): “I love back-to-back race weekends. As soon as the race finished in Iowa, we are immediately preparing for Toronto. I feel like we are close to a breakthrough, and hopefully, it can be this weekend as we reach the pivotal point of the championship.”
Sources: Curt Cavin/Verizon IndyCar Series PR