Honda Indy Toronto Preview

Sebastien Bourdais and Helio Castroneves lead the field into Turn 3 during Race 1 of the 2014 Honda Indy Toronto.  [Photo by: Shawn Gritzmacher]

Injured Canadian driver James Hinchcliffe will be absent this weekend as the Verizon IndyCar Series heads north to Ontario for the Honda Indy Toronto on the streets of Exhibition Place.

Rookie Conor Daly replaces ‘The Mayor’ in the 23-car field as 2014 defending Toronto winner Sebastien Bourdais (Mike Conway, who isn’t entered, won Race 2 and Bourdais Race 1) hopes to make it two-in-a-row for KV Racing on the 1.75-mile, 11-turn circuit.

“Obviously the Toronto street circuit is one I enjoy racing on. We have had some good results there, including the win last year, which was special because it was my first since coming back to IndyCar,” explained the French driver who is a four-time (2004-2007) Champ Car champion. “The city really supports the race, the track is challenging and the fans are knowledgeable.”

Daly, who will pilot the Arrow/Lucas Oil Honda for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, finally gets a “normal race weekend” with a full practice session after limited time in the cockpit at both Long Beach and Belle Isle. “This will be my first time at Toronto, a track I’ve always wanted to race on. I just have to use the practice sessions as best we can and try to learn at an extremely fast rate…because you want to be as ready as possible for qualifying.”

Daly has been impressive during his limited schedule in 2015, gaining four positions at Long Beach and six during the two Detroit races where he led 12 laps and scored his first career top-10 in Race 2.

This will be the 31st Indy car race held in Toronto going back to July, 1986 when Bobby Rahal bested Danny Sullivan and Mario Andretti in a CART-sanctioned event for the inaugural win.

Over the years the Newman Haas team has won here seven times and Michael Andretti has won seven races as a driver and once as a team principal.

Current drivers who have won here include two-time winners Will Power, Scott Dixon and Bourdais, while Ryan Hunter-Reay has one victory.

Juan Pablo Montoya continues to lead the driver standing by 35 over Penske Racing teammate Power. Dixon (-43), Helio Castroneves (-62) and Graham Rahal (-87) trail.

Beginning at the Indianapolis Grand Prix, five races ago, a streak which includes three road/street races and two ovals, Chevrolet driver Juan Pablo Montoya has the best average finishing position (5.6) while Marco Andretti leads Honda drivers with a 6.8 finishing mark.

The 2015 Toronto weekend reverts to a single-race format after doubleheaders in 2013 and 2014.

Hinchcliffe, who recognizes that he’s likely finished for the season after suffering critical injuries at Indianapolis unless “some miracle happens,” told WTHR television in Indianapolis recently that he is ahead of schedule regarding healing, but doesn’t want to ruin his future by rushing back to the track. He did note, however, that he’s “better than I should be at this point,” but most think he won’t risk further injury by trying to make the series’ finale at Sonoma.

TORONTO NOTES:

• With Hinchcliffe out, many had hoped that a team might sign Quebec veteran Alex Tagliani to drive at Toronto, but Daly was chosen by Schmidt Peterson and Dale Coyne picked Tristan Vautier and Rodolfo Gonzalez to fill his two rotating driver seats.

• Team Penske has just two wins here, but has been on the pole six times. Chip Ganassi Racing has won here six times.

• Tony Kanaan will start his record 243rd consecutive Indy car event when he takes the green flag on Sunday. The streak began at Portland in June, 2001.

• Twenty drivers entered in the event have competed in Indy car races in Toronto before. Castroneves and Kanaan lead with 12 races each.

• Canadian company Rousseau Metal replaces Steak & Shake this weekend as sponsor of Graham Rahal’s Honda.

• TV: Qualifying-5 p.m. ET, Saturday, June 13, Tape-delay. Race-3 p.m. ET, Sunday, June 14, Live.

• RADIO: Sirius 212/XM 209

Paul Gohde

Paul Gohde heard the sound of race cars early in his life.

Growing up in suburban Milwaukee, just north of Wisconsin State Fair Park in the 1950’s, Paul had no idea what “that noise” was all about that he heard several times a year. Finally, through prodding by friends of his parents, he was taken to several Thursday night modified stock car races on the old quarter-mile dirt track that was in the infield of the one-mile oval -and he was hooked.

The first Milwaukee Mile event that he attended was the 1959 Rex Mays Classic won by Johnny Thomson in the pink Racing Associates lay-down Offy built by the legendary Lujie Lesovsky. After the 100-miler Gohde got the winner’s autograph in the pits, something he couldn’t do when he saw Hank Aaron hit a home run at County Stadium, and, again, he was hooked.

Paul began attending the Indianapolis 500 in 1961, and saw A. J. Foyt’s first Indy win. He began covering races in 1965 for Racing Wheels newspaper in Vancouver, WA as a reporter/photographer and his first credentialed race was Jim Clark’s historic Indy win.Paul has also done reporting, columns and photography for Midwest Racing News since the mid-sixties, with the 1967 Hoosier 100 being his first big race to report for them.

He is a retired middle-grade teacher, an avid collector of vintage racing memorabilia, and a tour guide at Miller Park. Paul loves to explore abandoned race tracks both here and in Europe, with the Brooklands track in Weybridge England being his favorite. Married to Paula, they have three adult children and two cats.

Paul loves the diversity of all types of racing, “a factor that got me hooked in the first place.”

racingnation.com

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