Three Wins For Power At Toronto

Will Power battles Sebastien Bourdais in the Honda Indy Toronto. [Photo by: Joe Skibinski]

TORONTO (Sunday, July 17, 2016) – Will Power claimed his third win of the Verizon IndyCar Series season and third in the Honda Indy Toronto on the streets of Exhibition Place by 1.5275 seconds over teammate Helio Castroneves, driving directly into the 2016 championship conversation in the process. Power now sits second in the standings despite missing the season opener, 47 points behind teammate Simon Pagenaud.

“The Verizon Chevrolet team has been doing a great job,: said Power. “Obviously we have been playing catch-up all year, but every race they are executing. We are getting great strategies, great cars. We just have to keep chipping away, chipping away at this and see if we can have a shot at this. (On being second in points) I don’t know what the points situation is right now, all I know is that we have to keep finishing ahead of the No. 22 (Simon Pagenaud) if we want a shot at the title.”

Power held off Team Penske teammate Helio Castroneves on a one lap dash to the finish on the final restart.

“I’m smiling because I know we didn’t win, but the Pennzoil Chevrolet car was really strong,” explained Castroneves. “When we felt the car vibrating and I was just telling Roger, ‘Hey listen, it’s just vibration. But let’s not pit.’ Then, all of a sudden I felt the car pulling and the tire just gave up. I’m not sure why. I noticed the curb in Turn 5, it could be. I don’t know. Finally, we got a little break on the yellow. It put us back in the position to fight. Unfortunately, it was very difficult to pass so I tried everything I could, and in the end I was like, ‘OK this is the chance,’ but Will had like six push to pass. I only had three. It was very difficult to get the tires going but Roger and the entire Pennzoil Chevrolet guys, man, I’m so proud to be part of this team. These guys are never giving up. Thanks everyone. Let’s keep going. Let’s move to the next one.”

Scott Dixon led the most laps and had a dominant run going until caution flags voided his team’s strategy. “Obviously not the result that we wanted today for Team Target after starting on pole and leading all those laps in the first few stints. It was looking like it was going to be our race all afternoon but the timing of how everything worked out just took it away from us. It was just about as frustrating of a race as you can have.”

Series point leader Simon Pagenaud also got bit by the caution flags. “The PPG Automotive Refinish Chevrolet was much stronger than what the results showed. It’s really unfortunate. I was really happy that I was able to run second for most of the race. We trimmed the car great midway through the race and it was really strong at the end, but unfortunately we got caught on the last yellow and that shuffled us to the back. We were able to get back inside the top 10 which was a great performance. We lost quite a bit of points today, but over the performance is there. It’s there every week. That’s the silver lining to see how competitive we are. So, we go to Mid-Ohio which is a track that suits me very well. I’m very excited about it.”

Still injured driver Josef Newgarden had a solid run until an accident in turn five where the curbing was falling apart. “It is an error on my part. I hate to blame it on an injury, but I hit the curb too hard and lost the wheel. I couldn’t hang on to the wheel. I didn’t have the strength to hold on to the wheel. I feel terrible for our guys. We had a good race going. We were fighting back. We got put back for an incident that I don’t think was our fault. We fought our way back. We could have had a good finish there. My mistake and I feel bad because we are going to lose some points there. (On the hand) It’s just sore. I wish my grip strength was better right now but it’s not. Probably not where I need to be. I should have stayed off the curb. I knew better than to hit it that hard with my grip strength where it is.”

Newgarden was checked and released from the infield care center but, according to Dr. Geoffrey Billows, INDYCAR medical director, will have his right hand that was fractured in a June 12 crash at Texas Motor Speedway re-evaluated Monday before he is cleared to drive.

The Verizon IndyCar Series heads next to The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio from July 29-31. Dixon, the reigning series champion, is a five-time winner at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio. The race airs live at 2 p.m. ET July 31 on CNBC and the Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network with a re-air on NBCSN at 5:30 p.m.

Honda Indy Toronto race results
TORONTO – Results Sunday of the Honda Indy Toronto Verizon IndyCar Series event on the 1.786-mile Exhibition Place circuit, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, aero kit-engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):
1. (4) Will Power, Chevrolet, 85, Running
2. (2) Helio Castroneves, Chevrolet, 85, Running
3. (6) James Hinchcliffe, Honda, 85, Running
4. (12) Tony Kanaan, Chevrolet, 85, Running
5. (20) Takuma Sato, Honda, 85, Running
6. (10) Mikhail Aleshin, Honda, 85, Running
7. (5) Sebastien Bourdais, Chevrolet, 85, Running
8. (1) Scott Dixon, Chevrolet, 85, Running
9. (3) Simon Pagenaud, Chevrolet, 85, Running
10. (22) Marco Andretti, Honda, 85, Running
11. (17) Charlie Kimball, Chevrolet, 85, Running
12. (18) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Honda, 85, Running
13. (16) Graham Rahal, Honda, 85, Running
14. (11) Luca Filippi, Honda, 85, Running
15. (7) Conor Daly, Honda, 85, Running
16. (19) Alexander Rossi, Honda, 85, Running
17. (15) Carlos Munoz, Honda, 85, Running
18. (14) Max Chilton, Chevrolet, 85, Running
19. (21) Spencer Pigot, Chevrolet, 85, Running
20. (9) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 84, Running
21. (13) Jack Hawksworth, Honda, 80, Contact
22. (8) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 57, Contact

Race Statistics
Winners average speed: 88.739
Time of Race: 1:42:38.6925
Margin of victory: 1.5275 seconds
Cautions: 5 cautions for 16 laps
Lead changes: 6 among 6 drivers

Lap Leaders:
Dixon 1-26, Pagenaud 27, Bourdais 28, Daly 29, Dixon 30-59, Kanaan 60-75, Power 76-85

Verizon IndyCar Series point standings: Pagenaud 432, Power 385, Castroneves 358, Dixon 349, Newgarden 344, Kanaan 339, Rossi 300, Hinchcliffe 299, Kimball 294, Munoz 293.

RacingNation Crew

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