Mike Conway, who advanced to the Firestone Fast Six in his two previous starts on the Exhibition Place street circuit in Toronto, wasn’t too pleased with himself for qualifying 13th for the Honda Indy Toronto.
But that was cast aside as Conway stood on the podium in Victory Circle on July 8. The driver of the No. 14 ABC Supply car recorded a season-best third place in the 85-lap race on the 1.75-mile, 11-turn course – his best outing since winning at Long Beach in April 2011 with Andretti Autosport.
"It's good to finally get a podium for everyone involved," team director Larry Foyt said. "Everybody's been working so hard this year and we've been fast many times, but we haven't gotten a lot to show for it. So for the team, for Mike, and for ABC Supply, it's great to finally realize the potential that I knew was there. Hopefully this will give us some momentum to finish strong in these final five races."
The mood at the Texas shop today might be more mellow as INDYCAR announced it has fined A.J. Foyt Racing $15,000 and penalized the team 10 entrant points for not complying with Rule 14.7.2 (the maximum capacity of the fuel cell shall be 18.5 U.S. gallons).
“We felt the discrepancy in the size of the fuel tank was enough that it potentially could have provided a track position advantage and the penalty is reflective of that,” INDYCAR vice president of technology Will Phillips said.
The team may contest the imposition of the penalty pursuant to the procedures and timelines detailed in the IZOD IndyCar Series rulebook.
Conway, who started 11th because of grid penalties for unapproved engine changes to two entrants, picked up four spots in the standings to 18th.
Twenty-one drivers at Mid-Ohio test
Twenty-one IZOD IndyCar Series drivers are scheduled to test July 26 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in advance of the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio on Aug. 3-5. GET TICKETS, INFO
The facility will be open to spectators for free. Details to come later this week.
Mid-Ohio has special daily and weekend admission tickets on sale at www.midohio.com/zoo, with $5 of each Zoo Donation ticket sold going to the Graham Rahal Foundation. The first 1,000 of these tickets sold will come with a voucher for free admission to the Columbus Zoo in 2012 and a Graham Rahal autographed hero card.
Everyone who purchases the Zoo Donation tickets will be entered to win a VIP experience at the Columbus Zoo and a meet and greet with Rahal during the race weekend.
Saavedra added to testing day
Sebastian Saavedra, who’s third in the Firestone Indy Lights championship standings heading into the Edmonton Indy race weekend, will test an IZOD IndyCar Series car for Andretti Autosport on Aug. 17 at Sonoma Raceway.
Ten IZOD IndyCar Series drivers are scheduled to participate in the test on the demanding road course, including series points leader Ryan Hunter-Reay and second place Will Power, in advance of the Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma on Aug. 24-26. GET TICKETS, INFO
Also scheduled to attend are Team Penske’s Ryan Briscoe and Helio Castroneves, Dragon Racing’s Sebastien Bourdais (who’s also testing at Sonoma on July 12), Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Takuma Sato, Schmidt Hamilton HP Motorsports’ Simon Pagenaud, Andretti Autosport’s Marco Andretti and James Hinchcliffe, and team owner/driver Ed Carpenter.
Of note
Via INDYCAR bulletin to teams, no rear wicker or U'wing strakes may be used in the 250-lap race at Auto Club Speedway on Sept. 15. Other aerodynamic specs for the season finale include the mandatory use of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway rear-wheel guards, the Speedway rear-wing mainplane and the Speedway rear-wing mainplane endcaps. Optional are U'wing sidewalls, rear-wheel infils, sidepod top deck and radiator inset shutters. ... The Ontario Honda Dealers Association and Honda Canada Inc. raised more than $35,000 for Make-A-Wish Canada this past weekend at the Honda Indy Toronto on “Free Friday.”