TORONTO – Suddenly, things are looking promising for Chevrolet on a Verizon IndyCar Series temporary street course.
After being shut out of victory lane in the first four races of the season, the bowtie engine manufacturer has three of the top four starters on the grid for Sunday’s Honda Indy Toronto (3 p.m. ET, NBCSN and Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network). Josef Newgarden put the No. 1 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet on pole in Verizon P1 Award qualifying on Saturday, with Team Penske teammates Simon Pagenaud and Will Power locking down spots in the second row.
HONDA INDY TORONTO: Starting lineup with race start tire selection
Temporary street circuits like the one at Exhibition Place have been the Achilles heel for Chevrolet teams thus far in 2018. Power’s runner-up finishes at Long Beach and in the second race on Detroit’s Belle Isle are the lone top-six results for Chevy drivers.
“We are working on it,” Newgarden said of the street-course troubles after winning the pole position on Saturday. “It's has been a weaker area for us as a team and I think we are just making progress. We seemed to make a lot of progress on our setups this weekend and we have to keep developing.”
Newgarden insisted that Chevrolet has responded and made gains of its own.
“Chevy is making steps, too,” he said. “We've pushed them to develop and they've listened to us and have done a great job. It's a marriage and we're making strides on our side and they are making strides on the engine.”
The Firestone Fast Six results on Toronto’s 1.786-mile street course reflected that progress. In conditions changing from wet to dry, Newgarden turned a lap of 59.4956 seconds (108.068 mph) to win his fourth pole of the season. The only Honda-powered car to break into the top four was championship leader Scott Dixon of Scott Dixon.
Ed Carpenter Racing’s Jordan King qualified eighth, with Conor Daly of Harding Racing 11th and Matheus “Matt” Leist from AJ Foyt Racing 12th to give Chevrolet half of the first dozen on the starting grid. King, however, did crash in the morning warmup, forcing his No. 20 Fuzzy's Vodka crew to scramble and make repairs in time for the race start.
Dixon still feels the Honda engine may offer an advantage in the race, but isn't about to start counting any chickens before they’re hatched.
“We will have to see how the Chevy cars race,” the four-time Verizon IndyCar Series champion said. “Honda has been doing a very good job with the performance and being able to maintain it through the race. You kind of think you are going to have the advantage, but you can't go into the race thinking that because it sucks when you are wrong.”
Newgarden and Power have combined to give Chevrolet five race wins this season: three on permanent road courses (Barber, Indianapolis and Road America), one short oval (ISM Raceway) and one superspeedway (Indianapolis). Newgarden’s Toronto pole position was the first for Chevrolet on a street course in the last event on a temporary circuit this season.
“We haven't been stellar on street courses,” Power admitted. “I can't actually put my finger on it. It's so different every weekend. You can't understand why everyone else is closer or why people struggle. All we know is that we have a good balance here and it's working.”
By coincidence, the only Chevrolet win on a temporary circuit last season came at Exhibition Place, when Newgarden grabbed the lead with a perfectly timed yellow and cruised to a convincing victory. It started a run of three race wins and two runner-up finishes that catapulted Newgarden to his first series title.
Newgarden begins Sunday’s race second to Dixon in the standings, 32 points behind. The Team Penske driver is cautiously optimistic.
“We are worried about Dixon, because he's going to be a threat, and I think some of the other Hondas will (as well),” Newgarden said. “I feel good and I think we have a great car, but we can't get overconfident.”
HONDA INDY TORONTO
Race 12 of 17 on the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series schedule
Track: Streets of Exhibition Place, an 11-turn, 1.786-mile temporary street course that has hosted Indy car races since 1986; today’s race will be the 34th Indy car race at the circuit
Race distance: 85 laps/151.81 miles
Fuel: 55 gallons of Sunoco E85 ethanol for each car
Full fuel stint: 26-30 laps
Push-to-pass: Each car receives 200 seconds of overtake activation for the race, with a maximum time of 20 seconds per activation. Push-to-pass provides added engine turbocharger boost that supplies an approximate increase of 50 horsepower
Tire requirements: Each car that completes the race must use at least one set of Firestone primary specification (black-sidewall) tires and one new set of Firestone alternate (red-sidewall) tires in the race, each for at least two laps
Television: NBCSN, 3 p.m. ET
Radio: Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network (network affiliates, Sirius 217, XM 209, IndyCar.com, indycarradio.com, INDYCAR Mobile app), 3 p.m. ET