TORONTO – Helio Castroneves finished third for the second race in a row to post the 85th top-three finish and 123rd top five of his Indy car career.
Castroneves, driving the No. 3 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet, finished 3.9 seconds behind Honda Indy Toronto winner Josef Newgarden to remain fourth (seven points behind third-place Scot Dixon) in the Verizon IndyCar Series championship standings. He led 15 laps for 5,329 in his career.
“I was pushing like I stole it. But in the end it was great," said Castroneves, who started seventh. "It was a shame with the weather a little bit, but thank God we were able to put some dry laps out there for the fans. The Canadian fans are always awesome. This is a great event and I hope when we come here next year we get a win.”
Other statistical notables: Rodolfo Gonzalez, who started 23rd in the No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda, led his first laps. He finished 18th after a late-race pit stop. ... Marco Andretti, who finished 13th in the No. 27 Dr Pepper Honda for Andretti Autosport, is the only driver to complete all 1,057 laps this season. ... Reigning Verizon IndyCar Series champion, driver of the No. 1 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, and Castroneves have led seven of the 10 races -- a field high.
Return of the summer race weekend, event president says
Honda Indy Toronto president Charlie Johnstone thanked race fans for coming out by the thousands in inclement weather, thanked the more than 500 volunteers for their assistance and dedication, and said that the event featuring the Verizon IndyCar Series race would return to its traditional July date for 2016.
Toronto is hosting the Pan American Games in July and Exhibition Place, where the 1.755-mile, 11-turn street circuit is located, will entertain 15 sports at five venues on the grounds. With front- and back-end turnaround times for race organizers no other equitable date on the Verizon IndyCar Series schedule, the mid-June race weekend was a compromise.
Reunion for Daly and his coach in Canada
Conor Daly, who drove the No. 5 Arrow/Lucas Oil Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda in the Honda Indy Toronto, was reunited June 12 with Brian Graham, his coach and mentor when Daly was 16 years old and racing in Canada.
Daly competed in Canadian Formula Ford in 2008 for Graham’s team, earning rookie of the year honors, while also clinching the Skip Barber National Championship in the U.S. Graham also has coached CFH Racing driver Josef Newgarden.
“That was a huge year in my career,” Daly said. “I learned a lot about race craft in the Skip Barber because there was a lot of drafting that resulted in really close racing. Formula Ford was a lot more technical and you could learn a lot about setting up the car and what you had to do to make it work. That has proved to be invaluable as my career has progressed.”
Catching up with Canadian racers
Scott Hargrove, 20, of Surrey, British Columbia, who placed second in the 2014 Pro Mazda Championship standings and has competed in three Pro Mazda races this season with JDC Motorsports, won the first race and was runner-up in the second of the Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Michelin doubleheader on the Exhibition Place circuit. Hargrove also comped in the Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires doubleheader at St. Petersburg, Fla., in March for 8Star Motorsports.
Former Star Mazda and Indy Lights driver David Ostella, 23, of Maple, Ontario, has been competing for JDX Racing in the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama and is enrolled in university.
He won the Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Michelin championship in 2013.
Of note
1961 Indianapolis 500 starter Bob Lazier and amateur partner Jim Caudle co-drove a 1969 Chevrolet Corvette to victory in the Indy Legends Pro-Am, the spotlight event of the four-day Sportscar Vintage Racing Association's Brickyard Vintage Racing Invitational at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Thirty-three former Indy 500 drivers were paired with amateurs for a 40-minute race on the 2.439-mile IMS road course. Below is a photo of the five Unser family members who gathered for and competed in the event. … IMS president J. Douglas Boles drove a 2004 Formula BMW in another of the events on the road course.
