Excellent day for the Ganassi team as drivers Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon made it a one-two in an incident-filled Toronto IndyCar race.
Ryan Hunter-Reay finally made it into a podium finish for Andretti Autosport after being involved himself in a late brush with Graham Rahal (Ganassi).
As it is usually the case on the Toronto street course circuit, there were a lot of accidents all thru the race which were aggravated by the double-file restart system.
Pole sitter Will Power started out in front closely followed by the Ganassi duo who quickly disposed of Mike Conway (Andretti Autosport) early on.
Several drivers, among them Franchitti, were lucky enough to make their first stop just before a yellow which allowed the Scot to take over the lead while his main rivals Power and Dixon dropped back further the pack.
Soon enough, going into the final stint, Power and Dixon had regained their pace and were back in the front right behind Franchitti
During a late restart, Power moved pass Franchitti but as the Ganassi ace tried to take back the lead some laps later he pushed the Australian into a spin at Turn 3.
Franchitti was the able to gain momentum and pass Dreyer & Reinbold's Justin Wilson and then Hunter-Reay to move into second behind Rahal.
Unfortunately for Rahal, he did not have the speed to fight his pursuers and sure enough Franchitti and Dixon went around the American who, five laps later, got a touch from Hunter-Reay that sent him down the order to 13th.
Hunter-Reay's team-mate Marco Andretti made it from 20th on the grid to fourth by staying out of trouble and pitting at wise times.
Vitor Meira recovered from a collision with Paul Tracy to take a superb fifth for AJ Foyt, while Dale Coyne's Sebastien Bourdais claimed the best result of his American comeback so far in sixth.
Among the drivers involved in incidents were Alex Tagliani (Sam Schmidt) and Helio Castroneves (Penske) coming together, Canadian countrymen Hinchcliffe and Tracy collided while Takamu Sato and Danica Patrick tangled.
Honda Indy Toronto - Results
Pos Driver Team Time/Gap
1. Dario Franchitti Ganassi 85 laps
2. Scott Dixon Ganassi + 0.7345s
3. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti + 6.0144s
4. Marco Andretti Andretti + 7.5671s
5. Vitor Meira Foyt + 9.0117s
6. Sebastien Bourdais Dale Coyne + 9.3114s
7. Ryan Briscoe Penske + 9.8735s
8. JR Hildebrand Panther + 14.1750s
9. EJ Viso KV + 14.7843s
10. Simona de Silvestro HVM + 15.7603s
11. Ana Beatriz Dreyer & Reinbold + 16.8992s
12. Oriol Servia Newman/Haas + 19.8736s
13. Graham Rahal Ganassi + 21.3123s
14. James Hinchcliffe Newman/Haas + 1 lap
15. Justin Wilson Dreyer & Reinbold + 2 laps
16. Paul Tracy Dragon + 3 laps
17. Helio Castroneves Penske + 4 laps
18. James Jakes Dale Coyne + 4 laps
19. Danica Patrick Andretti + 6 laps
20. Takuma Sato KV + 6 laps
Retirements:
Charlie Kimball Ganassi 77 laps
Mike Conway Andretti 76 laps
Alex Tagliani Sam Schmidt 71 laps
Will Power Penske 66 laps
Sebastian Saavedra Conquest 43 laps
Tony Kanaan KV 2 laps
Ryan Hunter-Reay finally made it into a podium finish for Andretti Autosport after being involved himself in a late brush with Graham Rahal (Ganassi).
As it is usually the case on the Toronto street course circuit, there were a lot of accidents all thru the race which were aggravated by the double-file restart system.
Pole sitter Will Power started out in front closely followed by the Ganassi duo who quickly disposed of Mike Conway (Andretti Autosport) early on.
Several drivers, among them Franchitti, were lucky enough to make their first stop just before a yellow which allowed the Scot to take over the lead while his main rivals Power and Dixon dropped back further the pack.
Soon enough, going into the final stint, Power and Dixon had regained their pace and were back in the front right behind Franchitti
During a late restart, Power moved pass Franchitti but as the Ganassi ace tried to take back the lead some laps later he pushed the Australian into a spin at Turn 3.
Franchitti was the able to gain momentum and pass Dreyer & Reinbold's Justin Wilson and then Hunter-Reay to move into second behind Rahal.
Unfortunately for Rahal, he did not have the speed to fight his pursuers and sure enough Franchitti and Dixon went around the American who, five laps later, got a touch from Hunter-Reay that sent him down the order to 13th.
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| Dario Franchitti célèbre sa victoire du Honda Indy Toronto - Photo: indycar.com - Michael Levitt - LAT |
Hunter-Reay's team-mate Marco Andretti made it from 20th on the grid to fourth by staying out of trouble and pitting at wise times.
Vitor Meira recovered from a collision with Paul Tracy to take a superb fifth for AJ Foyt, while Dale Coyne's Sebastien Bourdais claimed the best result of his American comeback so far in sixth.
Among the drivers involved in incidents were Alex Tagliani (Sam Schmidt) and Helio Castroneves (Penske) coming together, Canadian countrymen Hinchcliffe and Tracy collided while Takamu Sato and Danica Patrick tangled.
Honda Indy Toronto - Results
Pos Driver Team Time/Gap
1. Dario Franchitti Ganassi 85 laps
2. Scott Dixon Ganassi + 0.7345s
3. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti + 6.0144s
4. Marco Andretti Andretti + 7.5671s
5. Vitor Meira Foyt + 9.0117s
6. Sebastien Bourdais Dale Coyne + 9.3114s
7. Ryan Briscoe Penske + 9.8735s
8. JR Hildebrand Panther + 14.1750s
9. EJ Viso KV + 14.7843s
10. Simona de Silvestro HVM + 15.7603s
11. Ana Beatriz Dreyer & Reinbold + 16.8992s
12. Oriol Servia Newman/Haas + 19.8736s
13. Graham Rahal Ganassi + 21.3123s
14. James Hinchcliffe Newman/Haas + 1 lap
15. Justin Wilson Dreyer & Reinbold + 2 laps
16. Paul Tracy Dragon + 3 laps
17. Helio Castroneves Penske + 4 laps
18. James Jakes Dale Coyne + 4 laps
19. Danica Patrick Andretti + 6 laps
20. Takuma Sato KV + 6 laps
Retirements:
Charlie Kimball Ganassi 77 laps
Mike Conway Andretti 76 laps
Alex Tagliani Sam Schmidt 71 laps
Will Power Penske 66 laps
Sebastian Saavedra Conquest 43 laps
Tony Kanaan KV 2 laps