IndyCar: Honda Toronto Indy Preview

The Honda Indy Toronto is back at Exhibition Place after two years of cancellations due to Covid-19.

Drivers, including Toronto’s Dalton Kellett and Devlin DeFrancesco, will return to a road course that hasn’t changed much since the last race in 2019: still bumpy, twisty and with plenty of chances to pass.

Sure to be all the talk of the paddock this weekend, new McLaren driver for 2023, Alex Palou, will enter Sunday’s race fourth in the IndyCar standings. Simon Pagenaud, who won the Honda Indy Toronto in 2019, sits ninth in points. Two young drivers to watch are Colton Herta and Pato O’Ward, who also test for McLaren. O’Ward is fifth in the standings, Herta 10th.

Points leader Marcus Ericsson, who won the Indy 500, has been the most consistent driver this season, chased by veterans Will Power and Josef Newgarden. Ericsson, Palou and Scott Dixon (sixth in points) race for Ganassi, while Power and Newgarden drive for Penske, setting the stage for a tight race for the team championship. DeFrancesco ranks third among rookies in points, while Kellett is 27th overall.

The 11-turn course at Exhibition Place is known for its bumpy surface and concrete-asphalt transitions. But two years have passed since the last race, so while the layout remains the same, engineers and race crews will be searching for ways to take advantage of any slight changes to the surface, in order to make cars quicker out of the many corners and off those transitions.

Honda Indy Toronto president Jeff Atkinson says that while the course is quite similar, “IndyCar has an increased grid from last year, so there’ll be more cars in pit lane. And pit lane itself for Toronto is probably one of the more difficult pit lanes on the series, so that’ll be more entertaining to watch Sunday. Also, the cars look different. In 2019, the cars didn’t have the Aeroscreen.

“Another area we focused on (is enhancing) our general admission viewing areas. So we have all these grandstand seats, but for people who come down (and are) just casual fans, we want to make sure there’s an area for them to watch if they don’t have a seat.”

Fast Facts

Race weekend: Friday, July 15 – Sunday, July 17

Track: Streets of Toronto’s Exhibition Place, an 11-turn, 1.786-mile temporary street course

Race distance: 85 laps / 151.81 miles

Push-to-pass parameters: 200 seconds of total time with a maximum time of 20 seconds per activation.

Firestone tire allotment: Seven sets primary, four sets alternate. Teams must use one set of primary and one new set of alternate tires in the race.

Twitter: @HondaIndy, @IndyCar, #IndyTO, #IndyCar

Event website: www.HondaIndy.com

INDYCAR website: www.INDYCAR.com

2019 race winner (most recent event): Simon Pagenaud (No. 22 DXC Technology Team Penske Chevrolet)

2019 NTT P1 Award winner (most recent event): Simon Pagenaud (No. 22 DXC Technology Team Penske Chevrolet), 58.4293 seconds, 110.041 mph

Qualifying record: Gil de Ferran, 57.143 seconds, 110.565 mph, July 17, 1999 (Note: Josef Newgarden set a qualifying mark of 58.4129 seconds, 110.072 mph, for the current layout in 2019.)

SportsNet 360 race telecast: Honda Indy Toronto 3 p.m. ET Sunday, July 17, SportsNet 360 (Canada)/Peacock Premium (United States) (live). Leigh Diffey is the play-by-play announcer for NBC Sports’ coverage of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, alongside analysts Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe.

Live Streaming: All NTT INDYCAR SERIES practice sessions and NTT P1 Award Qualifying streams live on Peacock Premium, NBC’s direct-to-consumer livestreaming product in the United States, SportsNet Now in Canada and on INDYCAR Live! for most international viewers. NBC Sports’ coverage of the Honda Indy Toronto will be exclusively streamed with limited commercial interruptions on Peacock Premium in the U.S. and on INDYCAR Live! for international viewers in selected markets.

INDYCAR Radio Network broadcasts: Mark Jaynes is the chief announcer alongside analyst Davey Hamilton. Jake Query, Nick Yeoman and Michael Young are the turn announcers. Joel Sebastianelli and Alex Wolff are the pit reporters. The Honda Indy Toronto race (3 p.m. ET Sunday), NTT P1 Award Qualifying (2 p.m. ET Saturday) and all NTT INDYCAR SERIES practices air live on network affiliates, SiriusXM 160, racecontrol.indycar.com and the INDYCAR App powered by NTT DATA.

Entry List

At-track schedule (all times local):

Friday, July 15

2:30-3:45 p.m. – NTT INDYCAR SERIES Practice 1, Peacock Premium/INDYCAR Live!

Saturday, July 16

10-11 a.m. – NTT INDYCAR SERIES Practice 2 (45 minutes limited guarantee), Peacock Premium/INDYCAR Live!

2-3:15 p.m. – Qualifying for NTT P1 Award (Three rounds of knockout qualifying), Peacock Premium/INDYCAR Live!

Sunday, July 17

10:55-11:25 a.m. – NTT INDYCAR SERIES Final Practice, Peacock Premium/INDYCAR Live!

3 p.m. – Peacock Premium/SportsNet 360 on air

3:23 p.m. – The Honda Indy Toronto “Drivers, start your engines”

3:30 p.m. – The Honda Indy Toronto (85 laps, 151.81 miles), Peacock Premium/SportsNet 360 (Live)

Race notes:

• There have been six different winners in nine NTT INDYCAR SERIES races in the 2022 season. Scott McLaughlin (Streets of St. Petersburg, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course), Josef Newgarden (Texas Motor Speedway, Streets of Long Beach and Road America), Pato O’Ward (Barber Motorsports Park), Colton Herta (Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course-1), Marcus Ericsson (Indianapolis 500) and Will Power (Raceway at Belle Isle Park) have all won in 2022. The record for most different winners in a season is 11 in 2000, 2001 and 2014.
• There have been six different winners in the last 10 NTT INDYCAR SERIES races (Colton Herta, Scott McLaughlin, Josef Newgarden, Pato O’Ward, Marcus Ericsson and Will Power). The only repeat winners in that stretch are Newgarden (Texas 2022, Long Beach 2022 and Road America 2022) and McLaughlin (St. Petersburg 2022 and Mid-Ohio 2022).
• There have been nine different NTT P1 Award winners in 2022. Scott McLaughlin (Streets of St. Petersburg), Felix Rosenqvist (Texas Motor Speedway), Colton Herta (Streets of Long Beach), Rinus VeeKay (Barber Motorsports Park), Will Power (Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course-1), Scott Dixon (Indianapolis 500), Josef Newgarden (Raceway at Belle Isle Park), Alexander Rossi (Road America) and Pato O’Ward (Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course) have won pole positions in 2022. The modern-day record for most different pole winners to start a season is 10 set in 1952. The record for most pole winners in a season is 12 set in the 1999 CART season.
• The Honda Indy Toronto will be the 36th INDYCAR SERIES race held on the streets of Toronto’s Exhibition Place. The race returns after a two-year absence due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Simon Pagenaud won the last time the race was held, in 2019.
• Scott Dixon and Will Power are tied as winningest active INDYCAR SERIES drivers at Toronto with three victories apiece (Power won in 2007, 2010 and 2016, and Dixon won both races in 2013 and the 2018 race). Michael Andretti has the most wins at the track with seven. Dixon and Power, along with previous race winners Josef Newgarden (2015 and 2017) and Simon Pagenaud (2019), are entered this year.

• Drivers who have won poles at Toronto entered in this year’s race are Will Power (2011 and 2015), Scott Dixon (2013 Race 2 and 2016), Simon Pagenaud (2017 and 2019), Helio Castroneves (2000) and Josef Newgarden (2018). The polesitter has won the race seven times since the first race in 1986, most recently by Pagenaud in 2019.

• From 2009-2019, the eventual NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion won the Toronto race six times. Dario Franchitti won in 2009 and again in 2011. Ryan Hunter-Reay won in 2012, Scott Dixon swept both races in 2013 and won the single race in 2018, and Josef Newgarden won in 2017. Seven other drivers have claimed the INDYCAR SERIES championship in the same season they won at Toronto. They are Bobby Rahal (1986), Al Unser Jr. (1990), Michael Andretti (1991), Alex Zanardi (1998), Cristiano da Matta (2002), Paul Tracy (2003) and Sebastien Bourdais (2004).
• Twelve drivers entered in the event have competed in past INDYCAR SERIES races at Exhibition Place. Helio Castroneves, Scott Dixon and Will Power (15) have made the most starts at Toronto among the entered drivers. Seven entered drivers have led laps at the track (Dixon 200, Power 162, Josef Newgarden 120, Simon Pagenaud 114, Castroneves 101, Graham Rahal 23 and Takuma Sato 1).
• Chip Ganassi Racing has won seven times at Toronto: Michael Andretti (1994), Alex Zanardi (1998), Dario Franchitti (2009 and 2011) and Scott Dixon (2013, both races, and 2018). Team Penske has five wins at the track (Paul Tracy 1993, Will Power 2010 and 2016, Josef Newgarden 2017 and Simon Pagenaud 2019). Team Penske has 10 pole positions at the track: Danny Sullivan (1988 and 1990), Emerson Fittipaldi (1993), Helio Castroneves (2000), Gil de Ferran (2001), Will Power (2011 and 2015), Simon Pagenaud (2017), Josef Newgarden (2018) and Simon Pagenaud (2019).
• Scott Dixon has finished on the podium in five of his last 11 races at Toronto. He has nine top-five finishes in 15 starts…Will Power has finished on the podium in five of his 15 Toronto starts…Simon Pagenaud has finished in the top five in five of his 11 starts at Toronto…Toronto-area natives Devlin DeFrancesco and Dalton Kellett are among the 13 drivers who will make their first INDYCAR SERIES start in Canada.
• Milestones: Scott Dixon will attempt to make his 298th consecutive start, the second-longest streak in INDYCAR SERIES history.