IndyCar: Sunday Report from Honda Indy Toronto
Good morning on race day in Toronto, Canada for the 34th running of the Honda Indy Toronto. Today’s weather will be in the high 70s at race time but still, a sunny, pleasant day compared to the hot weather in Indianapolis in the past few weeks.
The NTT INDYCAR Series drivers have talked all weekend about the bumps and patches and the challenging track conditions. Half of the field had not driven on this track in an IndyCar. Four rookies are starting in the top twelve positions today.
David Malukas, driver of the no 18 Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports entry, had his best qualifying effort of fifth for the season. The Chicago native registered the fastest lap in his Group 1 of qualifying. He then went on to finish third fastest in the Top twelve.
The 20-year-old has had a truly impressive rookie season with his new team which includes his Dad’s company, HMD Trucking Inc. HMD is also committed to three entries in the Indy Lights series also.
Malukas shared one of his processes for learning the new track. ‘I followed Will Power and learned his lines on the track. I saw how he attacked the corners and the bumps which helped me.”
Callum Ilott, driver of the number 77 Juncos Hollinger entry, qualified seventh on the grid for today’s 85-lap race. You can say the British driver is able to adapt to any road or street course we run on.
“We ended up doing the fast time on used reds, the only driver to use the used tires.”
“I kinda had to guess and find the areas to improve since I don’t have a teammate. I had to look in the mirror and guess what a better driver would do.”
Christian Lundgaard, the rookie driver of the number 30 HUB Rahal Letterman Lanigan entry, had the best qualifying effort for his team of tenth. The young Dane was happy to be in the top twelve but also commented on the red flag caused by Palou, which prevented his teammate, Graham Rahal, from advancing to the next segment.
“It was a tough qualifying session. I think we could have been there. I think we were super lucky to get through in Q1. I think the red flag should have caused interference in the session because they were red flagging it and they didn’t get their lap time taken away. We didn’t have what it took to get through to the Fast 6. We were close, but tomorrow is pay day. We are racing hard tomorrow.”
The Canadian rookie, Devlin DeFrancesco, qualified twelfth, his best qualifying effort this season, for today’s 85-lap race. Crashing into the tire barrier during segment one, lucky is the only word I can use to describe how the Andretti Autosport driver did not lose his fastest lap. Alex Palou, the 2021 series champion, had stopped on course due to an electrical issue seconds before DeFrancesco had his incident and the red flag was given to Palou.
In segment two, the 21-one-year-old, took the runoff in turn one at the Princess Gate. Taking the escape road to return to the track, he was penalized with a drive-thru penalty for impending his teammate, Colton Herta, while rejoining the track. DeFrancesco explained his side to the media.
” It’s something we brought up in the driver’s meeting. When you’re entering back on track like that, for us, we can’t see anything, it’s blind. There needs to be a light entry flashing blue to let us know there’s cars coming or open up the walls so we can see. A bunch of different things we can do coming back next year. I couldn’t see anything.”
The warmup is scheduled for 10:55 am with the race coverage starting at 3 pm on Peacock.
AR1 will keep you updated today.
Lucille Dust reporting live from Toronto