Round 10: Honda Indy Toronto. Exhibition Place, Toronto. July 15-17.
This weekend the Honda Indy Toronto makes a welcome return to the IndyCar calendar, after a two year absence due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Originally a CART event, this is the second longest running street race on the calendar after Long Beach and is one of seven Canadian circuits to have held an IndyCar race, the others being Canadian Tire Motorsport
Park, Mont-Tremblant, Sanair, Montreal, Vancouver and Edmonton.
In the spring of 1985, Molson Breweries in-house promotional division, Molstar Sports & Entertainment, proposed the running of a CART race at Exhibition Place in Toronto, as an alternative to the Candian F1 Grand
Prix, which was sponsored by rival brewers Labatt's. The race was first held the following year on July 20, 1986 and was known as the Molson Indy Toronto. It was won by Bobby Rahal, driving a March 86C-Ford
Cosworth DFX for Truesports.
With the demise of CART, the race morphed into a Champ Car World Series event, changing its name to the Molson Grand Prix of Toronto, continuing until 2007, after which Molson dropped sponsorship of the event.
The Steelback Brewery signed a multi-year, multimillion-dollar deal to become the event’s title sponsor, renaming it the Steelback Grand Prix of Toronto and though unification of the Champ Car World Series and the Indy Racing League was announced on February 22, 2008, the race that year was cancelled. It returned in 2009, after Andretti-Green Racing, acting as the event organiser and promoter (later Green-Savoree Promotions), had purchased the assets of the former Grand Prix of Toronto, as well as signing a multi-year agreement with Honda Canada Inc.
Since then the event has remained on the calendar, being traditionally held in mid-July, though in 2015 the race was moved to June, as it clashed with the Pan-American games also being held in mid-July and of course
it was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 because of the Covid-19 pandemic. This year the Honda Indy Toronto is back in it's traditional mid July slot, a long with the return Honda Fan Friday.
After the cancellation of the 2020 race, a new three-year agreement was reached in September 2020 between Exhibition Place and Green Savoree Toronto to host the event through 2023.
Some Trivia:
The driver with the most wins: 7, Michael Andretti: 1989, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 2000, 2001.
The team with the most wins: 8, Newman/Haas Racing: 1989, 1991, 1992, 1995, 2000, 2002, 2004.
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Track:
The original 1986 track length was changed from 1.784 miles (2.871 km) to 1.755 mile (2.824 km) in 1996, due to construction of The National Trade Centre building, which led to the pit straight being lengthened and last turn being altered.
In 2016, major changes were made to the track. The Pit Lane was moved to the North side of the track, starting at Turn 9 and extending back onto Princes' Boulevard past Turn 11. The hospitality suites were also moved to the North side and the Turn 11 grandstands are now on the south side
of Pit Lane. However, the paddock remains in its original location, linked by a pedestrian bridge.
1986 original track layout:
1996-2015 layout:
2016 & Current layout:
Length: 1.755 miles - 2.824 km
Turns: 11
Lap record:
Gil de Ferran. July 17th, 1999. 57.143 seconds, 110.565 mph (177.937 km/h).
Walker Racing,
Reynard 99i-Honda HRS V8t,
CART FedEx Championship Series.
Previous race:
https://www.motorsport.com/indycar/n...rossi/4495369/
Pole:
Simon Pagenaud, 58.4293, 110.041 mph (177.094 km/h).
Team Penske,
Dallara IR18-Chevrolet IndyCar V6
Winner:
Simon Pagenaud,
Team Penske,
Dallara IR18-Chevrolet IndyCar V6
Laps: 85
Distance: 151.81 miles (244.314 km)
Race Time: 1:30:16.4388
Average Speed: 100.900 mph (162.383 km/h)
Cautions: 2
Laps: 2 - 3, 85 - 85
Laps: 12
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Practice and Qualifications
Practice 1 - Friday, Jul 15
2:30 PM - 3:45 PM ET
Practice 2 - Saturday, Jul 16
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM ET
Qualifications - Round 1 Group 1 - Saturday, Jul 16
2:00 PM - 2:10 PM ET
Qualifications - Round 1 Group 2 - Saturday, Jul 16
2:20 PM - 2:30 PM ET
Qualifications - Round 2 - Saturday, Jul 16
2:40 PM - 2:50 PM ET
Qualifications - Firestone Fast 6 - Saturday, Jul 16
3:00 PM - 3:15 PM ET
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TV Coverage:
Peacock, July 17, 3:00pm ET. 7:00pm UTC
Sky Sports F1, 8:00pm BST