Sunday, July 14, 2019

NTT IndyCar race at the Honda Indy Toronto 2019

Day 3 brings better weather to Exhibition Place and the final day of racing at the 33rd annual Honda Indy Toronto brings plenty of on track excitement, culminating with the 85 lap NTT IndyCar race. The cars will be placed on the starting grid at 2:50pm, driver introductions will take place at 2:57pm, then the green flag goes at 3:42pm on Sunday, July 14, 2019. The cars will have a warm up period just after lunch. Simon Pagenaud, pictured at top, waves to the crowd while standing on his #22 car in the pits after winning the P1 pole position on Saturday. See more of my coverage of the 2019 race on my post here.
Plenty of military in uniform attending, the even get their own grandstands

The Firestone Fast Six were Simon Pagenaud #22 with a time of 58.4293s and a speed of 110.041 mph followed by Scott Dixon #9, Felix Rosenqvist #10, Alexander Rossi #27, Josef Newgarden #2 and at number six is Ed Jones of the number #20 car. James Hincliffe qualified 14th and the last place qualifier was Tony Kanaan of the #14 car.
Team T & J entertain early morning fans at the Winners' Circle 
GT3 cars travel down as they head into the rolling start. The track is already under caution as two cars crash in Turn 3

Video of the trucks jumping during Race 2 on Sunday

Until the afternoon IndyCar race we still have more Indy Lights, USF2000, Indy Pro 2000, GT3 and then at 2pm we have the final Stadium Super Truck race, which is even more special because half of it got cancelled due to Saturday's severe weather delays.
SpongeBob Squarepants at the pre-race ceremonies 
With the race approaching fans head to their seats

The 22 IndyCar drivers taking part will be driving on a IR-18 (or DW12 in honour of the late Dan Wheldon) Dallara chassis, Firestone tires and either a Chevy or Honda engine with Honda being the most prevalent. Fuel for these magnificent beasts is Speedway E85 which is 85% ethanol and 15% racing gasoline.

Tires are by Firestone and in the race teams must use one Primary set and an nes alternate set.
And the race is on!
If you are here with a general admission ticket you should check out the Pinty's Pub and Grill in Turn 1 or the Miller Lite deck at the far end of Thunder Alley, both have their own bars and great views. Inside the Enercare Centre CAA members have a private lounge and I heard they have free water plus it is a place to cool off.

To see drivers and cars up close get a pit pass or paddock ticket or stand outside the Enercare entrance between the Turn 10 grandstand and the trackside suite. Most Indy drivers will be weaving through obstacles on scooters wearing their racesuits.

Andretti Autosports, Carlin and Team Penske have 4 drivers each on their teams. Motorsports powerhouse Team Penske drivers Josef Newgarden (current series leader), Simon Pagenaud and Will Power are always ready to take the checkered flag but don't forget about other drivers like Ryan Hunter-Reay, Scott Dixon the 2018 winner, Sebastien Bourdais, Alexander Rossi and our hometown fave James Hincliffe. Will Power and Scott Dixon both won the Toronto race three times.

Honda Indy has announced that Canadian driver Robert Wickens will drive a hand controlled Arrow car during pre-race ceremonies as well as give the command for drivers to start their engines.

HIT says "For Wickens, it will be a grand welcome home as he continues his recovery and rehabilitation from injuries sustained in a racing accident last August. A personal highlight of his racing career was finishing third last year in Toronto during his rookie IndyCar season for Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports."

And right before the drivers strap in a flyover will take place with fighter jets (CF-18 Hornets) from the 425 Tactical Fighter Squadron from Canadian Forces Base Bagotville.

Simon Pagenaud is leading but is fighting fiercely with Scott Dixon to keep the lead. Only a dozen more laps remain at 5pm and there are still some contenders capable of taking the checkered flag. Takoma Sato of the #30 car had to pit as his car was on fire. He made it out and the fire was quickly extinguished.
P1 winner, Honda Indy 2019 winner Simon Pagenaud steps out of his car as a confetti cannon blasts off
Left to right: Scott Dixon, Simon Pagenaud and Alexander Rossi on the podium

And a caution came out at the end of the race and they finished 1st Simon Pagenaud, 2nd Scott Dixon and 3rd Alexander Rossi.

See more photos after the jump.


Pit out
Heading towards the CN Tower
Road to Indy
SpongeBob Squarepants
Scott Dixon - number 2 for the day



Simon gives the thumbs up

Stadium Super Trucks with Hotel X in the background

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