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Streets of Toronto Race Report

Circuit: Exhibition Place (1.755-mile temporary street circuit) Toronto, Ont. 2010 Winner: Will Power (Team Penske Honda) 86.240 mph average Weather: Partly sunny, warm, humid,...

Circuit: Exhibition Place (1.755-mile temporary street circuit) Toronto, Ont.
2010 Winner: Will Power (Team Penske Honda) 86.240 mph average
Weather: Partly sunny, warm, humid, 82 degrees F

Race Results:

Fn. St. Driver Team Engine/Chassis Laps Average
Speed/Notes
1. 3. Dario Franchitti Target Chip Ganassi Honda Dallara 85 76.805 mph avg.; led 30 laps
2. 2. Scott Dixon Target Chip Ganassi Honda Dallara 85 -0.7345 seconds
3. 8. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport Honda Dallara 85 -6.0144 seconds
4. 20. Marco Andretti Andretti Autosport Honda Dallara 85 -7.5671 seconds
5. 14. Vitor Meira A.J. Foyt Racing Honda Dallara 85 -9.0117 seconds
6. 10. Ryan Briscoe Team Penske Honda Dallara 85 -9.3114 seconds
7. 7. Sebastien Bourdais Dale Coyne Racing Honda Dallara 85 -9.8735 seconds
8. 22. JR Hildebrand-R Panther Racing Honda Dallara 85 -14.1750 seconds
9. 18. E.J. Viso KV Racing Technology Honda Dallara 85 -14.7843 seconds
10. 17. Simona de Silvestro HVM Racing Honda Dallara 85 -15.7603 seconds
11. 26. Ana Beatriz-R Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Honda Dallara 85 -16.8992 seconds
12. 6. Oriol Servia Newman Haas Racing Honda Dallara 85 -19.8736 seconds
13. 5. Graham Rahal Chip Ganassi Racing Honda Dallara 85 -21.3123 seconds; led 23 laps
14. 13. James Hinchcliffe-R Newman Haas Racing Honda Dallara 84 Running
15. 11. Justin Wilson Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Honda Dallara 83 Running
16. 24. Paul Tracy Dragon Racing Honda Dallara 82 Running
17. 12. Helio Castroneves Team Penske Honda Dallara 81 Running
18. 23. James Jakes-R Dale Coyne Racing Honda Dallara 81 Running
19. 21. Danica Patrick Andretti Autosport Honda Dallara 79 Running
20. 19. Takuma Sato KV Racing Technology Honda Dallara 79 Running
21. 25. Charlie Kimball-R Chip Ganassi Racing Honda Dallara 77 Did not finish – crash
22. 4. Mike Conway Andretti Autosport Honda Dallara 76 Did not finish – crash
23. 9. Alex Tagliani Sam Schmidt Motorsports Honda Dallara 71 Did not finish – crash
24. 1. Will Power Team Penske Honda Dallara 66 Did not finish - crash; led 32 laps 
25. 15. Sebastian Saavedra-R Conquest Racing Honda Dallara 43 Did not finish – contact
26. 16. Tony Kanaan KV Racing Technology Honda Dallara 2 Did not finish – crash

R - IndyCar Series Rookie

Team Target Triumphs in Toronto

If you like your hockey "old school", then you loved today's Honda Indy Toronto.  On a day when nearly every IZOD IndyCar Series competitor made contact with at least one other driver – some more than once – Dario Franchitti led a Target Chip Ganassi Racing 1-2 finish Sunday in a real brawl on the 1.755-mile temporary street circuit in downtown Toronto.

Franchitti survived mid-race contact with primary championship rival Will Power to lead teammate Scott Dixon to the checkers for his fourth win of 2011, increasing his championship points lead to 55 over Power.  Franchitti and Power made contact while contesting fifth place on Lap 56.  After striking Power's left rear wheel at the end of the long Lakeshore Drive straight, Franchitti continued, but Power spun and fell to the back of the lead-lap field.  Some 20 laps later, similar contact with Alex Tagliani ended Power's race – his second consecutive "Did Not Finish" this season.

Following the restart after Power's crash, Franchitti moved past the Ganassi Racing entry of Graham Rahal to take the lead on Lap 71, while Dixon passed both Rahal and Ryan Hunter-Reay to claim second.  With just five laps remaining, Hunter-Reay hit and spun Rahal, who fell back to an unrepresentative 13th place finish, while Hunter-Reay rounded out the podium in third, his best result of 2011.

In addition to Power, several drivers appeared headed to strong finishes before having their day's cut short or delayed by contact.  Oriol Servia was running fifth in the closing laps, until contact from Marco Andretti sent him to the back of the field and also sent Justin Wilson spinning out of fourth place.

Canadian drivers Paul Tracy and James Hinchcliffe made contact while fighting for position and Tony Kanaan's race ended after just two laps following contact with Ryan Briscoe.

The IZOD IndyCar Series now takes a one-week break before resuming its annual two-race Canadian swing with the July 24 Edmonton Indy in Alberta

1. Dario Franchitti 353 points (4 wins) 6. Ryan Briscoe 219
2. Will Power 295 (3 wins) 7. Marco Andretti 216 (1 win)
3. Scott Dixon 270 8. Graham Rahal 208
4. Oriol Servia 232 9. JR Hildebrand-R 193
5. Tony Kanaan 221 10. Alex Tagliani 173

Dario Franchitti (#10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) started 3rd, finished 1st, his 4th win of 2011, 3rd win on the streets of Toronto and 30th career victory, moving him to 8th position on the all-time Indycar list:  "Oh, it was a wild day.  There was contact with Will [Power] and if he's mad, he has a right.  I saw a gap and went for the inside, but then he closed the door a bit and we made contact.  I'm sorry about that; it's not a good way to win a race and I'll take more than 50 per cent of the blame for it.  But I did run side-by-side with other drivers today in the same corner without a problem.  Today was a big, big win for the team, a 1-2 finish is rare and always huge, but especially here in Toronto.  I've loved coming here since scoring my first pole here in 1997.  But there's still a lot of racing left this season.  Will is [angry] and he's going to be coming hard at us."

Scott Dixon (#9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) started 2nd, finished 2nd:  "After getting caught out by the first yellow [after most of his competitors had already pitted], the team made the right calls the rest of the day and a 1-2 result is great for the whole team.  I'm a little disappointed, because I think we had a car capable of winning the race today, but this is my best finish at Toronto and I think we've finally turned our season around after a pretty tough start."

Ryan Hunter-Reay (#28 Andretti Autosport Honda) started 8th, finished 3rd:  "This was a hard-fought day, to be sure.  [On the contact while passing Graham Rahal] I went for it and I'm sorry we made contact, but I didn't do anything deliberate.  There was a lot of contact all day long.  I'm happy to finish with a good result, and really happy to be on the podium."

Erik Berkman (President, Honda Performance Development) on today's race: "It was a race filled with incredible wheel-to-wheel action, but unfortunately, too much contact.  Clearly, the race officials are going to have to take a look at what constitutes 'avoidable contact' on street circuits.  Emotions are running high right now, and it sets the stage for an exciting Edmonton race in two weeks."

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