When all was said and done, the IZOD IndyCar Series’ pair of Canadians had a mixed and unfulfilling Honda Indy Toronto doubleheader weekend.
That’s not to say there weren’t some decent results, but a solitary eighth (James Hinchcliffe on Saturday) and 10th (Alex Tagliani on Sunday) are hardly worth celebrating.
Hinchcliffe drove a clean, consistent race one en route to eighth on Saturday, but his Sunday never had the chance to properly materialize. The Andretti Autosport team needed to change Hinchcliffe’s throttle as it stuck just prior to the start. That meant the Oakville native wouldn’t have the chance to participate in IndyCar’s first standing start.
“The throttle stuck (on the start) – it’s pretty simple. I was just going through the routine of the standing start, and as soon as I put my thumb on the throttle, it stuck 100 percent, and that was about a minute before they gave the command (to start engines). We tried WD-40, but unfortunately that wasn’t the magic fix, and we had to replace the pedal and went three laps down right off the bat. Then we had no yellows to help us out; we ran around in the back all day. Obviously gutted for the team and for GoDaddy, but more than anyone for the fans. It sucks for everyone that came out today. I was hoping for better in my hometown. But we weren’t going to give up – I wanted to go out, finish the race and get any points we could,” said the “Mayor of Hinchtown.”
Tagliani, meanwhile, at least could take some satisfaction in his and the Barracuda Racing/Bryan Herta Autosport’s first top-10 finish since the season opener at St. Petersburg on Sunday. Usually a wordsmith who is never shy of sentences, Tagliani had a succinct quote on his day.
“I gave it everything I had out there for the Barracuda Racing boys,” he said.
