The first 10 races of this season has been somewhat of an elevator ride for Helio Castroneves.
Up, down, up, down – that’s how the Brazil native has been scored in the Verizon IndyCar Series standings.
He was sixth after Phoenix, third after the Indianapolis 500, second after Belle Isle Race 1, back to third after Belle Isle Race 2, second after Elkhart Lake and then fell back to fifth after this past Sunday’s race at Iowa.
“We keep shuffling around in the points standings, so it would be nice to start setting ourselves apart from that little group we’ve been in,” said Castroneves, who is still looking for his first win of 2016. His best finish thus far has been second in the Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis.
Castroneves now prepares for Sunday’s Honda Indy Toronto, a place that has been very good to him of late. He finished third there in last season’s race, and was second in 2013’s Race 2 and 2014’s Race 1 in the doubleheader events there.
While he has one pole there (2014 Race 2), he’s never won on the temporary street course in 13 tries (including four in the former Champ Car World Series league).
Could it be that Castroneves may be able to not only check off his first career win at Toronto and his first win of 2016 with the same effort on Sunday?
He sure thinks so.
“Toronto has been pretty good to us overall,” Castroneves said. “On the track, we’ve done pretty well over the last few years.
“The Pennzoil Chevy team definitely is looking to break through with a victory. Last week at Iowa was frustrating, but we have to move on and keep it in the past.”
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