IMSA: Helio Castroneves eager for first race ever at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park

By Jul 2, 2018, 4:57 PM EDT
Photo courtesy IMSA
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It’s rare to find a racetrack that Helio Castroneves has not raced upon in his illustrious career.

But the three-time Indianapolis 500 winner will do just that in this weekend’s Mobil 1 Sportscar Grand Prix IMSA race in his first-ever visit to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park – otherwise known as CTMP (and formerly known as Mosport) – in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada.

“It’s an amazing track,” Castroneves told the IMSA Wire Service of CTMP. “It’s a very fast track, which they say suits my style, so I love that.

“I’m looking forward to getting to know the track. I haven’t been there before. I’ve watched the races on TV, of course. I can’t wait to race there.”

After 20 years as a full-time driver in the CART, Champ Car World Series and IndyCar series, the 43-year-old Brazilian native is in his first full season on the IMSA WeatherTech Championship Series.

In the first six races of the season, Castroneves and Taylor have one win, two podiums and one pole. They come into Sunday’s race in sixth place, 20 points out of first place, while teammates Dane Cameron and Juan Pablo Montoya are in third place, 13 points out of first.

This is both Castroneves’ and Team Penske’s first full season effort in the IMSA series. Castroneves, Ricky Taylor, Juan Pablo Montoya and Dane Cameron have proven to be formidable contenders in the team’s rookie season.

Taylor and Castroneves are teammates in the No. 7 Acura DPi, while Montoya and Cameron are in the identical No. 6 Acura DPi.

And now comes CTMP, a nearly 2.5-mile, 10-turn track that hosts the two hour, 40-minute race this weekend. Taylor, last season’s WeatherTech Championship Prototype champion, has one win already at CTMP back in 2015 and also has twice sat on the pole there, including last year’s event.

In addition, Cameron, the 2016 WeatherTech series champ, is also the two-time defending Prototype winner at CTMP. Meanwhile, like Castroneves, Montoya will also be making his first career start at the road course west of Toronto.

“Ricky and I, Juan Pablo and Dane are really working all together,” Castroneves said. “So, this program with Acura Team Penske will be as successful as possible.”

Castroneves earned his second career IMSA win in May at Mid-Ohio, adding to the standalone win he earned in 2008 at Petit Le Mans.

With each race – six races have been contested, with four more to go to decide the championship – Castroneves is becoming more comfortable and successful in his “rookie” season.

“The car is great,” he said. “The car is very similar to an open-wheel car. Different tires, and I’m still learning a little bit, not only how to manage that with the tires but also manage the traffic.

“There’s so many cars around. Sometimes you have a big gap and that big gap can go away in, like, three corners.

“It’s fun. I have to say it’s very intense, a little more intense than IndyCar, plus you have so many buttons in the car. I’m still learning and understanding. I’m really, really happy to be around, for sure, now let’s continue to have some fun. Hopefully we can have the result that we want.”

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Will Power shows Flavor Flav what time it is in IndyCar: ‘This is the highlight of the weekend’

By Jun 4, 2023, 11:00 PM EDT
Will Power Flavor Flav
Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment
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DETROIT – When Flavor Flav unexpectedly showed up in Team Penske’s pits for the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix weekend, Will Power knew what time it was.

So the defending NTT IndyCar Series champion dropped it on the man who made oversized clocks as fashion accessories famous.

And he used the kind of wordplay that was the pride of Public Enemy (the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame rap group led by Chuck D with Flavor Flav as loyal sidekick).

“I said to Flavor Flav, ‘You know, people today are going to have to ‘Fight the Power,’ ” Power said with a broad smirk, referencing one of Public Enemy’s most memorable and strident anthems. “And it was true! They had to ‘Fight the Power.’ ”

With a second place in Detroit, the No. 12 Dallara-Chevy driver earned his best finish since last September and impressed a musical hero who apparently attended his first IndyCar race this weekend and promptly fell in love with the sport.

After being interviewed by NBC Sports’ Kevin Lee during the Peacock qualifying broadcast Saturday, Flavor Flav made the rounds.

He met with Roger Penske in Team Penske’s at-track headquarters, freestyled in an on-stage cameo during Steve Aoki’s Saturday night concert in Hart Plaza and then rode with Power in a pickup truck around the 1.645-mile street course during driver introductions Sunday morning.

Flav was wearing a red No. 12 shirt that Power believes was purchased at a track merchandise trailer.

“That is the highlight of the weekend,” he said. “Flavor Flav was wearing my shirt, man.”

It was a dream come true for the two-time IndyCar champion and 2018 Indy 500 winner. Power, 42, grew up listening to Public Enemy with his buddies in Toowoomba, Australia, and they went nuts when he posted photos with Flavor Flav to his personal Facebook page.

“My friends are like, ‘Dude, you should just quit racing now. You have made it to the top,’ ” Power said. “We all listened to Public Enemy, and they would never believe that I actually would be hanging out with Flavor Flav. That is nuts. I’ll have to go Vegas to hang out with him. Maybe we’ll do a rap together.”

“Yeeaaah, boy!” third-place finisher Felix Rosenqvist, who apparently might have given “It Takes a Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back” a few spins while growing up in Sweden, chimed in during the postrace news conference.

The only disappointment for Power was coming up 1.1843 seconds short of beating Alex Palou.

Flav had promised to celebrate on the podium if Power had won the race.

“He is the most positive dude you will ever meet,” Power said. “Pretty cool experience. Pretty cool to put it on your personal Facebook.

“All your friends that you went to school with, they’re like, ‘Man this dude is big-time, he’s hanging out with Flavor Flav. ‘I sat next to Ice-T at dinner. I have also had dinner with Slash from Guns N’ Roses. I wish I got videos of those ones as well so I could put it on the personal Facebook

“No one cares about race cars or that I won the Indy 500. It’s like, ‘You had dinner with Slash? You know Flavor Flav?’ Yeah!”

Power already has in mind some future musical guests he’d like to meet, starting with another of Detroit’s own.

“I’m more of a ’90s rap guy, but if I met Eminem, that would also be epic,” Power said. “Ice Cube’s the one, man. If I could meet Ice Cube or Snoop Dogg in Long Beach. Why doesn’t someone bring them to Long Beach? Maybe they should have an Ice Cube day. That would be dope.”