IndyCar: Fast Facts for Honda Indy Toronto - MotorSportsTalk

Here’s virtually everything you need to know about this weekend’s Honda Indy Toronto INDYCAR race just west of downtown Toronto:

Honda Indy Toronto Fast Facts

Race weekend: Friday, July 13 – Sunday, July 15

Track: Streets of Toronto’s Exhibition Place, an 11-turn, 1.786-mile temporary street course

Race distance: 85 laps / 151.81 miles

Entry List: Honda Indy Toronto (PDF)

Push-to-pass parameters: 200 seconds of total time with a maximum time of 20 seconds per activation.

Firestone tire allotment: Seven sets primary, four sets alternate. Teams must use one set of primary and one new set of alternate tires in the race.

Twitter: @HondaIndy, @IndyCar, #IndyTO, #INDYCAR

Event website: www.HondaIndyToronto.com

INDYCAR website: www.IndyCar.com

2017 race winner: Josef Newgarden (No. 2 DeVilbiss Team Penske Chevrolet)

2017 Verizon P1 Award winner: Simon Pagenaud (No. 1 DXC Technology Team Penske Chevrolet), 58.9124 seconds, 109.138 mph

Qualifying record: Gil de Ferran, 57.143 seconds, 110.565 mph, July 17, 1999 (Note: Simon Pagenaud set a qualifying mark of 58.9124 seconds, 109.138 mph, for the current layout in 2017.)

NBCSN television broadcasts: Qualifying, 5 p.m. ET Saturday, July 14 (same-day delay); Race, 3 p.m. ET Sunday, July 15, NBCSN/Sportsnet 360 (live). Leigh Diffey is the lead announcer for the NBCSN broadcasts this weekend alongside analysts Townsend Bell and Paul Tracy. Pit reporters are Jon Beekhuis, Katie Hargitt, Kevin Lee and Robin Miller.

Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network broadcasts: Mark Jaynes is the chief announcer alongside analyst Anders Krohn. Jake Query and Nick Yeoman are the turn announcers with Dave Furst and Rob Howden reporting from the pits. The Verizon IndyCar Series race is broadcast live on network affiliates, Sirius 217, XM 209, IndyCar.com, indycarradio.com and on the INDYCAR Mobile app. All Verizon IndyCar Series practice and qualifying sessions are available on IndyCar.com, indycarradio.com and on the INDYCAR Mobile app, with qualifying also available on Sirius 219 and XM 209.

Video streaming: All practice sessions and qualifying for the Honda Indy Toronto will stream live on RaceControl.IndyCar.com and on the INDYCAR YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/indycar).

At-track schedule (all times local):

Friday, July 13

10:40 – 11:25 a.m. – Verizon IndyCar Series practice #1, RaceControl.IndyCar.com (live)

2:30 – 3:15 p.m. – Verizon IndyCar Series practice #2, RaceControl.IndyCar.com (live)

Saturday, July 14

9:50 – 10:35 a.m. – Verizon IndyCar Series practice #3, RaceControl.IndyCar.com (live)

1:55 p.m. – Qualifying for the Verizon P1 Award (three rounds of knockout qualifying), RaceControl.IndyCar.com (live); NBCSN (same-day delay, 5 p.m. ET)

Sunday, July 15

11:40 a.m. – 12:10 p.m. – Verizon IndyCar Series warm-up, RaceControl.IndyCar.com (live)

2:57 p.m. – Driver introductions

3:35 p.m. – Command to start engines

3:42 p.m. – Honda Indy Toronto (85 laps/151.81 miles), NBCSN/SportsNet 360 (Live)

Race notes:

There have been seven different winners in the 11 previous Verizon IndyCar Series races in 2018: Sebastien Bourdais (Streets of St. Petersburg), Josef Newgarden (ISM Raceway, Barber Motorsports Park and Road America), Alexander Rossi (Streets of Long Beach), Will Power (INDYCAR Grand Prix and Indianapolis 500), Scott Dixon (Raceway at Belle Isle-1 and Texas Motor Speedway), Ryan Hunter-Reay (Raceway at Belle Isle-2) and James Hinchcliffe (Iowa Speedway). Dixon’s win at Texas on June 9 gave him sole possession of third on the all-time Indy car victory list with 43 wins.
The Honda Indy Toronto will be the 34th Indy car race on the streets of Exhibition Place. Josef Newgarden won the race in 2017.
The Honda Indy Toronto will be the eighth race on a road/street course in 2018. The first seven races were won by Sebastien Bourdais (Streets of St. Petersburg), Josef Newgarden (Barber Motorsports Park and Road America), Alexander Rossi (Streets of Long Beach), Will Power (INDYCAR Grand Prix), Scott Dixon (Raceway at Belle Isle-1), Ryan Hunter-Reay (Raceway at Belle Isle-2)
Will Power has won three times at Toronto, the most wins by an active Indy car driver at the track. Power, who won in 2007, 2010 and 2016), is among five past Toronto winners entered in this year’s race, along with Sebastien Bourdais (2004, 2014 Race 1), Ryan Hunter-Reay (2012), Scott Dixon (2013 Races 1 and 2) and Josef Newgarden (2015 and 2017). Michael Andretti has the most wins at the track with seven.
The Verizon IndyCar Series champion has won in Toronto in five of the last nine seasons. Dario Franchitti, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Scott Dixon and Josef Newgarden all won on the streets of Toronto before eventually claiming the championship. Franchitti won in 2009 and again in 2011. Hunter-Reay won in 2012, Dixon swept both races in 2013 and Newgarden won in 2017. Seven other drivers have claimed the Indy car championship in the same season they won at Toronto. They are Bobby Rahal (1986), Al Unser Jr. (1990), Michael Andretti (1991), Alex Zanardi (1998), Cristiano da Matta (2002), Paul Tracy (2003) and Sebastien Bourdais (2004).
Drivers who have won poles at Toronto entered in this year’s race are Sebastien Bourdais (2004, 2005, 2007 and 2014 Race 1), Scott Dixon (2013 Race 2 and 2016), Will Power (2011 and 2015) and Simon Pagenaud (2017). The pole sitter has won the race seven times since the first race in 1986, most recently by Bourdais in 2014 Race 1.
Scott Dixon has finished on the podium in three of the last nine races at Toronto. He has seven top-five finishes in 13 starts. … Sebastien Bourdais has eight top-five finishes in 13 Toronto starts. … Will Power has finished on the podium in five of his 13 Toronto starts. … Toronto-area native James Hinchcliffe has finished on the podium in the last two races at the track.
Seventeen drivers entered in the event have competed in Indy car races at Toronto. Tony Kanaan (15) has the most starts among the entered drivers. Eleven of those drivers have led laps at the track (Sebastien Bourdais 189, Will Power 161, Scott Dixon 151, Josef Newgarden 95, Ryan Hunter-Reay 36, Simon Pagenaud 33, Tony Kanaan 23, Graham Rahal 23, Charlie Kimball 2, Max Chilton 1 and Conor Daly 1).
Chip Ganassi Racing has won six times at Toronto: Michael Andretti (1994), Alex Zanardi (1998), Dario Franchitti (2009 and 2011) and Scott Dixon (2013, both races). Team Penske has four wins at the track (Paul Tracy 1993, Will Power 2010 and 2016 and Josef Newgarden 2017). Team Penske has eight pole positions at the track: Danny Sullivan (1988 and 1990), Emerson Fittipaldi (1993), Helio Castroneves (2000), Gil de Ferran (2001), Will Power (2011 and 2015) and Simon Pagenaud (2017).
Six rookies – including Canadian drivers Zachary Claman De Melo (Montreal) and Robert Wickens (Guelph, Ontario) – are entered. Other rookies entered are Rene Binder, Matheus Leist, Jordan King and Zach Veach.
Tony Kanaan seeks to start his 295th consecutive race this weekend, which would extend his Indy car record streak that began in June 2001 at Portland. Scott Dixon has made 235 consecutive starts heading into the weekend, which is the second-longest streak in Indy car racing. Marco Andretti has made 211 consecutive starts, which is tied with Jimmy Vasser for the third-longest streak in Indy car racing.

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INDIANAPOLIS — The first Indy 500 victory for Josef Newgarden also was the richest in race history from a record 2023 purse of just more than $17 million.

The two-time NTT IndyCar Series champion, who continued his celebration Monday morning at Indianapolis Motor Speedway earned $3.666 million for winning the 107th running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.

The purse and winner’s share both are the largest in the history of the Indianapolis 500.

It’s the second consecutive year that the Indy 500 purse set a record after the 2022 Indy 500 became the first to crack the $16 million mark (nearly doubling the 2021 purse that offered a purse of $8,854,565 after a crowd limited to 135,000 because of the COVID-19 pandemic).

The average payout for IndyCar drivers was $500,600 (exceeding last year’s average of $485,000).

Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Roger Penske, whose team also fields Newgarden’s No. 2 Dallara-Chevrolet, had made raising purses a priority since buying the track in 2020. But Penske but was unable to post big money purses until the race returned to full capacity grandstands last year.

The largest Indy 500 purse before this year was $14.4 million for the 2008 Indy 500 won by Scott Dixon (whose share was $2,988,065). Ericsson’s haul made him the second Indy 500 winner to top $3 million (2009 winner Helio Castroneves won $3,048,005.

Runner-up Marcus Ericsson won $1.043 million after falling short by 0.0974 seconds in the fourth-closest finish in Indy 500 history.

The 107th Indy 500 drew a crowd of at least 330,000 that was the largest since the sellout for the 100th running in 2016, and the second-largest in more than two decades, according to track officials.

“This is the greatest race in the world, and it was an especially monumental Month of May featuring packed grandstands and intense on-track action,” Penske Entertainment president and CEO Mark Miles said in a release. “Now, we have the best end card possible for the 107th Running of the Indianapolis 500: a record-breaking purse for the history books.”

Benjamin Pedersen was named the Indy 500 rookie of the year, earning a $50,000 bonus.

The race’s purse is determined through contingency and special awards from IMS and IndyCar. The awards were presented Monday night in the annual Indy 500 Victory Celebration at the JW Marriott in downtown Indianapolis.

The payouts for the 107th Indy 500:

1. Josef Newgarden, $3,666,000
2. Marcus Ericsson, $1,043,000
3. Santino Ferrucci, $481,800
4. Alex Palou, $801,500
5. Alexander Rossi, $574,000
6. Scott Dixon, $582,000
7. Takuma Sato, $217,300
8. Conor Daly, $512,000
9. Colton Herta, $506,500
10. Rinus VeeKay, $556,500
11. Ryan Hunter‐Reay, $145,500
12. Callum Ilott, $495,500
13. Devlin DeFrancesco, $482,000
14. Scott McLaughlin, $485,000
15. Helio Castroneves, $481,500
16. Tony Kanaan, $105,000
17. Marco Andretti, $102,000
18. Jack Harvey, $472,000
19. Christian Lundgaard, $467,500
20. Ed Carpenter, $102,000
21. Benjamin Pedersen (R), $215,300
22. Graham Rahal, $565,500*
23. Will Power, $488,000
24. Pato O’Ward, $516,500
25. Simon Pagenaud, $465,500
26. Agustín Canapino (R), $156,300
27. Felix Rosenqvist, $278,300
28. Kyle Kirkwood, $465,500
29. David Malukas, $462,000
30. Romain Grosjean, $462,000
31. Sting Ray Robb (R), $463,000
32. RC Enerson (R), $103,000
33. Katherine Legge, $102,000

*–Broken down between two teams, $460,000 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, $105,500 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports