All posts by Christopher DeHarde

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer Conor Daly and Sage Karam will wheel Carlin’s two NTT IndyCar Series entries when the series visits Iowa Speedway on Saturday for the Iowa 300. Karam will be behind the wheel of the No. 31 SmartShop Self Storage Chevrolet while Daly will be behind the wheel of the No. 59 Gallagher Chevrolet. Both drivers have a lot of experience at Iowa. Karam and Daly have won at the track in Road to Indy competition while Karam finished third in the 2015 Iowa 300 racing for ChipRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer Simon Pagenaud can no longer be overlooked in the 2019 NTT IndyCar Series title hunt. The Frenchman brought the smack down in Sunday’s Honda Indy Toronto by winning the pole, leading 80 of 85 laps and winning the race. But more so than that, Pagenaud reminded everybody that he was still someone to pay attention to as the season’s middle portion winds down. Pagenaud’s diversity is his strength, having won at 11 different tracks since his first win at Detroit in 2013. What’s more impressive isRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer TORONTO — The start of the Honda Indy Toronto is almost always chaotic and for Will Power and Graham Rahal, Sunday’s was no different in the 11th race of the 2019 NTT IndyCar Series season. Power started 15th in his No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet and was looking at making up more positions than he had already done so at the start of the 85-lap race. While attempting to pass Rahal going into Turn 8, the 2018 Indianapolis 500 winner hit the inside wall whenRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer TORONTO — Darren Keane has been fast all throughout the first half of the 2019 Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship. Driving for Cape Motorsports, the Floridian has had strong runs but the trophy cabinet lacked a first place trophy. That is, until Saturday’s race on the streets of Toronto as Keane put his No. 2 Tatuus USF-17 into victory lane. Keane bided his time behind Christian Rasmussen’s Jay Howard Driver Development No. 6. but got around the Danish driver coming into Turn 3 on Lap 11. FromRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer TORONTO — Sebastien Bourdais and Takuma Sato both qualified in the top 10 for Sunday’s Honda Indy Toronto but it was what happened at the end of Practice 3 that helped define the rest of their day on Saturday. At the end of the Saturday morning practice session, the NTT IndyCar Series gave all drivers time to do one flying lap following a red flag for Graham Rahal spinning into the tire barrier at Turn 1. Sato came out ahead of Bourdais since the Japanese driver’sRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer TORONTO — In a near-carbon copy of Friday afternoon practice, Team Penske’s Simon Pagenaud led Saturday’s morning practice for the NTT IndyCar Series’s only Canadian visit, the Honda Indy Toronto. A fastest lap of 59.3651 seconds around the 11 turn, 1.786 mile road course averaged to 108.306 mph. The 2016 NTT IndyCar Series champion was .0702 seconds faster than Chip Ganassi Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist who also was second fastest in Friday’s afternoon session. Two incidents late in the session interrupted green flag running time. Andretti Autosport’sRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer TORONTO — Robert Wickens will drive a parade lap in front of the entire NTT IndyCar Series field before Sunday’s Honda Indy Toronto in a specially prepared Acura NSX with hand controls. Although if Wickens has his way, that might last a little bit longer. “I’m trying to figure out what that penalty would be if I just kept going,” said Wickens. Nobody would fault the Guelph, Ontario native for staying out an extra lap or two. Wickens was paralyzed after an incident last August inRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer TORONTO — More victims fell to the Turn 11 outside wall as Simon Pagenaud set the fastest lap in Friday practice for the Honda Indy Toronto. The 2016 NTT IndyCar Series champion went around the 11 turn, 1.786 mile street circuit with a fastest lap of 59.8708 seconds, averaging 107.391 mph in his No. 22 DXC Technology Team Penske Chevrolet. The 45 minute session saw more wall contact as some drivers struggled with the patching in Turn 11 heading onto the main straightaway. Marcus Ericsson andRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer TORONTO — Trying to defend his Honda Indy Toronto win from last year, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon put the rest of the field on notice by turning the fastest lap in Friday’s morning practice session. The five-time NTT IndyCar Series champion turned a lap of 1 minute, 1.0723 seconds on the 1.786 mile street circuit around Exhibition Place in the frequently-interrupted session. Team Penske teammates Josef Newgarden (2015 and 2017 Toronto winner) and Will Power (2007 and 2010 Toronto winner) spun coming off of TurnRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer TORONTO — The second-longest running street race in the NTT IndyCar Series has arrived and the 2019 Honda Indy Toronto is looking to be a showdown of the championship leaders to start the second half of the 2019 NTT IndyCar Series season. Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi is coming off of a run of four top-two finishes in the last five races. His other finish? Fifth. In fact, the California native has two wins and only two finishes outside the top-five all year. Normally that kind ofRead More