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A couple of years ago, many were signaling the death knell for the Honda Indy Toronto. It was the only race on the NTT IndyCar Series schedule that missed a second straight year due to COVID. Many suspected that local apathy and rapid development in the area surrounding Exhibition Place had as much to do with the 2021 cancellation, as did the pandemic. Many people, myself included, thought the event was hanging by a thread.

Fast-forward two years later, and it appears that all the naysayers were wrong. I’ll admittedly lump myself into that group. What we witnessed this past weekend looked like a thriving event, perfectly situated in a world-class city. The crowds were big for the Friday practice session, and they grew all weekend – despite a highly questionable weather forecast for Saturday that turned out to be true.

When the rains came at the end of Saturday’s Group I qualifying session – those hearty Canadian fans didn’t run for cover. They simply donned ponchos and stayed in their seats to patiently await Group II.

Ponchos weren’t needed on Sunday. The skies were mostly clear and the track appeared sun-drenched. The bright colors on the cars really popped under the bright Toronto sunshine.

The day had an ominous start, as no less than seven cars were involved in a Turn One incident near the back of the field. Only Alexander Rossi, Santino Ferrucci and Devlin DeFrancesco were able to continue, and DeFrancesco retired after only ten laps. The cars of Ryan Hunter-Reay, Jack Harvey, Benjamin Pedersen and Tom Blomqvist were all out before reaching Turn Two. Graham Rahal did a nifty bit of driving, by hitting reverse and driving through the Princes’ Gates, thereby passing all of the disabled cars and picking up six positions immediately.

After what seemed like an eternity, the race finally got underway at the beginning of Lap Ten – with more than 10% of the race already gone. Th opening lap melee was not a foreshadowing of what was to come. There was not another yellow until Lap 42, when Romain Grosjean smacked the outside wall in a bizarre crash that knocked the concrete barriers back a couple of feet. The race went green for a few seconds on Lap 46, but Kyle Kirkwood punted Helio Castroneves from behind on the restart – spinning the four-time Indianapolis 500 winner around, possibly damaging his gearbox. The incident also forced points-leader Alex Palou into the wall, damaging his front-wing – but the 2021 IndyCar champion continued on..

This was just past the halfway point in the race, and there were some curious pit strategies on display. The most curious involved Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin, who was leading; and defending race winner Scott Dixon, who was second. They chose not to pit when practically the rest of the field did. Only through the misfortune of several drivers running out of fuel on the last lap, were they able to finish as high as they did. Dixon finished fourth, while McLaughlin was sixth.

The winning strategy came from the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLLR) team of Christian Lundgaard. The Danish driver pitted from the lead during the Kirkwood/Castroneves caution. He returned to the race in seventh with thirty-six laps to go. Lundgaard was also the pole-sitter for Sunday’s race and showed there was no doubt who had the fastest car. He made what was essentially the winning pass in the Turns Three, Four and Five complex that was a work of art; making his way around Alex Palou – who was giving everything he had with a wounded car. Once the cars in front of Lundgaard pitted, he found himself out front with a clear track and pretty well checked out – building an eleven-second lead, before taking the checkered flag for his first career IndyCar win. Palou finished second, after qualifying a disappointing sixteenth.

Lundgaard’s victory was no fluke. He led fifty-four of the eighty-five laps. He had flawless pit stops, a perfect pit strategy and he drove the wheels off of the car. This was also a popular win, after the well-documented struggles that RLLR went through earlier in the season, including Graham Rahal failing to qualify for the Indianapolis 500. Lundgaard is also quickly gaining respect throughout the paddock.

This is a race people will remember for a long time.

TV Coverage: Of course, the Honda Indy Toronto was shown exclusively on Peacock this weekend. That brought the annual chorus of boos on social media all weekend long. It’s growing a little tiresome reading about people taking a stand over five bucks. Our Netflix account has gone from $8.75 a month in 2016, to $17 a month currently; and I promise you I watch a lot more Peacock than Netflix each month. I’m not wild about the streaming world, but it’s the way things are now. If you think you are hurting NBC or IndyCar by holding out, you’re not. All you accomplished was missing out on a heck of a race yesterday.

One benefit to the race being on Peacock was that there were few commercial interruptions. We had been told that would be the case, but I figured we would miss the local ads, but still get our regular dose of national commercials. NBC kept their word. Other than during the pre-race and caution periods – I’m not sure there was ever a green-flag commercial. I’m sure there were some, but the commercials were few.

With that being said, it was a fairly typical weekend for NBC. Kevin Lee handled booth duties for Leigh Diffey on Friday and Saturday, while Diffey was covering track & field for NBC. Diffey returned to the booth on Sunday, but I never thought the booth skipped a beat with Kevin Lee in there.

There were a couple of gaffes on Sunday. Townsend Bell proved once again why the worst gimmick in motorsports television needs to just go away. The dreaded in-car interview, this time with Pato O’Ward, before the green-flag mercifully failed. When they work they provide nothing. I always feel like we are intruding in the driver’s work area. When they don’t work, it’s almost a relief that we don’t have to endure the awkwardness.

The other gaffe may have gone unnoticed by many, but Dillon Welch committed one of my many pet-peeves, when he was describing Alexander Rossi’s pit stop to change his front wing after the opening-lap incident. He said that Rossi’s crew elected to change the front nose, as opposed to the rear nose. Call it the front-wing or call it the nose, but please don’t call it the front nose. That just makes me cringe when I hear people say it.

The Delta: A few years ago, Townsend Bell started throwing the term Delta into his vocabulary, with alarming frequency. I knew what it meant, but it struck me as a very pretentious way to refer to change. Usually the word delta is used when discussing a variable in mathematics. It can also be used simply to mean change or difference. I always considered Bell just being pompous whenever he worked delta into the conversation.

In Saturday’s Practice Two broadcast, James Hinchcliffe was talking about the difference in the different types of pavement around the track in Toronto. But when he referenced the delta in the different pavements, it became obvious that Hinch had been influenced by Bell. Why not just use the word “change” if you’re referring to changes or differences? Delta is Bad!

Verse Vs Versus: While I’m picking on James Hinchclife, he was guilty of another of my many pet-peeves on Sunday. Three separate times, he was making a comparison – either between Honda and Chevy, the primary and alternate tires and strategy among different teams. Each time, he meant to say versus (i.e. Honda Vs Chevy) but he said “verse” instead. I’m sorry, Honda verse Chevy makes no sense. Even the verbose Townsend Bell uses the correct verbiage and says versus instead of verse.

The National Anthems: As usual at Canadian races, both National Anthems are sung prior to the race. A different twist yesterday was that the same person sang both anthems. Usually an American sings the US National Anthem while a Canadian is chosen to sing the Canadian National Anthem. Yesterday Warrant Officer David Grenon of the Royal Canadian Air Force was tabbed to sing both.

I was a little uneasy at first with the idea of a Canadian singing the US National Anthem. However, he did an excellent job with both. I’m not sure what it says that of the ten renditions I’ve heard performed before each race this season, by far the best was performed by a Canadian.

Grosjean Crash: I’m still not sure I understand what exactly caused Romain Grosjean’s crash in Turn Ten on Lap 42. He said over the radio something to the effect that he lost the wheel again. Does that mean the wheel slipped out of his hand? Does it mean the data on his steering wheel failed? Was he referring to losing the grip on the front wheels as he skidded straight into the wall, with the wheels turned hard to the right?

Whatever the case, the Swiss-born French driver did not need another DNF with crash damage. I really like Grosjean and I was hopeful early this season that he would earn his first win this season. But since a second-place at Barber, his season is quickly sliding backwards. With drivers with very attractive resumes coming available at the end of this season, Michael Andretti has some tough decisions to make.

Too Focused? Will Power was one of several drivers who either ran out of fuel just after taking the checkered flag or just before. Power ran out before, turning a possible podium finish into a very forgettable fourteenth-place finish.

In his post-race interview, I found his explanation a little odd. He said he was so focused on putting pressure on the drivers directly in front of him, that he wasn’t paying attention to his own fuel number – and had to pit on the white flag lap, for a splash to make it to the end.

How does that happen? This mistake seemed very un-Penske-like.

Drive of the Day: Many people are wanting to give this award to Graham Rahal. Just after the race, I was inclined to agree with them. After all, he started dead-last in twenty-seventh, and after a smooth move to avoid the congestion from the Turn One incident, eh was able to move up steadily all day and earn a ninth-place finish.

Moving up eighteen spots is impressive, but I thought what Alex Palou did was even more impressive. He started sixteenth, and quickly went toward the front. He managed a second-place finish, and from just past the halfway point – Palou drove competitively with a front wing that was crooked and looked more and more like it would twist off every lap. That earns him the coveted Drive of the Day.

All in All: I thought yesterday’s Honda Indy Toronto was a very entertaining race. That’s not bad for a race that many thought might go away. There were at least three different strategies unfolding before our eyes. It was one of those races that at the halfway point, I truly had no clue which strategy would work, nor did I have a clue who was going to win. Those are the fun ones to watch.

In the process, we got a first-time winner in Christian Lundgaard. Some seemed to pay more attention to him losing his facial hair than the spectacular drive he had just put on display.

It’s always fun to watch a driver get his or her first career win. It’s also interesting to see how long it takes for win number two to come. I have an idea we aren’t going to wait too long for that second win for Christian Lundgaard. He seems to have the goods.

George Phillips

This entry was posted on July 17, 2023 at 4:02 am and is filed under IndyCar. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.