The 31st running of the Honda Indy roared through Toronto this weekend and another successful race was completed with driver Josef Newgarden the winner of his 2nd Honda Indy race in three years in front of an all-seat sellout crowd at Exhibition Place.
Rain was the forecast for this years race but that didn’t stop the thousands of fans that risked the supposed rain storm and happily watched the race in dry comfort as the rain held off. The fans were treated to some exciting racing this afternoon with the finish being very unpredictable from the qualifying leader board.
During the race there was a crash and a full-course yellow came out, Josef Newgarden got some lady luck on his side when he was already in the pits when a full course yellow came out preventing other drivers from getting into the pits during the yellow flag and crash cleanup. At that time, Helio Castroneves, Simon Pagenaud and Graham Rahal, all the fastest qualifiers, were all leading the Indy. None of the three were able to recover and catch Newgarden.
Ex-F1 driver Alexander Rossi finished 2nd, two seconds behind Newgarden and local favourite James Hinchcliffe of Oakville, raced to third place for the second consecutive year. It was a very interesting race with lots of changes throughout the 85 laps.
James Hinchcliffe was heavily favoured to win by the mostly Canadian crowd but didn’t have the right car to compete, falling behind really early and never became a factor during the race.
