2017 Honda Indy Toronto

2017 Toronto

Race details
12th round of the 2017 IndyCar Series season
Date	July 16, 2017
Official name	Honda Indy Toronto
Location	Exhibition Place
Course	Temporary road course 1.786 mi / 2.874 km
Distance	85 laps 151.81 mi / 244.314 km
Weather	Temperatures reaching up to 27.3 °C (81.1 °F); with temperatures dropping to 22.1 °C (71.8 °F) by the end of the event[1]
Pole position
Driver	Simon Pagenaud (Team Penske)
Time	58.9124
Fastest lap
Driver	Simon Pagenaud (Team Penske)
Time	1:00.2357 (on lap 55 of 85)
Podium
First	Josef Newgarden (Team Penske)
Second	Alexander Rossi (Andretti Herta Autosport)
Third	James Hinchcliffe (Schmidt Peterson Motorsports)

The 2017 Honda Indy Toronto was an IndyCar Series event held on July 16, 2017 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The race served as the 12th round of the 2017 IndyCar Series season. Frenchman Simon Pagenaud qualified on pole position, while American Josef Newgarden took victory in the race.

Prior to the race, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports elected to replace Mikhail Aleshin in the No. 7 car, instead opting for veteran driver Sebastián Saavedra. The reasons for the change were undisclosed by the team.^[2]

Qualifying was held on Saturday, July 15. Simon Pagenaud secured pole position, setting a new track record time of 58.9124 at an average speed of 109.14 mph (175.64 km/h). Alongside him on the front row was Graham Rahal. The remained of the top six was rounded out by Hélio Castroneves, Will Power, Scott Dixon, and James Hinchcliffe.

Qualifying saw two incidents during the course of its several sessions. During the second group of round 1 qualifying, Esteban Gutiérrez suffered a heavy crash in turn 11 that placed doubt on his participation in the race, both due to damage to the car and due to Gutiérrez displaying concussion-like symptoms. However, the car was repaired, and Guitérrez was cleared by IndyCar's doctors, allowing him to participate in the race.^[3] A second, more minor incident occurred in round 2 qualifying, when J. R. Hildebrand made contact with the wall in turn 8.^[4]

The race was held on Sunday, July 16. At the start, Hélio Castroneves managed to pass both Simon Pagenaud and Graham Rahal going into turn 1, giving him the lead of the race. Behind them, Scott Dixon managed to get to the inside of Will Power to move to third. However, as cars approached turn 3, Dixon moved wide to avoid hitting the back of Rahal, in the process making contact with Power and forcing him into the outside wall. Power's car suffered terminal suspension damage, relegating him to a last place finish. Dixon limped around the track with a flat tire, which, after repairs, dropped him to the tail-end of the field. He would then be assessed a drive-through penalty for entering a closed pit-lane. The incident brought out the race's first caution period.

Racing resumed on lap 6, with Castroneves leading Pagenaud, Rahal, Josef Newgarden, and James Hinchcliffe. The top five remained unchanged until lap 20, when Spencer Pigot, who had charged through the field, managed to move around Hinchcliffe. Shortly thereafter, drivers began making their first pit stops, including Hinchcliffe, Alexander Rossi, and Josef Newgarden. Just as Newgarden entered the pits, Tony Kanaan nosed into the wall in turn 1, bringing out the race's second caution, forcing the leaders and anyone else who had not pitted to make their first stop under caution and secede track position. Newgarden proved the biggest beneficiary of the caution, moving into the lead once the leaders came into pit lane. Behind him were Ed Jones, who had not yet pitted, Charlie Kimball, Rossi, and Hinchcliffe.

Racing resumed on lap 27 with the top five remaining intact. Further back, Takuma Sato suffered front wing damage and a punctured tire, forcing him to pit again. On lap 29, Jones began to fall back in the field due to his worn tires, losing position first to Kimball, then to Rossi, Hinchcliffe, and Marco Andretti before finally coming in to pit on lap 33. Several drivers began to make their second pit stops shortly thereafter, including Carlos Muñoz, Scott Dixon, and second-place running Kimball. This promoted Rossi to second, but Newgarden continued to extend his lead.

The running order remained the same until the leaders made their pit-stops at lap 54, when Newgarden led the entire top five into the pits. Max Chilton briefly inherited the lead before handing the lead over to Pagenaud with his stop on lap later. Pagenaud led until lap 57 when he pitted, allowing Newgarden to return to the lead of the race. The order now ran Newgarden, Rossi, Hinchcliffe, Dixon, Andretti, though Dixon would pit for the final time on lap 61, promoting Ryan Hunter-Reay into the top 5, though with heavy pressure from Pagenaud behind. The top five remained the same until lap 81, when Hunter-Reay ran wide at turn 7, allowing Pagenaud to move ahead for position. Up front, despite dealing with traffic from a dueling Takuma Sato and Conor Daly, Josef Newgarden held on to take his second victory of the 2017 season by a comfortable margin of 1.87 seconds over Alexander Rossi, while James Hinchcliffe came across the line third.^[5] Marco Andretti secured his first top 5 finish in IndyCar since the 2015 MAVTV 500 with his fourth-place finish.

In the point standings, Scott Dixon remained in the lead of the championship, but his lead dropped to only three points over Hélio Castroneves. Simon Pagenaud remained in third place, while Newgarden moved past his teammate Will Power thanks to his victory.^[6][7][8]

Pos	No.	Name	Grp.	Round 1	Round 2	Firestone Fast 6
1	1	Simon Pagenaud	2	59.5570	59.2922	58.9124
2	15	Graham Rahal	1	59.3984	59.7432	59.2245
3	3	Hélio Castroneves	1	59.6836	59.6497	59.4345
4	12	Will Power W	1	59.3910	59.6476	59.5430
5	9	Scott Dixon W	2	59.7578	59.5732	59.7970
6	5	James Hinchcliffe	2	1:00.0348	59.7201	1:00.1415
7	2	Josef Newgarden W	2	59.6609	59.8992
8	98	Alexander Rossi	2	59.5577	1:00.0114
9	8	Max Chilton	2	59.7555	1:00.1202
10	26	Takuma Sato	1	59.5527	1:00.1970
11	27	Marco Andretti	1	59.7464	1:00.3384
12	21	J. R. Hildebrand	1	59.6967	1:02.3040
13	20	Spencer Pigot	1	59.7585
14	10	Tony Kanaan	2	1:00.0607
15	19	Ed Jones R	1	59.8686
16	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay W	2	1:00.0926
17	83	Charlie Kimball	1	59.9820
18	4	Conor Daly	2	1:00.2713
19	14	Carlos Muñoz	1	1:00.1650
20	7	Sebastián Saavedra	2	1:00.6272
21	18	Esteban Gutiérrez R	2	1:00.7441
OFFICIAL BOX SCORE

Source for individual rounds:^[9]

Pos	No.	Driver	Team	Engine	Laps	Time/retired	Pit stops	Grid	Laps led	Pts.1
1	2	Josef Newgarden W	Team Penske	Chevrolet	85	1:35:05.3522	2	7	58	53
2	98	Alexander Rossi	Andretti Herta Autosport	Honda	85	+1.8704	2	8		40
3	5	James Hinchcliffe	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	Honda	85	+4.7020	2	6		35
4	27	Marco Andretti	Andretti Autosport	Honda	85	+18.7408	2	11		32
5	1	Simon Pagenaud	Team Penske	Chevrolet	85	+19.4274	2	1	2	32
6	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay W	Andretti Autosport	Honda	85	+27.3905	2	16		28
7	8	Max Chilton	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	85	+28.3386	2	9	1	27
8	3	Hélio Castroneves	Team Penske	Chevrolet	85	+28.9415	2	3	24	25
9	15	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda	85	+29.7693	2	2		22
10	9	Scott Dixon W	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	85	+30.3369	4	5		20
11	7	Sebastián Saavedra	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	Honda	85	+32.7668	2	20		19
12	83	Charlie Kimball	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	85	+36.4821	3	17		18
13	21	J. R. Hildebrand	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet	85	+52.8910	2	12		17
14	18	Esteban Gutiérrez R	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda	85	+53.9858	2	21		16
15	14	Carlos Muñoz	A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Chevrolet	85	+57.2777	3	19		15
16	26	Takuma Sato	Andretti Autosport	Honda	85	+1:01.8457	3	10		14
17	4	Conor Daly	A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Chevrolet	85	+1:02.3752	4	18		13
18	20	Spencer Pigot	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet	84	+1 Lap	4	13		12
19	10	Tony Kanaan	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	83	+2 Laps	3	14		11
20	19	Ed Jones R	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda	75	Mechanical	2	15		10
21	12	Will Power W	Team Penske	Chevrolet	0	Contact	0	4		9
OFFICIAL BOX SCORE

Notes

¹ Points include 1 point for leading at least 1 lap during a race, an additional 2 points for leading the most race laps, and 1 point for Pole Position.

Source for time gaps:^[10]

Driver standings Pos Driver Points 1 Scott Dixon 423 2 Hélio Castroneves 420 3 Simon Pagenaud 404 1 4 Josef Newgarden 400 1 5 Will Power 359

Manufacturer standings Pos Manufacturer Points 1 Honda 1,045 2 Chevrolet 1,022

• Note: Only the top five positions are included.

• Official race broadcast