Honda Racing Report
Sunday, June 14, 2015
Honda Indy Toronto
Circuit: Exhibition Place (1.755-mile temporary street circuit), Toronto, Ont., Canada
2014 Winners: Race 1 Sebastien Bourdais (KVSH Racing) 90.370 mph average
Race 2 Mike Conway [Ed Carpenter Racing] 73.168 mph average [rain]
Weather: Overcast, scattered light rain, 62 degrees F
Rahal Shines for Honda on Damp Toronto Streets
• Sixth top-10 finish of 2015 for Graham Rahal
• Mechanical issues end race for Munoz while running second
Graham Rahal continued his run as Honda’s top performer in the Verizon IndyCar Series, scoring his sixth top-10 finish of the 2015 season Sunday at the Honda Indy Toronto, and maintaining his hold on fifth in the drivers’ championship after 10 of 16 races.
Starting 10th on a damp track after early-morning showers blanketed the 1.755-mile Exhibition Place downtown street circuit, Rahal fought Helio Castroneves in an entertaining early-lap battle. Rahal then solidified his hold on 10th place, running just behind fellow Honda driver Takuma Sato through the middle stages of the 85-lap contest. Following the last round of pit stops on Lap 56, Rahal forced his way past both Sato and Simon Pagenaud to move into ninth, where he finished. Sato went on to take the checkers in 10th, in another competitive temporary street-circuit outing for the A.J. Foyt Racing driver.
Carlos Munoz, winner of the Saturday race in Detroit two weeks ago, jumped from 13th on the grid to third on Lap 28, when a caution flag came out just after he and eventual race winner Josef Newgarden had made their second scheduled pit stops. But his chances for victory ended on Lap 69, while running second, when his Andretti Autosport machine lost power and was forced to retire.
Clever pit strategy from Dale Coyne Racing also saw rookie Rodolfo Gonzalez lead five laps, until he was forced to make his final stop on Lap 72; while a late-race charge from another rookie, Conor Daly, saw the Schmidt Peterson Motorsports driver finish 12th, following up on a sixth-place finish in Sunday’s race at Detroit.