Sunday, July 18, 2010

Pseudo-Live Blog: Honda Indy Toronto



The IndyCar circus rolls onto the lovely shores of Lake Ontario for a street race around Toronto's Exhibition Place. A tight track which is both technical and fast at varying times with a very tight turn 3 that will produce most of the day's action.

Last year was the IndyCar Series' first visit to the famous Champ Car, and they put on a pretty good show in spite of the slower and wider cars. Hometown boy Paul Tracy scythed his way through the field and was fighting for the lead with Helio Castroneves when the two drove a bit...aggressively into and out of turn 3, resulting in heavy contact for both drivers. Paul will have a chance to make it exciting again today, starting in the 24th position.

The major story of the weekend so far is the speed of Justin Wilson, who put down some scorching laps during the qualifying session on the supposedly less-grippy "black" tires. Those scorching laps allowed him to use only one set of the sticky "red" tires and conserve a couple of sets of reds for the race. All that mumbo jumbo about tires means this: Justin Wilson will be a force on the streets of Exhibition Place. However...

Winner: Will Power Will starts on the outside of the front row. He's the boss on twisty tracks this year, so I'm not going to stop backing him to win these races.

Dark Horse: Rafael Matos I'm having a hard time picking my dark horses today because of the way the field is laid out; all the drivers who can be considered favorites are at the front of the grid. After last race's neat fourth-place finish, we'll see if Rafa can keep up the momentum.

Ninja Dark Horse: Paul Tracy I just want to see him kill the field from his 24th starting spot...it should make the viewing interesting. He's always good in front of the home crowd too.

The engines have been fired (on a command from Greg Kinnear no less), and we're about ready to roll! Live blogging on the way...

12:58, pre-race
Fireworks go off as the field completes its first parade lap. Killer awesome weather on the northwest shore of Lake Ontario...no excuse not to be outside for the citizens of Toronto today.

Lap 1
We are....GREEN! Wilson fires away into the lead, Power follows, RHR into third. Back further in the field, Danica making some moves.

Lap 2
Power closing the gap a bit...Wheldon in for a new wing. As Pressdog might say, the reason is...oh, it IS our business! Wheldon locked 'em up and nailed a KV car, according to replay.

Lap 4
Hunter-Reay had dropped back at some point and was caught in a battle for fourth with Dixon. RHR made a nice move into turn 3.

Lap 5
Reports of Will Power being in second were greatly exaggerated...he's in sixth, while Helio is in second. An honest mistake, as the cars look pretty similar.

Lap 7
No clue what happened to Power on the first lap, apart from dropping back four spots.

Lap 10
Wilson, Helio, Dario, RHR Dixon, Power, Kanaan, Tags, Briscoe, and Patrick are your top 10. If you had Lap 10 as the lap Milka gets lapped in your betting pool, you win!

Lap 13
Most of the field has settled a bit. If interest: Paul Tracy is up to 18th position, but he's been caught behind Tomas Scheckter for a while.

Lap 17
Blowin' my Yellow Shirt whistle on Mario Moraes, who hip-checks his teammate Sato into the wall on the entrance to turn 3...Moraes really moved over too far on the setup for the turn. Marco Andretti says "I TOLD YOU SO" ..and we are...YELLOW!

Lap 19
Pit Stops! Everyone and their mothers in for fresh ethanol and Firestones...except Paul Tracy and Vitor Meira. Helio, Dario, Power, Wilson your first four off the pit lane. DUN DUN DUNNN! Paul Tracy could be in great shape if he gets a nice caution in 15 or 20 laps.

Lap 22
We are...GREEN! Sato gives a very happy-go-lucky assessment of teammate Moraes just before the flag...KV Racing is a happy place. WOAH WOAH WOAAAA! Helio goes way too hot into turn 3 and nails the back of Meira. Helio's car is buried deep into the turn 3 tire barrier....who knows how well the driver is feeling...

Lap 23
Oh thank God...Helio climbs out of the car and appears to be relatively okay. Replay shows that Helio pulled out right as Vitor was on his brakes; Helio didn't have enough time to get alongside and he clipped Meira. Without any traction, Helio couldn't do anything but smash hard into the tires.

Lap 24
For those of you who complain about Dallara getting the contract to build the base chassis for 2012, I present this incident as a reason: Helio and his car look pretty darn good considering they barreled into a tire barrier at a good 100 miles per hour.

Lap 25
Helio says the new tires and push-to-pass had him moving a lot faster than Meira into the braking zone and it is what it is...tough break.

Lap 26
We are...GREEN! Tracy like a cannon into turn 1. Again, the field stacks up behind Meira. Trouble! Turn 1; Alex Lloyd busted into the turn 1 tires. Near contact amongst the leaders as Franchitti and Power try to get past Meira. We are...(again) YELLOW!

Lap 31
By the way, we've essentially been yellow for about 13 laps, and Paul Tracy is just saaaavin' fuel. He may even do a 1-stop race at this point.

Lap 32
We are...GREEN! Dario makes the move on Tracy into turn 3. Meira getting passed left and right. Aaaaaand we're yellow again. Whistle blows again on Mario Moraes, who tried to outbrake the entire field going into three and takes out Romancini. Moraes is a complete menace on the track today; two incidents of "avoidable contact" taking out two other cars means he should be sidelined.

Lap 34
Paul Tracy decides he's bored with running under yellow, decides to pit in order to liven things up. Fuel and tires for Paul on a hellishly long pit stop. He'll be at the back of the field. Moraes given a slap on the wrist for his dumbass driving.

Lap 36
We are...GREEN! Dixon all over Kanaan for fifth, but no dice. Danica takes ninth from Tags. Oh my god, we have...COMPLETED A LAP!!!

Lap 38
Sike...Tags back in front of Danica. She's getting a lot of pressure from Rafa Matos. Dixon was OHSOCLOSE to passing Dixon; nearly contact, but they gave each other the space.

Lap 39
Dixon takes Kanaan for fifth. A good, clean fight by both drivers.

Lap 41
ABC has some really neat camera angles that they only use in the side-by-side...oh well. By the way, Marco really wants seventh from Ryan Briscoe.

Lap 42
There seems to be less and less asphalt between Dario and Will Power with every lap. Romancini gets in line to sing the praises of Mario Moraes to Jamie Little.

Lap 44
Hey, we're past halfway. Dario, Power, Wilson, RHR, Dixon, Kanaan, Briscoe, Marco, Tags, and Danica your top ten. We've finally settled into some green flag racing, which is a kinda nice change.

Lap 45
Side note: Dario changed engines this morning, but there's no penalty from the league? Somebody explain how that works please.

Lap 50
Much of the same as five laps ago. Matos hits the pit lane as the window opens for our next round of stops.

Lap 52
Briscoe, Tagliani, and Viso in; everything looking good with those stops. Watching Power and Wilson chase Dario and waiting for them to peel off the track.

Lap 54
Top three coming up on lapped traffic as Dario and Power have slowed a bit to allow Wilson to catch up as they try to save fuel. Dario dives off to pit.

Lap 56
Power and Wilson both pit. They were really caught in traffic on the last lap, so Dario might be in the hot seat here. Wilson beats Power off pit lane and they both beat Dario! Wilson in the lead!

Lap 57
Bertrand Baguette in the tires. Still a local yellow at this point. Radio says Scheckter had a part in the incident. No replays on TV yet as we're in the middle of pit stops.

Lap 58
Marco and Rahal battle each other hard for position, Rahal takes him in turn 3, then uses the wall as a pick to make Marco get in line.

Lap 60
Power and Dario get caught in traffic (looked like Moraes), and Wilson runs off with the lead.

Lap 61
Trouble! Briscoe around in circles with no front wing! A local yellow and some brave corner worker work later, Briscoe is out of the way. Replay shows Rahal looking to outbrake, but the two cars stayed in line and Rahal put Briscoe around.

Lap 63
Briscoe in and out with a fresh schnozz. At least a lap down now, though...tough break for him.

Lap 65
We are...YELLOW! Matos' and Viso's cars have become attached to each other. Paul Tracy also around behind that. Replay shows Danica was passing Marco, then Marco sort of held up Matos and Viso and no one had anywhere to go; Matos and Viso lose out. Tracy's spin was from locking his brakes trying to pass Simona de Silvestro. Tracy back up and running.

Lap 71
Hey guess what...no fuel saving today, folks! Everyone's good to race.

Lap 72
We are...GREEN! Wilson loose on acceleration of the last turn and Power...TAKES THE LEAD! Hunter-Reay is divebombing the planet and puts Dixon into the outside wall in turn 3. OH! Justin Wilson end-around as well. Chaos in Toronto!

Lap 74
Dixon's day is clearly through, as his left front is pointed entirely the wrong way. We are...YELLOW: Scheckter and Tags in the turn one tires. Scheckter a bit optimistic trying to pass, Tags cuts him off and that is that.

Lap 75
Okay...let's all breathe for a moment. Your current top o' the order: Power, Dario, RHR, Kanaan, Rahal (WOOHOO!), Danica (way to stay out of trouble somehow), Andretti, de Silvestro (!!!), Meira (how'd he get back up there?), Wheldon.

Lap 77
We are...GREEN! Dario and RHR realy taking the fight to Power at the head of the field. Now Kanaan trying his luck with this battle.

Lap 78
A hellish gaggle of cars behind the lapped car of Ryan Briscoe (don't say that too often) Lots of brake-locking and wing-to-gearbox contact and WOOOOAHs from the viewing audience.

Lap 80
Wilson gets 8th from de Silvestro in the middle of that insane battle. All of those cars bunch up into turn 3, then somehow don't hit each other...it's kinda fun to watch.

Lap 82
Oh by the way, Will Power is just over a second up on Dario. RHR and Kanaan follow them. Things have settled a bit further back as the fast cars get in front of the slowpokes.

Lap 84
Wilson has gotten by Marco. NOT SEEN HERE, says ABC.

Lap 85
White flag for Will Power. This is a sniper situation for the guys behind him...nobodys catching Will.

Checkered Flag!
Power takes advantage of everyone else's mistakes and takes the win! Dario, RHR, Kanaan, Rahal, Danica, Wilson, Marco, de Silvestro, and Wheldon round out your top ten. This one was quite the crashfest at the beginning and near the end, but the last ten laps went off without a hitch. Lots of fun racing here and there.

Thanks to Marty Reid for letting us know that this is the 52nd anniversary of Richard Petty's first win (drink some bleach, Marty).

Will Power kisses his car that brought him to victory and receives the plaudits of his team members. Will, always thinking ahead, loves extending the points lead. We find out that Briscoe said Power has to do a rap if he wins...no rap here, but maybe we'll see one later.

Justin Wilson says he went a bit too hard into turn 8 and had to hit the brakes, which caused his spin. Says the D&R guys deserve better than what he gave them.

Hunter-Reay says his car a junk, which makes his third place even more interesting. No comments on his hip check on Scott Dixon...DeBruhl probably should've pushed him a bit on that.

Scott Goodyear says the series is getting competitive now...even though Will Power is wrecking the points battle. His point is fair, though; lots of teams were represented towards the sharp end of the field all day.

Anyway, my predictions worked out decently enough. Will Power, of course, can make any gambler look like a genius. Rafa Matos was doing decently until he was caught up in a traffic jam and made contact with Viso. Paul Tracy might've had a better shot if his fuel hose had worked better on his first pit stop.

The show hits the Edmonton City Centre Airport next week for what should be another runaway show by Will Power....it sure was last time around. Until then, cheers!

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