TORONTO (June 14, 2015) – American Josef Newgarden led Luca Filippi across the start-finish line by 1.4485 seconds to give CFH Racing a 1-2 finish in the Honda Indy Toronto.
It was the second victory this season and the second of Newgarden’s four-year Verizon IndyCar Series career.
“I’m so happy we were able to get a win, but a 1-2 is just amazing because Luca is such a star,” said Newgarden, who also won at Barber Motorsports Park in April in the No. 67 Hartman Oil Chevrolet. “Just an amazing team effort. I’m definitely excited because this is Toronto and this is an INDYCAR town.”
Team Penske teammates Helio Castroneves and Will Power, the pole sitter, finished third and fourth, respectively, and 2014 Toronto race winner Sebastien Bourdais placed fifth in the No. 11 Team Hydroxycut-KVSH Racing Chevrolet.
Team Penske’s Juan Pablo Montoya finished seventh for his best result in five starts in Toronto and holds a 27-point championship lead over Power through 10 of 16 races. Three consecutive oval races, starting with the MAVTV 500 on June 27 at Auto Club Speedway, are ahead on the Verizon IndyCar Series schedule.
There were seven lead changes among six drivers in the race that began on wet tires following rain earlier in the day. It was slowed by two short cautions and it was the second race in a row for a team 1-2 finish. Scott Dixon won the Firestone 600 on June 6 at Texas Motor Speedway with Chip Ganassi Racing Teams’ Tony Kanaan the runner-up.
Newgarden pitted for tires and Sunoco E85 fuel on Lap 28 just before the first yellow flag flew for contact by the No. 7 Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda of James Jakes into the tire barrier in Turn 5. Newgarden remained in the top five through his final stop on Lap 58, and reclaimed the lead on Lap 72 when Rodolfo Gonzalez pitted in the No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda.
“It was close racing, for sure, and I got a little lucky on that yellow,” said Newgarden, who joined Ryan Hunter-Reay, A.J. Allmendinger, Al Unser Jr., Bobby Rahal and seven-time winner Michael Andretti as American winners in Toronto. “It was a great call, though, and it was an amazing effort by this team and the crew who gave me amazing pit stops.”
Filippi, driving the No. 20 Fuzzy’s Vodka Chevrolet, recorded his best finish in 16 Verizon IndyCar Series races dating to 2013.
“We had a goal to be on the podium and we both achieved it with both cars. It’s nice when you set the goal and you achieve it and the team did everything perfectly to give us the opportunity to be up front,” said Filippi, who qualified sixth. “But we had a fast car and we knew we needed to be kind of in the clean air up in front and this is what we did — just kept pushing.
“I thank the Fuzzy’s Vodka team because they believe in me and they gave me the opportunity to race INDYCAR properly and my first podium. Many more to come.”
Honda Indy Toronto Race Results TORONTO – Results Sunday of the Honda Indy Toronto Verizon IndyCar Series event on the 1.755-mile Streets of Toronto Exhibition Place circuit, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine, laps completed and reason out (if any): 1. (11) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 85, Running 2. (6) Luca Filippi, Chevrolet, 85, Running 3. (7) Helio Castroneves, Chevrolet, 85, Running 4. (1) Will Power, Chevrolet, 85, Running 5. (5) Sebastien Bourdais, Chevrolet, 85, Running 6. (9) Tony Kanaan, Chevrolet, 85, Running 7. (3) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 85, Running 8. (4) Scott Dixon, Chevrolet, 85, Running 9. (10) Graham Rahal, Honda, 85, Running 10. (8) Takuma Sato, Honda, 85, Running 11. (2) Simon Pagenaud, Chevrolet, 85, Running 12. (19) Conor Daly, Honda, 85, Running 13. (18) Marco Andretti, Honda, 85, Running 14. (14) Jack Hawksworth, Honda, 85, Running 15. (22) Gabby Chaves, Honda, 85, Running 16. (17) Sebastian Saavedra, Chevrolet, 85, Running 17. (21) Tristan Vautier, Honda, 85, Running 18. (23) Rodolfo Gonzalez, Honda, 85, Running 19. (16) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Honda, 84, Mechanical 20. (15) Charlie Kimball, Chevrolet, 84, Running 21. (12) James Jakes, Honda, 84, Running 22. (13) Carlos Munoz, Honda, 69, Mechanical
23. (20) Stefano Coletti, Chevrolet, 40, Contact
Race Statistics Winners average speed: 90.410 mph Time of Race: 1:38:59.9460 Margin of victory: 1.4485 seconds Cautions: 2 for 9 laps
Lead changes: 7 among 6 drivers
Lap Leaders:
Power 1-30, Castroneves 31-41 , Newgarden 42-57 , Filippi 58-59 , Kanaan 60-62 , Castroneves 63-66 , Gonzalez 67-71 , Newgarden 72-85
Verizon IndyCar Point Standings: Montoya 374, Power 347, Dixon 329, Castroneves 322, Rahal 283, Bourdais 274, Andretti 272, Newgarden 268, Kanaan 244, Pagenaud 232.