Reigning Verizon IndyCar Series champion Will Power earned his second consecutive Verizon P1 Award and fifth of the season by recording the quickest lap of the Firestone Fast Six during qualifications for the Honda Indy Toronto.
Power crossed the start-finish line to complete the lap of 59.4280 seconds on the 11-turn, 1.755-mile Exhibition Place street circuit with five seconds left in the final segment of knockout qualifications. He will lead the field of 23 to the green flag for the 85-lap race on June 14, the 31st Indy car event in Toronto dating to 1986.
Driving the No. 1 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, Power overtook Rick Mears for fifth on the all-time Indy car list with his 41st career pole position. Teammate Helio Castroneves is the active leader with 43 and Mario Andretti holds the all-time standard with 67.
"Starting on the pole is great to keep out of any messes, and obviously Indy car races are never straightforward, so it's just awesome to get the pole. It's a long (race) day and we'll see what we can do," said Power, who has also won at Toronto in 2007 and 2010.
"You've got to drive around here. It's all man-handling because you've got those slippery surfaces in the middle of the corners, so you've got to be on the wheel a lot."
Four Verizon IndyCar Series teams were represented in the Firestone Fast Six. Simon Pagenaud's best lap in the No. 22 Avaya Team Penske Chevrolet was 0.1815 of a second back for his second front-row start in a row and fourth this season.
"Qualifying has not been an issue. We've been in the fast six every session since the beginning of the season, but it's executing in the end where things haven't gone our way," said Pagenaud, who has secured three top-five finishes in those six road/street course races this season and is 11th in the standings. "I think we had it but just made a little mistake when the tires were at their peak. But I'm happy with front row. I'm happy for Team Penske."
Verizon IndyCar Series championship points leader Juan Pablo Montoya and Scott Dixon, the winner in the most recent race June 6 at Texas Motor Speedway, will be on Row 2. It's the best start at Toronto for Montoya, who turned the quickest lap of the weekend of 59.4137 seconds in the second qualifying segment in the No. 2 PPG Automotive Refinish Team Penske Chevrolet.
Sebastien Bourdais, who won Race 1 of the Toronto doubleheader last year from the pole, qualified fifth in the No. 11 Team Hydroxycut-KVSH Racing Chevrolet. Luca Filippi qualified sixth in the No. 20 Fuzzy's Vodka CFH Racing Chevrolet.
Only four-tenths of a second separated the drivers in the Firestone Fast Six, with Power bumping Castroneves out of the top six by 0.0018 of a second in the second round. Castroneves, who posted the quickest lap in the morning practice session in the No. 3 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet, will start a season-low seventh.
INDYCAR Eliminates Push-to-Pass Monitoring
In an effort to promote more overtaking at Verizon IndyCar Series road- and street-course races, INDYCAR announced it will no longer display entrants' push-to-pass counts and usage via indicators in its timing and scoring software.
Until now, teams were able to monitor all Verizon IndyCar Series competitors' push-to-pass (P2P) count and when they are being used via the INDYCAR timing and scoring system available in each pit box.
"Unfortunately, the information given to the teams on the push-to-pass function has tended to be used as a defensing measure," said Derrick Walker, INDYCAR President of Competition and Operations. "The driver being overtaken activates his or her own P2P to defend, which defeats the intention of P2P, obviously. We will limit the availability of that information, which will make things interesting, particularly late in the race."
The change begins with Sunday's Honda Indy Toronto and remains in effect at the remaining road-course events on the 2015 schedule - the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and season-ending GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma at Sonoma Raceway.
Each car will still receive its full allotment of push-to-pass opportunities that produce approximately an added 50 horsepower per use to promote passing other cars at strategic points in a race. For the Honda Indy Toronto, the push-to-pass count remains at 10 opportunities for each car in the race, with each engagement lasting 20 seconds.
The push-to-pass parameters are controlled by each car's engine electronics and are preset to the count, time per use and reset time between uses prior to each race. INDYCAR officials retain the ability to monitor each car's push-to-pass functions in Race Control.
Sato's Chief Mechanic Enjoys Annual Homecoming
For 30 years, Tom Howatt has been working on Indy cars, and making an annual visit home for "the Indy" for nearly as long. Chief mechanic for the No. 14 ABC Supply AJ Foyt Racing Honda driven by Takuma Sato, Howatt grew up in Mississauga, Ontario - 14 miles northwest of the Exhibition Place circuit. Visiting with friends and family even for a few minutes during the busy Honda Indy Toronto weekend is a highlight.
"It's always fun to come home, though as busy as we are, you get to see friends and family for a short time," Howatt said. "It's interesting growing up with the Indy cars and it's still a staple here.
"It's a really good race for the city and it's a good race for (the race teams). Ever since we came here (1986), it's been a good event, the racing is good. People love it."
Howatt joined the Canadian Tire team with driver Jacques Villeneuve - the uncle of the 1995 Indy 500 winner by the same name - for the 1985 Indy car season. Howatt has also worked with teams led by Pat Patrick and Vince Granatelli, with Truesports, Panther Racing and Rocketsports. He's been with AJ Foyt Racing since 2008.
"If it wasn't fun, I wouldn't be doing it," Howatt said. "It's the people. The racing is great, the cities are fun, but it's the people that make this thing up."
Hinchcliffe Keeps Honda Indy Toronto Streak Alive
James Hinchcliffe may not be driving in this weekend's Honda Indy Toronto as he recovers from serious injuries sustained in a May 18 practice crash at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but the native Canadian is keeping his streak alive of attending every Indy car event at Exhibition Place since 1988.
Back then, Hinchcliffe was 18 months old and came with his parents from their home in nearby Oakville. He attended with his family every year until he first raced on the street circuit in the Atlantics championship in 2006. His first Toronto event as a Verizon IndyCar Series driver came in 2011, but Conor Daly is driving the No. 5 Arrow/Lucas Oil Schmidt Peterson Honda as Hinchcliffe recuperates.
The "Mayor of Hinchtown" was cleared to travel to Toronto from Indianapolis earlier this week, and is the Grand Marshal for Sunday's race. Hinchcliffe said he's "happy to be back at the track" as he signed autographs and greeted hundreds of well-wishers in the paddock today.
"I couldn't miss this one," Hinchcliffe said.
Mazda Road to Indy Race WinnersAll three rungs of the Mazda Road to Indy ladder series are conducting doubleheader race weekends in Toronto. Winners today of the first race in each series were: Jake Eidson (Pabast Racing) in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda, Florian Lattore (Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing) in the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires.
