Issue 1265
September 18, 2024
 

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The Line


Sunday
Jul202014

THE LINE - JULY 23, 2014

 

(Photo by Chris Owens/IndyCar)
Mike Conway (No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Fuzzy's Ultra Premium Vodka Chevrolet) earned his second Verizon IndyCar Series victory of the season on Sunday by holding off Tony Kanaan (No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Target Chevrolet) over a three-lap sprint to the finish in the second race of the Honda Indy Toronto doubleheader. Conway won by 3.5418 seconds following a Lap 54 restart after a red flag with 4 minutes, 23 seconds left in the 80-minute race. IndyCar Race Control called for the red flag to freeze the field on Lap 52 after a multiple-car incident in Turn 3. The race weekend in Toronto was complete chaos for IndyCar, with Saturday's race being postponed due to relentless rain, pushing it to Sunday, which meant the teams ran two races in one day.

(Photo by Joe Skibinski/IndyCar)
Tony Kanaan went from last to second place in IndyCar's Race 2 in Toronto. "You have to believe," Kanaan said. "You can't give up. We're here racing. I hate when I make mistakes, so I had to make it up.  I didn't want to go back to the truck and look at Chip and say, 'Hey man, I made a mistake.' So I had to make it up. It worked well for us. Conway did a great job. A great weekend for Chevy. Swept the podium twice. Top three twice. We're getting closer. I really want to give Chip a win so bad and Target."

(Photo by Joe Skibinski/IndyCar)
Will Power (No. 12 Team Penske Verizon Chevrolet) finished third in Race 2 on Sunday. "Tony was very good on the half-wet track," Power commented. "I just wasn't willing after yesterday to take a big risk and get caught out again. So I still had to battle hard with Charlie (Kimball) all over me. It was a good day for the No. 12 Verizon Chevy team, typical IndyCar race where they throw everything at you. You just have to survive, and that is what we did."

(Photo by Chris Jones/IndyCar)
Sebastien Bourdais (
No. 11 Hydroxycut KVSH Racing Chevrolet) won Race 1 on Sunday in Toronto, notching his 32nd Indy car career win. Bourdais broke a tie with Dario Franchitti and Paul Tracy for eighth on the all-time win list. "It's really sweet, " a jubilant Bourdais said. "We had to fight and wait for it for a long time but today was just kind of one of these days when the stars align." Bourdais led 58 of the 65 laps and won by 3.3 seconds over Helio Castroneves. "I guess I was not expecting it because here I know how things can go. Last year we were second and third and it's great to get this win."

(Photo by Chris Owens/IndyCar)
Helio Castroneves (No. 3 Team Penske PPG Chevrolet) finished second in Race 1 on Sunday but sustained wing damage in Race 2 on the penultimate lap and dropped to 12th place. He holds a 13-point lead over Power through 14 of the season's 18 races.

(Photo by Eric Anderson/IndyCar)
Tony Kanaan finished third in IndyCar Race 1 in Toronto but Simon Pagenaud (No. 77 Schmidt Peterson Hamilton Motorsports Honda, above) was involved in a Lap 1 incident that brought out a red flag. He then came back strong to finish fourth in Race 1.

(Volkswagen)
Tanner Foust (No. 34 Andretti Autosport Rockstar Energy Drink VW) won the fourth round of the Red Bull Global Rallycross Championship in New York at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Sunday. Teammate Scott Speed (No. 77 Andretti Autosport 7UP Volkswagen) finished second, but was later penalized due to an unapproved adjustment made during the first red flag of the race. Under the championship’s supplemental regulations, he was penalized from that point forward, resulting in a ninth-place finish. “Ultimately, it was a great end to a long weekend,” said Foust. “The two guys with the most road racing and oval experience - Scott Speed and Nelson Piquet Jr. - certainly were the ones to beat. Luckily it's still a rallycross start, and I was able to get the nose of the No. 34 Rockstar Energy Drink Volkswagen in there off the line." Concord, NC, will host the next round of the Red Bull Rallycross Championship at The Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway, from July 25-26. NBC will air the race live on Sunday, July 26 at 2 p.m. ET.

(Porsche)
Nick Tandy (No. 31 EFFORT Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R) won the first round of the SCCA Pirelli World Challenge at the Honda Indy Toronto on Saturday in Exhibition Place, Round 9 of the 2014 season - a 50-minute timed event - giving Porsche its first overall win for the car in North America. Tandy finished 0.508 seconds ahead of Kuno Wittmer (No. 92 Dodge/SRT Motorsports Dodge Viper SRT GT3-R), at an average speed of 66.409 mph. Johnny O’Connell finished third in the No. 3 Cadillac Racing Cadillac CTS-V.R. In Sunday's race (Round 10), which was shortened to 35 minutes because of a schedule change to accommodate the IndyCar Series, Wittmer was in front with Tandy chasing. Tandy spun with only eight minutes to go after having made several attempts to get by the Viper, he was then hit by another car, ending his chance for a weekend sweep. Wittmer (below), in a Viper prepared by Riley Technologies, started from the second position on the grid and quickly took the lead on the first lap on the 1.755-mile, 11-turn downtown street circuit. Wittmer’s victory in the event marked the first win for the Dodge Viper SRT GT3-R in the World Challenge’s GT class and the native of Montreal’s first in the World Challenge since he last competed in the series in 2010. The victory was Wittmer’s seventh in the series and his third World Challenge win in a Viper in six seasons in the series (2006-10, 2014). Both rounds of the Pirelli World Challenge from Toronto will be televised on NBC Sports Network on Sunday, August 10, at 1:30 PM EDT. Next up for the Pirelli World Challenge is the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio, on August 1 – 3.

(SRT)

(Photos by Chris Owens/Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway has unveiled a new scoring pylon. This third-generation full-LED-paneled pylon has the ability to completely flash with green lights or yellow lights or with an American flag or race logos - the animation and video capabilities make display possibilities nearly limitless. The 92-foot, 4-inch pylon can also look just like the one it replaces, showing the lap count and car running order. The new pylon is about two feet taller and three inches wider than the previous one, which had been in service for 20 years. And it is certainly quite different from the original pylon, which went up in 1959 and was manually operated.