THE LINE
Monday, July 13, 2009 at 05:10PM July 15, 2009
Dario Franchitti, Target Chip Ganassi Racing. Dario (No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone) kept Ryan Briscoe (No. 6 Team Penske D/H/F) at bay to win the Honda Indy Toronto by 1.6745 seconds, his third IRL win of the season. Will Power (No. 12 Penske Truck Rentals D/H/F) finished third delivering another stellar drive for the Penske team. The race featured the usual street race cocktail of boneheaded moves and temper tantrums, but Franchitti gained three bonus points for winning the PEAK Performance Pole Award and leading the most laps, so he regained the championship points lead by two over Scott Dixon through 10 of 17 events. "The Target car was fast on the restarts and we were really able to take off. It's 10 years since my first one here and it feels good," Franchitti said. Scott Dixon (No. Target Chip Ganassi Racing D/H/F) finished fourth, his fifth-straight top-five finish. Justin Wilson (No. 18 Z-Line Designs D/H/F) had another strong run for Dale Coyne by coming home fifth, and Danica Patrick (No. 7 Andretti Green Racing Boost Mobile/Motorola D/H/F) had another racy run finishing sixth.
(Jim Haines/IRL)
Dario Franchitti is making a serious run for the IRL Championship this year.
(Jim Haines/IRL)
Sebastian Saavedra (No. 27 Automatic Fire Sprinklers, Inc.) chases J.R. Hildebrand (No. 26 ARPRO) in the Firestone Indy Lights race on the streets of Toronto last weekend. Saavedra would take the win, his second of the season and the second of his Firestone Indy Lights career. This was AFS Racing/Andretti Green Racing's fourth win of the season and the eighth win for the team since they joined forces in 2007. It was Hildebrand's sixth podium finish in nine starts this season. James Hinchcliffe (No. 7 Hinchtown/Sam Schmidt Motorsports) finished third for the fourth time this season, which tied his season-best finish. Up next for IndyCar and Indy Lights is Edmonton on July 24-26.
After FIA homologation, the Corsa Motorsports Ginetta-Zytek 09HS prototype will compete for the first time in hybrid configuration this weekend at Lime Rock Park in the American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix. The Ginetta-Zytek will be the first hybrid entry to compete in the American Le Mans Series. Johnny Mowlem and Stefan Johansson will drive the machine for Steve Pruitt’s Corsa Motorsports. The American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Conn., is scheduled for 2:05 p.m. EDT on Saturday, July 18. The race will air live on SPEED. American Le Mans Radio presented by Porsche and Live Timing & Scoring will be available at Racehub on americanlemans.com. You also can follow the Series on Twitter (almsnotes). An RSS feed of Series news also is available.
(Corsa Motorsports)
See another live episode of "Autoline After Hours" hosted by Autoline Detroit's John McElroy, with Peter De Lorenzo and friends this Thursday evening, July 16, at 7:00PM EDT at www.autolinedetroit.tv. By the way, if you'd like to subscribe to the Autoline After Hours podcasts, click on the following links:
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