Hispania Racing's Karun Chandhok gives the Korean Grand Prix venue the thumbs-up after being the first F1 driver to drive...
Kyle's Indycar Look Back: Toronto
Written by Kyle, on 14-07-2009 01:03
Kyle’s Indycar Look Back: Toronto
By Kyle Lavigne
Leave it to a street race to provide the best race of the year! The streets of Toronto saw the Indycars put on a great show this past weekend. Lots of passing (notably in turn three), varying strategies, new faces in the lead, and a controversial crash all made this weekend the best of the year. While the podium had the familiar feel of Penske and Ganassi, it certainly wasn’t their normal runaway; for a while, it looked like Paul Tracy and Alex Tagliani (with their part-time teams!) might battle for the win…and put the Canadian crown into a frenzy. We may well need this off week to recover and digest all that happen in Toronto…but it sure was fun, wasn’t it?
Dario Franchitti: On paper, it would appear to be an easy win for Dario. Most laps led, pole position, a walk in the park, right? Hardly so; an error on his first stop put him mid-pack, a place he stayed during the middle portion of the race. Quite frankly, if not for a timely yellow during the second sequence of stop, Dario was not going to win. But, you’d rather be lucky than, right? He slipped by Helio Castroneves (who made an error going into turn one) and held the lead from there. All in all, it was tough day for Dario, but one that ended up very nicely for him. He overtook Scott Dixon in the standings, and leads his teammate by two points heading into Edmonton.
After a three week “holiday” (as they say in Europe), the F1 circus (with its pair of clown at the helm in the form of Bernie and Max) heads to the Nurburgring (the short version obviously, not the 14.5 mile monster). Heading into Germany, Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull might actually have an edge over Jenson Button and Brawn. Remember, Vettel thoroughly dominated at Silverstone, while Button trudged home in sixth, allowing Vettel to take a nice little chunk out of points gap between the two. It’ll take more days like that one for Vettel to make a title charge, but a DNF for Button would help…though I can’t see that happening this weekend (as he appears to have left his Silverstone woes in Silverstone). What’s more, they could have some company at the front, as a lot of teams have thrown enhancements on their cars during the layoff, so some names who haven’t been up there so far could find their way at the top.
Let’s go up north a bit, shall we? The next two rounds will be located in the friendly confines of Canada, with the first stop coming Toronto, an Open Wheel Mainstay through the 80’s, 90’s and 2000’s. But, this will be the first time the IRL has visited the track, causing many to think we could see a shakeup in the grid (which has been reflected in practice to this point).
Some new have dawned the top of the timesheets through Friday’s combined practice, which is a welcome sight to the monotony we had seen until Justin Wilson scored a Cinderella-esque win last Sunday. Could another underdog score big this weekend? Friday’s practice says it’s more than possible, but might actually be likely.
