Round 12: Honda Indy Toronto. Exhibition Place, Toronto. July 19 - 21.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Round 12: Honda Indy Toronto. Exhibition Place, Toronto. July 19 - 21

The Honda Indy Toronto is the second longest running street race on the IndyCar calendar, after Long Beach and is one of seven Canadian circuits to have held an IndyCar race, the others being: Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, Edmonton City Centre Airport, Mont-Tremblant, Sanair, Montreal and Vancouver.

This weekend's race will be last before IndyCar goes into the summer break and the last street race of season.

History
In the spring of 1985, the in-house promotional division of Molson Breweries, Molstar Sports & Entertainment, proposed the running of a CART race at Exhibition Place in Toronto, as an alternative to the Canadian F1 Grand Prix, which was sponsored by rival brewers Labatt's.

The following year on July 20, 1986 the first Molson Indy Toronto was held and was won by Bobby Rahal, driving a March 86C-Ford Cosworth DFX for Truesports, with the race becoming a perennial on the CART calendar. However, with the demise of CART, the race morphed into a Champ Car World Series event, changing its name in 2006 to the Molson Grand Prix of Toronto, after which Molson dropped its sponsorship of the event.

The Steelback Brewery signed a multi-year, multi-million-dollar deal to become the event’s title sponsor, renaming it the Steelback Grand Prix of Toronto, with the first race scheduled for 2007. This was to be the last race as a Champ Car World Series event at Toronto.

On February 22, 2008, the unification of the Champ Car World Series and the Indy Racing League was announced. However, the race was cancelled for that year but returned in 2009, after Andretti-Green Racing, acting as the event organiser and promoter (later Green Savoree Racing Promotions), had purchased the assets of the former Steelback Grand Prix of Toronto, as well as signing a multi-year agreement with Honda Canada Inc.

Since then the event has remained on the IndyCar calendar, being traditionally held in mid-July, though in 2015 the race was moved to June, as it clashed with the Pan-American games also being held in mid-July. More recently, it was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 becuase of the Covid-19 pandemic.

After the cancellation of the 2020 race, a new three-year agreement was reached, between Exhibition Place and Green Savoree Race Promotions, to host the event through 2023. Currently Green Savoree Race Promotions and Penske Entertainment are close to formalizing a new agreement, with an initial contract extension from January 1, 2024 and expiring December 31,2024.

On March 14 this year, it was announced that the new title partner would be the Ontario Honda Dealers, changing the name of the race to the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto.

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Some Trivia
The driver with the most wins: 7, Michael Andretti: 1989, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 2000, 2001.
The team with the most wins: 8, Newman/Haas Racing: 1989, 1991, 1992, 1995, 2000, 2002, 2004.

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Track Layout
The original 1986 track length was changed from 1.784 miles (2.871 km) to 1.755 mile (2.824 km) in 1996, due to construction of The National Trade Centre building, which led to the pit straight being lengthened and last turn being altered.

In 2016, major changes were made to the track. The Pit Lane was moved to the North side of the track, starting at Turn 9 and extending back onto Princes' Boulevard past Turn 11. The hospitality suites were also moved to the North side and the Turn 11 grandstands are now on the south side of Pit Lane. However, the paddock remains in its original location, linked by a pedestrian bridge.

1986 original track layout


1996-2015 track layout


2016 track layout



Length: 1.786 Miles - 2.874 Km
Turns: 11

Lap record
Gil de Ferran. July 17th, 1999. 57.143 seconds, 110.565 mph (177.937 km/h).
Walker Racing, Reynard 99i-Honda HRS V8t,
CART FedEx Championship Series.

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Last year's race
https://www.indycar.com/news/2023/07/07-16-toronto-race

Pole
Christian Lundgaard,
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Dallara IR18-Honda HI23TT V6

Winner
Christian Lundgaard,
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Dallara IR18-Honda HI23TT V6

Laps: 85
Distance: 151.81 miles (244.314 km)
Race Time: 1:41:55.8001
Average Speed: 89.361 Mph (143.813 Km/h)

Fastest Lap
Christian Lundgaard - Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing,
Lap 13. 61.2182 sec, 105.697 Mph (170.103 Km/h)

Cautions: 3
Laps: 16

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Practice and Qualifications

Practice 1
Friday, Jul 19.
3:00 PM - 4:15 PM ET

Practice 2
Saturday, Jul 20.
10:30 AM - 11:30 AM ET

Qualifications - Round 1 Group 1
Saturday, Jul 20.
2:45 PM - 2:55 PM ET

Qualifications - Round 1 Group 2
Saturday, Jul 20.
3:10 PM - 3:20 PM ET

Qualifications - Round 2
Saturday, Jul 20.
3:35 PM - 3:45 PM ET

Qualifications - Firestone Fast 6
Saturday, Jul 20
4:00 PM - 4:15 PM ET


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Race
Sunday, Jul 21
1:30 PM

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TV Coverage
Peacock, July 21. 1:00 PM ET, 5:00 PM, UTC
Sky Sports F1, 6:00 PM BST