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IndyCar: Looking Back at the Past Five Seasons of Toronto Races

By Asher Fair

Jun 14, 2015; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; IndyCar Series driver Tony Kanaan (10) and Graham Rahal (15) go past the Princess Gate at the Honda Indy Toronto at Exhibition Place. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 14, 2015; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; IndyCar Series driver Tony Kanaan (10) and Graham Rahal (15) go past the Princess Gate at the Honda Indy Toronto at Exhibition Place. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Verizon IndyCar Series is scheduled to make its annual trip to the temporary street circuit in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The race was added to the schedule in the 1986 season and has been on the schedule in all but one season since, including each season since the adoption of the DW12 chassis as well. What sorts of things might we have to look forward to in this season’s race?

For the ninth consecutive season and 31st season overall, IndyCar will race around the 11-turn, 1.786-mile temporary street circuit in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

The Toronto race weekend is unique in that it has hosted a full-race doubleheader before, but not since 2014. Instead of only the past five Toronto races being included in this article, which would only take us back to 2013, the past five seasons of Toronto races are included in this article.

Let’s take a look back at the past five seasons of races at Toronto as we prepare for the race on Sunday, July 16th, 2017.

2012

Ryan Hunter-Reay won his third consecutive IndyCar race here at Toronto, which helped propel him to his first IndyCar championship. Charlie Kimball finished in 2nd place, his career-high finish at the time.

2013 (Race #1)

Scott Dixon took the checkered flag for his second consecutive victory in a three-race span of victories that propelled him to the 2013 championship. Sebastien Bourdais, who scored his first podium finish in the modern-day IndyCar Series, proceeded to “lose” his 2nd place trophy (see video above)…

2013 (Race #2)

Scott Dixon completed the first full-race doubleheader sweep that IndyCar had ever seen. He did it in just the first Toronto full-race doubleheader and second all-time full-race doubleheader. It was his third consecutive race victory, which helped propel him to the 2013 championship.

2014 (Race #1)

Sebastien Bourdais won a postponed and rain-shortened race by leading all but seven of the race’s 65 laps. The win was his first in the modern-day IndyCar Series.

2014 (Race #2)

Mike Conway won a postponed and even shorter rain-shortened Toronto race in the same day that Bourdais won his (see previous race). The win was the fourth of Conway’s IndyCar career, and he only needed to lead seven of the race’s 56 laps to do so.

2015

Josef Newgarden and CFH Racing teammate Luca Filippi finished in the top 2 in 1st and 2nd place, respectively. The win was the second of Newgarden’s IndyCar career, and the 2nd place finish was Filippi’s IndyCar career-high.

Next: IndyCar Driver Power Rankings

2016

Scott Dixon flat-out dominated the race. However, a late caution flag came out after some drivers had already come to the pits. Dixon, however, had not. This shuffled him to the middle of the pack, and he was unable to recover. Will Power, who had already come into the pits, went on to win the race after holding off Helio Castroneves and James Hinchcliffe after the final restart.