IndyCar: Simon Pagenaud wins 2019 Honda Indy Toronto

Simon Pagenaud earned his third victory of the 2019 IndyCar season by winning the Honda Indy Toronto at Exhibition Place, the 11th race of the season.

Team Penske’s Simon Pagenaud earned his first IndyCar victory since he won the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway back in late May by winning the 17-race season’s 11th race, the Honda Indy Toronto, at Exhibition Place.

This victory is Pagenaud’s third victory of the season, and it ties him atop the wins list with teammate Josef Newgarden. In addition to the Indy 500, he also won the race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.

Pagenaud started this 85-lap race around the 11-turn, 1.786-mile (2.874-kilometer) temporary street circuit on the streets of Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada from the pole position in his #22 Chevrolet, and while he dominated the race, things got interesting at the end.

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Pagenaud took the white flag still needing to hit a fuel number with Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon in hot pursuit in second place in his #9 Honda.

Then Team Penske’s Will Power stuffed his #12 Chevrolet into the tire barrier in turn eight, bringing out the race-ending caution flag. Pagenaud officially crossed the finish line under caution 0.1373 seconds over Dixon in second place.

Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi finished in third place in his #27 Honda ahead of Newgarden, his chief championship rival, in fourth in his #2 Chevrolet. Newgarden hit the wall in turn 11 late in the race, but it was not enough to knock him out of fourth. Chip Ganassi Racing rookie Felix Rosenqvist rounded out the top five by finishing in fifth in his #10 Honda.

Honda drivers rounded out the rest of the top 11, giving them nine of the top 11 positions despite the fact that they did not win the race.

Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports’ James Hinchcliffe finished in sixth place in his home race in his #5 Honda ahead of Harding Steinbrenner Racing rookie Colton Herta in seventh in his #88 Honda and Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan’s Sebastien Bourdais in eighth in his #18 Honda.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Graham Rahal, Andretti Herta Autosport’s Marco Andretti and Dale Coyne Racing rookie Santino Ferrucci rounded out the top 11 by finishing in ninth, 10th and 11th place in their #15 Honda, #98 Honda and #19 Honda, respectively.

Ed Carpenter Racing Scuderia Corsa’s Ed Jones was the highest finishing non-Team Penske Chevrolet driver of the race. He finished in 12th place in his #20 Chevrolet.

This race featured a total of three lead changes among three drivers. Pagenaud led 80 of the race’s 85 laps and was never actually passed for the lead on the track.

Andretti Autosport’s Zach Veach led four laps of the race en route to a 13th place finish in his #26 Honda while Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Takuma Sato, who was running in the top five toward the end of the race before he was forced to retire with an engine issue, led one lap.

Power was also the cause of a six-car incident on the race’s first lap that brought out the only other caution flag of the race. He ran into Rahal, who hit Andretti as a result of it, in turn eight. Andretti Autosport’s Ryan Hunter-Reay, Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports rookie Marcus Ericsson and A.J. Foyt Enterprises’ Matheus Leist were also involved in this incident.

Of the 22 drivers who started the race, only Power and Sato failed to finish it. However, only 11 of the 20 drivers who finished the race finished on the lead lap.

Here are the full race results of the 2019 Honda Indy Toronto at Exhibition Place.

Race Results
1st – Simon Pagenaud
2nd – Scott Dixon
3rd – Alexander Rossi
4th – Josef Newgarden
5th – Felix Rosenqvist
6th – James Hinchcliffe
7th – Colton Herta
8th – Sebastien Bourdais
9th – Graham Rahal
10th – Marco Andretti
11th – Santino Ferrucci
12th – Ed Jones
13th – Zach Veach
14th – Max Chilton
15th – Spencer Pigot
16th – Ryan Hunter-Reay
17th – Tony Kanaan
18th – Will Power
19th – Matheus Leist
20th – Marcus Ericsson
21st – Sage Karam
22nd – Takuma Sato

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NBC Sports Network is set to broadcast the next race on the 2019 IndyCar schedule, the Iowa 300, live in under one week on Saturday, July 20 beginning at 7:00 p.m. ET, and this race is scheduled to go green shortly thereafter.