Team Penske’s Simon Pagenaud delivered a Bastille Day victory to his French fans, after winning Sunday’s Honda Indy Toronto.
?? I might be in Canada but we brought the #BastilleDay ?? celebration anyway!!! So proud of the @DXCTechnology team for giving me this wonderful car! ? #indyto #indycar pic.twitter.com/d8rMaGyB6s
— Simon Pagenaud (@simonpagenaud) July 14, 2019
The DXC Technology Chevrolet driver was able to hold off a late race charge from defending champion Scott Dixon on route to victory.
Sunday’s win marks Pagenaud‘s first trip to victory lane since winning this year’s Indianapolis 500.
After dominating the ‘Month of May,’ he went through a bit of a slump. Heading into Toronto, Pagenaud had failed to finish in the top-five in the previous four races.
Following a dominant weekend in Toronto, the Penske driver is back in the Championship hunt, 39 points behind leader Josef Newgarden.
So Close for Dixon, Rossi reaches Podium
Despite his best efforts, Scott Dixon was unable to get past Pagenaud, and had to settle for second place.
“The pace was really good and then once we got to Simon, we [just] couldn’t do anything,” Dixon said of his efforts.
Andretti Autosports driver Alexander Rossi rounded out the podium after beginning the day fourth on the grid.
“We thought we had a podium place car and that was really about it,” said Rossi of his expectations after qualifying.
“So it was good to capitalise on what we thought was our maximum today.”
The race got off to a somewhat exciting start, when several drivers were involved in a first lap pile-up. As a result, this brought out the first of two full-course cautions.
??? And, we're off in Toronto…#indyTO // @hondaindy pic.twitter.com/8nVNQlnwtr
— NTT IndyCar Series (@IndyCar) July 14, 2019
Contrasting Circumstances for Power and Hinchcliffe
Will Power’s bad luck this weekend continued, with the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet being caught in two separate incidents.
Consequently, Power finished in 18th-place, two laps off the lead.
Power now sits 128 points behind the championship leader in fifth place.
Canada’s James Hinchcliffe was the biggest mover of the day, advancing eight positions throughout the race to finish in sixth-place.
“With the race playing out the way it did there wasn’t a lot of strategy to be had… so we didn’t really have any help today,” Hinchcliffe said of the prolonged green-flag running.
“Not the end result that you want, but I think the effort that I put forth was pretty impressive.”
The Arrow SPM driver will be looking to repeat last year’s success, when IndyCar series heads to Iowa Speedway this Saturday night.
