Honda Indy Toronto - Post Race Driver Interviews

We met with Canadians Alex Tagliani (pictured below) driving the #77 car who finished 17th (who crashed into a wall during the race) and Paul Tracy of the #15 car who finished 13th (who started from the 24th spot) after the race. Alex was not very happy with the person who crashed into him. He said the guy was happy that he took Alex out of the race as he was nursing a grudge from the previous year.

Paul Tracy (below) had led the race for awhile (laps 18 to 31) and said that the yellow flag after yellow flag did not fall into his strategy. He agreed that it would have been easier had he started earlier in the pack. Paul said that the settings on the car were off for both the practice and qualifying periods. They had found and changed the settings for the race but were unable to go back in time and improve their qualifying time. He also agreed that he would do better if he drove IRL full time but that sponsorship levels limited him to racing a few times a year. Paul hit a bump at the end of a straight away and ended up locking his brakes which he could not unlock at which time his ride stalled. He had to wait for a boost to get back going.

The three race finalists Ryan Hunter-Reay (3rd in the #37 car, pictured immediately below), Dario Franchitti (2nd in the #10 car, shown after Ryan) and winner Will Power also met the media and discussed the race with us. Both Ryan and Dario liked coming to Toronto and the only improvements to the track that they would like to see would be in the back stretch where the bumps in the road limit passing as everyone tries to avoid the bad areas which closes down the opportunities to pass. Both also talked about how slick the track was after only a few laps. Ryan said it was like a football game with a lot of pushing.

Race winner Will Power (pictured below) of the #12 car also had the fastest lap at 102.910 mph and led the race on laps 54 and 72 to 85 where he took the checkered flag and top of the podium. Will had contact with car 19 in turn one. Will is tops in the IndyCar Series standings with 377 total points. He felt the key to winning was his risky move to pass on the outside after the last restart. It was important to avoid accidents and sometimes he felt you just needed to chill. He heads into Edmonton on a back to back wins and as winner of last years Edmonton race.