Justin Wilson scores Toronto pole; can DRR get off the schnide?
Dreyer and Reinbold Racing hasn’t won an IZOD IndyCar Series event since they claimed victory in their inaugural race back in 2000. But with their top driver Justin Wilson on pole for tomorrow’s Honda Indy Toronto (12:30 p.m. ET, ABC), DRR has a solid opportunity to get that long-awaited (emphasis on long) second win.
Wilson, a native of Sheffield, England, turned back efforts from points leader Will Power, Helio Castroneves, Ryan Hunter-Reay, defending Toronto champ Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon in the Firestone Fast Six session to earn his first career IndyCar pole, as well as DRR’s second in team history. Now it’ll be up to him to convert that into a north-of-the-border triumph. He took P1 with a time of 60.2710 seconds (104.827 m.p.h.) around the 1.75-mile street circuit.
Power wasn’t quite able to match that (60.4563 seconds/104.505 m.p.h.), but the Australian carries momentum into Sunday’s race after dominating two weeks ago at Watkins Glen — a win that bumped his lead in the championship to 32 points. He finished third last year at Toronto after rallying from an early-race incident that put him in the back of the field. Considered a street course master, expect Power to be a contender throughout the race.
Castroneves and Hunter-Reay will share the second row, while Franchitti and Dixon will start in Row 3. However, there have been reports from our friends at Planet-IRL.com (who are on the ground in Toronto this weekend) that Franchitti will have to go to the rear of the field due to an engine change (UPDATE: Curt Cavin of the Indianapolis Star is reporting that Franchitti will keep his No. 5 position on the grid.)
In this morning’s final practice, Wilson and Power went 1-2 again. Franchitti was third, followed by Dixon and Castroneves.
The full starting grid is below the dashes.
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IZOD IndyCar Series
Honda Indy Toronto
Starting Grid
(Position, Car #-Driver, Team, Time)
1. 22-Justin Wilson, Dreyer/Reinbold, 60.2710 seconds (104.827 m.p.h.)
2. 12-Will Power, Penske, 60.4563 (104.505)
3. 3-Helio Castroneves, Penske, 60.8159 (103.887)
4. 37-Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti, 60.8397 (103.847)
5. 10-Dario Franchitti, Ganassi, 60.9477 (103.663)
6. 9-Scott Dixon, Ganassi, 60.9541 (103.652)
7. 6-Ryan Briscoe, Penske, 60.9141 (103.720)
8. 11-Tony Kanaan, Andretti, 60.9212 (103.708)
9. 77-Alex Tagliani, FAZZT, 60.9996 (103.574)
10. 26-Marco Andretti, Andretti, 61.2297 (103.185)
11. 2-Raphael Matos, DFDragon, 61.2820 (103.097)
12. 7-Danica Patrick, Andretti, 61.4580 (102.802)
13. 8-E.J. Viso, KV Racing Tech., 61.4087 (102.884)
14. 02-Graham Rahal, Newman/Haas, 61.7024 (102.395)
15. 4-Dan Wheldon, Panther, 61.6926 (102.411)
16. 36-Bertrand Baguette, Conquest, 61.8072 (102.221)
17. 34-Mario Romancini, Conquest, 61.9575 (101.973)
18. 5-Takuma Sato, KV Racing Tech., 61.8130 (102.212)
19. 24-Tomas Scheckter, Dreyer/Reinbold, 62.0426 (101.833)
20. 32-Mario Moraes, KV Racing Tech., 62.0953 (101.747)
21. 78-Simona de Silvestro, HVM, 62.0547 (101.813)
22. 06-Hideki Mutoh, Newman/Haas, 62.1453 (101.665)
23. 19-Alex Lloyd, Coyne, 62.6142 (100.904)
24. 15-Paul Tracy, KV Racing Tech., 62.5387 (101.025)
25. 18-Milka Duno, Coyne, No Time (No Speed)
26. 14-Vitor Meira, Foyt, 63.0741 (100.168)
