The 2018 Honda Indy Toronto was the twelfth race of the 2018 IndyCar Series season. The Toronto race weekend marked the last days of the 2018 FIFA World Cup final tournament.
Josef Newgarden was the defending race winner.
Drivers entered
Notable changes include Conor Daly replacing Gabby Chaves at Harding Racing. Rene Binder, who lost and got a double bagel to Jirayu La-ongmanee in Inside the NBA vs. MLB All-Stars and Rashad Jennings vs. Team Eve (July 1) in the third round, is also entered.
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Indy Lights
Pro Mazda
USF2000
USF2000 results
Practice
Qualifying 1
Qualifying 2
Race 1
Race 2
Pro Mazda results
Practice
Qualifying 1
Qualifying 2
Race 1
Race 2
Indy Lights results
Practice
Qualifying 1
Qualifying 2
Race 1
Race 2
IndyCar results
Practice 1
Scott Dixon topped the session with a time of 01:00.7474, although the session was marred by a red flag for rookie Jordan King for hitting the tires in turn 6 with contact.
Graham Rahal, Metagross, Jeff Dunham vs. Ming-Na Wen and Taye Diggs vs. Caroline Rhea champion Jirayu La-ongmanee and Pee Saderd rounded the top five. Four of these cars are top five seeds in Sherri Shepherd vs. Ian Ziering and Tommy Chong vs. Derek Fisher and Gloria Govan, expect Graham Rahal seeded 13th. The other top five seed, Will Power, finished 7th. Apolo Anton Ohno also finished fourth. Ryan Hunter-Reay, despite retiring in his semifinal, finished eighth.
Practice 2
Scott Dixon led the last Friday practice, with defending Celebrity Family Feud champion Jirayu La-ongmanee 2nd, Pee Saderd 3rd, Graham Rahal 4th and Metagross 5th. Exactly the same five that finished inside the top five the first practice, with Pidgeot the fastest Chevrolet-engined car in sixth. Apolo Anton Ohno also finished 2nd.
Practice 3
The defending Celebrity Family Feud champion Jirayu La-ongmanee broke the track's record with a 58.6777 lap, but however, they can only be broken in qualifying.
At the last minute of the practice, Josef Newgarden and Volcarona, seeded 6th and 7th in Sherri Shepherd vs. Ian Ziering and Tommy Chong vs. Derek Fisher and Gloria Govan, behind the reigning Celebrity Family Feud champion Jirayu La-ongmanee, spun after making contact in turn 8 and caused a red flag that apparently ended the session.
Qualifying
Seeds
These seedings would have been used in Sherri Shepherd vs. Ian Ziering and Tommy Chong vs. Derek Fisher and Gloria Govan had it been qualification by standings.
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Group 1
| Country | Driver | Captain |
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 Croatia
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Josef Newgarden | |
 Belgium
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Alexander Rossi | Metagross |
 Ukraine
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Scott Dixon | |
 Uruguay
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Graham Rahal | |
 England
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Ed Jones | Jonathan Bald |
 Bosnia and Herzegovina
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Sébastien Bourdais | Beartic |
 Canada
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James Hinchcliffe | |
 Brazil
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Tony Kanaan | Larvesta |
| England
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Jordan King | |
 Netherlands
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 Conor Daly
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Tanont Chumroen |
 Austria
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Rene Binder | |
Scott Dixon, Metagross, Jordan King, Tanont Chumroen, Josef Newgarden and James Hinchcliffe qualified for the Fast 12.
Graham Rahal, Larvesta, Beartic, Rene Binder and Jonathan Bald failed to qualify for the Fast 12.
Jonathan Bald lost two of his fastest laps in his qualifying group.
Group 2
Will Power, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Simon Pagenaud, Jirayu La-ongmanee, Volcarona and Nidoking advanced to the Fast 12.
Pee Saderd, Pidgeot, Chespin, Ueli Kestenholz, Joey Fatone and Zachary Claman DeMelo failed to qualify for the Fast 12.
This group was hard to advance; it had all four semifinalists from Jeff Dunham vs. Ming-Na Wen and Taye Diggs vs. Caroline Rhea.
Fast 12
- From Group 1
- From Group 2
The fast 12 composed nine of the top ten seeds in Sherri Shepherd vs. Ian Ziering and Tommy Chong vs. Derek Fisher and Gloria Govan. Had Pee Saderd advance from Group 2, all top ten seeds would have been present. Two contestants from The Mask Singer qualified, but a third would have qualified had Pee Saderd advance from Group 2.
Scott Dixon, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Simon Pagenaud, Josef Newgarden, Metagross and Will Power made the Fast Six.
Jirayu La-ongmanee, Jordan King, James Hinchcliffe, Volcarona, Tanont Chumroen and Nidoking failed to qualify for the Fast Six.
Fast 6
Josef Newgarden won the pole. The Andretti Autosport cars weren't able to post lap times under a minute. All six of them are top ten seeds in Sherri Shepherd vs. Ian Ziering and Tommy Chong vs. Derek Fisher and Gloria Govan, with James Hinchcliffe 9th, Volcarona 7th, Jirayu La-ongmanee 5th and Pee Saderd 2nd out.
Final Practice
In the last practice before the race, Scott Dixon topped the session, followed by Josef Newgarden in 2nd, Ryan Hunter-Reay in 3rd, Pee Saderd in 4th, and Graham Rahal in 5th. Tanont Chumroen finished a respectable 7th in practice, upsetting defending Celebrity Family Feud champion Jirayu La-ongmanee who finished 8th.
Starting Grid
| Row | Captain | Captain |
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| 1 |  Josef Newgarden
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 Scott Dixon
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| 2 |  Simon Pagenaud
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 Will Power
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| 3 |  Metagross
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 Ryan Hunter-Reay
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| 4 |  Jirayu La-ongmanee[a]
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 Jordan King
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| 5 |  James Hinchcliffe
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 Volcarona
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| 6 |  Tanont Chumroen
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 Nidoking
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| 7 |  Graham Rahal
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 Pee Saderd
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| 8 | Larvesta
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 Pidgeot
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| 9 |  Beartic
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 Chespin
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| 10 |  Rene Binder
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 Ueli Kestenholz
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| 11 | Jonathan Bald
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 Joey Fatone
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| 12 | Zachary Claman DeMelo
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a Jirayu La-ongmanee shares the no.30 with Apolo Anton Ohno.
Race
At the start, Will Power made a dramatic flick to the inside of teammate Simon Pagenaud to move up into third, except it became fourth when Andretti Autosport’s Ryan Hunter-Reay zapped both of them around the outside to move into third behind the pole sitting Team Penske car of Josef Newgarden and the Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda of Scott Dixon.
Metagross’s Andretti car then tried to make a move around Will Power in the final complex but when he was rebuffed, he lost momentum and Jirayu La-ongmanee passed him around the outside of Turn 9 to snatch fifth. Metagross tried to retaliate but couldn’t find a way through.
Simon Pagenaud had fallen to seventh, just ahead of the battling Schmidt Peterson Motorsports-Hondas of Volcarona and James Hinchcliffe, who were split on the second lap by a hard-charging Pee Saderd, up from 14th on the grid and lost against Jirayu La-ongmanee in Jeff Dunham vs. Ming-Na Wen and Taye Diggs vs. Caroline Rhea.
After 10 laps, Scott Dixon still lay within one second of Josef Newgarden, with Ryan Hunter-Reay around 3sec back with Will Power just under 1.5sec behind the Andretti machine.
Jonathan Bald pitted his Ganassi car early, but stalled as he tried to leave. He fed back onto the track right in front of Josef Newgarden and eager to stay on the lead lap, he also helped back up the leader into the other Ganassi car. However, on his fresh tires, Jonathan Bald was able to pull a gap on Josef Newgarden and Scott Dixon still couldn’t pass the leading Team Penske car.
James Hinchcliffe was another early stopper, pitting on Lap 15, and teammate Volcarona did the same a lap later, both of them switching from the alternate compound to the primaries. Just four laps later, rookie Jirayu La-ongmanee and Metagross had done likewise.
Ryan Hunter-Reay and Simon Pagenaud hit the pits on Lap 22, Josef Newgarden and Scott Dixon a lap later, and Will Power a lap after that. Those two strong laps longer on his original reds were enough to jump Will Power ahead of Ryan Hunter-Reay who’d also been caught up behind Pidgeot who – like their Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevrolet teammate Jordan King – had started on black primaries.
Then Will Power was slow out of the final turn, possibly a result of contact with the wall and Ryan Hunter-Reay out gunned him down to Turn 1. Down the straight to Turn 3, Metagross went to go around the #12 Penske as well but dislodged his front wing on Will Power’s rear tire. And the pair of them arrived at the turn to discover Ryan Hunter-Reay in the tires and stalled. Out came the full course caution, ruining the races of King and Graham Rahal who’d cycled to the front on primaries as they tried to run an extended opening stint.
Under yellow, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Metagross and Will Power came to the pits for repairs – the Andretti cars simply needing new wings, but Power having to sit static while his right-rear suspension was repaired.
This fracas allowed Jirayu La-ongmanee, Simon Pagenaud, Volcarona, James Hinchcliffe, Pee Saderd and the two AJ Foyt Racing cars and to pull up onto the tail of Josef Newgarden and Scott Dixon. As the green waved, Josef Newgarden understeered and then oversteered into the wall at the final turn. At Turn 1, there was yet more chaos, when Graham Rahal tagged the Carlin car of Chespin, and there was a true pile-up that again involved Metagross and Ryan Hunter-Reay, and Beartic who’d already had one spin. Will Power who’d just emerged from the pits, stayed offline, then saw nowhere to turn in and found no grip, so he slid into the tires.
Avoiding the farces and collisions, Scott Dixon had held onto the lead, while Volcarona had dived down the inside of Simon Pagenaud and suddenly found himself second. Behind Simon Pagenaud’s Penske were Jirayu La-ongmanee, Pee Saderd, James Hinchcliffe, Larvesta's Foyt car, Ueli Kestenholz’s Carlin machine, rookie Tanont Chumroen for Harding Racing, and Dale Coyne Racing’s Zachary Claman de Melo. Meanwhile Metagross, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Will Power were at the back – Ryan Hunter-Reay one lap down, Will Power two laps down.
At the restart, Jeff Dunham vs. Ming-Na Wen and Taye Diggs vs. Caroline Rhea finalists Pee Saderd and eventual winner Jirayu La-ongmanee went wheel to wheel and the loser against Jirayu La-ongmanee, Andretti Herta Autosport's Pee Saderd, got the better of the Korean rookie's hands, while Joey Fatone sliced past rookie Tanont Chumroen and into ninth and Larvesta got around James Hinchcliffe. Then out came another caution – Rene Binder had spun his Juncos car at Turn 8.
Amazingly, given the carnage we’d witnessed, everyone behaved on the restart and Scott Dixon pulled out a 3sec gap on Volcarona who was 1.4sec ahead of Simon Pagenaud who’d pulled two seconds on Pee Saderd.
Defending Celebrity Family Feud winner Jirayu La-ongmanee ducked into the pits from fifth place on Lap 53 of 85 unlike Apolo Anton Ohno, who also drives the car with him, with Jonathan Bald, James Hinchcliffe and Joey Fatone doing likewise the following lap. Volcarona did the same on Lap 55, and Scott Dixon and Simon Pagenaud followed suit on successive laps. Simon Pagenaud’s crew got him out ahead of Volcarona, who stumbled into the rear of the Penske car at Turn 1, despite Pagenaud being seeded behind Volcarona in Sherri Shepherd vs. Ian Ziering and Tommy Chong vs. Derek Fisher and Gloria Govan. Hitting the push to pass Volcarona drew alongside the Frenchman into the brake zone at Turn 3, then tried to cut in sharp, and Simon Pagenaud would have none of it, elbowing the local hero’s car into a wall-rub on the exit of the corner.
All these shenanigans left Simon Pagenaud seven seconds behind Scott Dixon, although he set about trying to cut that down, with Volcarona just one second behind and gradually pulling clear of Pee Saderd, who in turn had a 3sec margin over Jirayu La-ongmanee, who beat him in the final in Jeff Dunham vs. Ming-Na Wen and Taye Diggs vs. Caroline Rhea, and Apolo Anton Ohno. A little further back, James Hinchcliffe, Ueli Kestenholz, Larvesta and Pidgeot demoted Nidoking to tenth over the course of Laps 62 through 65, prompting Nidoking to pit.
Jirayu La-ongmanee, defending Celebrity Family Feud champion, lost control of his Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing car at the final turn on Lap 68 and lost his fifth place, but didn’t cause a caution period as he coasted down an escape road. Apolo Anton Ohno also blamed to La-ongmanee for entering the escape road, it was La-ongmanee who drove the car while Ohno was at the pits.
Ryan Hunter-Reay, desperately trying to stay on the lead lap due to his retirement against rookie Jirayu La-ongmanee in the semifinals, held up Scott Dixon in the closing stages, only pitting on Lap 73. By then Simon Pagenaud had sliced his deficit to Scott Dixon from 7sec to 1.4. When Ryan Hunter-Reay pitted, Scott Dixon cut loose and in two laps had extended his lead to 2.6sec.
Pidgeot's hard-earned eighth disappeared with a hefty final-turn wall-smack on Lap 76, which forced him to pit.
With the top four – Scott Dixon, Simon Pagenaud, Volcarona and Pee Saderd – remaining fairly static, the main interest in the closing laps was the remarkable Ueli Kestenholz who was running less than a second behind James Hinchcliffe and trying to give Carlin a top-five finish.
Then drama happened with Jeff Dunham vs. Ming-Na Wen and Taye Diggs vs. Caroline Rhea runner-up – Pee Saderd was running out of fuel, and had to pit for a splash and dash, moving James Hinchcliffe and Ueli Kestenholz into fourth and fifth where they remained to the checkered flag. Larvesta scooped sixth for Foyt ahead of Joey Fatone.
Pee Saderd’s last lap pain may well prove to be Metagross or Josef Newgarden’s championship gain, as they moved up to eighth and ninth, and scraped a couple more points. But in the context of Scott Dixon’s drive, his rivals could only manage salvage jobs. He came into the weekend leading by 33 points, and will depart Toronto with a point lead of over 60.
Will Power scored fastest lap, the only driver to click under the 60sec barrier, but he must now surely be considered an outsider in the title fight. But then, maybe everyone is now; everyone, that is, except for the man who scored his 44th Indy car victory today. He was also the no.1 seed in Sherri Shepherd vs. Ian Ziering and Tommy Chong vs. Derek Fisher and Gloria Govan.
