The Main on Trey with Trey Campbell

The Main on Trey with Trey Campbell

I am Trey Campbell, your motorsports expert. I hope to provide great information to all racing fans whether new or old. Full Bio

 

IndyCar Report: Toronto recap.

Photo: Getty Images

 Indycar made a triumphant return to Toronto for the Toronto Indy Grand Prix. This Street course around Exhibition Plaza in downtown Toronto has been stable on the IndyCar schedule since the mid-80s. There was plenty of beating and banging all throughout the field as both Renus Veekay and Roman Grosjean got together in turns three and four but all and all no harm no foul and both drivers were able to continue. Later in the race, corners three and four would strike again, this time it was Felix Rosenqvist and Alexander Rossi. Entering the corner, Felix would carry way too much speed and punt Rossi into the wall effectively ending his day. This season has been a complete disaster for Rossi. He’s now had back-to-back races where he has finished 19th or worse including Mid-Ohio when he decided to run into his teammate Romain Grosjean. The frustration is becoming more and more palpable at Andretti Auto-Sport as Rossi will be departing next season for McLaren so there’s a bit of a lame duck feeling seven weeks of the season. Another awkward layer on top of all this is that Felix Rosenqvest’s seat will likely be filled by Rossi or Alex Palou next season as it’s likely he will be moving on to Formula E next season. 

When the dust settled mid-pack the focus up front was between defending champion Scott Dixon and Colton Herta. The two were nose to tail for most of the day and while Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist led a few laps during the pit-cycle, it appeared as if it was going to be the battle of the hondas of Ganassi and Andretti for the victory then incident with Rossi and Rosenqvist happened which completely changed the complexity of the race. In an effort to try and shake up the strategy of the leaders the Ed Carpenter cars of Reenus Veekay and Connor Daily attempted to undercut the pit-cycle and stay out a little longer in hopes of another full-course yellow to try and conserve fuel and their tires. The strategy almost seemed like it was going to play out as we saw a caution on lap 55 for debris, both drivers stayed out hoping to get another yellow. Knowing the leaders had to pit once more, Scott Dixon and Herta allowed them to burn themselves out and lead a few laps as they battled for third. It would come down to the final restart on lap 66. The Iceman, Scott Dixon would get a great jump and pull away to capture his 51st Indycar series victory. This victory would tie him and Indycar legend Mario Andretti on the All-Time wins list. 

It was truly an incredible drive for the 6-time champion of Scott Dixon, he has easily become the greatest driver of the post-split merger IndyCar era of 2008. While he had a lot of great runs this year and has been a bit quiet for him. Throughout the last ten races, he had yet to score a victory and had by his standards a disappointing 7.3 average finish and only one victory leading up to this week. With his teammates, Alex Palou winning the championship last year and Marcus Ericsson win the Indy 500 this year. Few people wondered if Dixon was on the back-9 of his illustrious career but after a dominant drive, it’s clear that Dixon isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.


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