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Grand Prix of Toronto

Coordinates: 43°38′14″N 79°24′56″W / 43.63722°N 79.41556°W / 43.63722; -79.41556
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Honda Indy Toronto
File:Honda Indy Toronto Logo.jpg
IndyCar Series
LocationExhibition Place
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
43°38′14″N 79°24′56″W / 43.63722°N 79.41556°W / 43.63722; -79.41556
Corporate sponsorHonda Canada Inc.
First race1986
First ICS race2009
Laps85
Previous namesMolson Indy Toronto (1986–2005)
Molson Grand Prix of Toronto (2006)
Steelback Grand Prix of Toronto (2007)
Most wins (driver)Michael Andretti (7)
Most wins (team)Newman/Haas Racing (7)
Most wins (manufacturer)Lola (12)
Circuit information
SurfaceAsphalt/Concrete
Length2.874 km (1.786 mi)
Turns11
Lap record57.143 (Gil de Ferran, Reynard-Honda, 1999, CART)

The Honda Indy Toronto is an annual IndyCar Series race, held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Originally known as the Molson Indy Toronto, it was a Champ Car World Series race held annually from 1986 to 2007. The track has 11 turns, is a 2.874-kilometre (1.786 mi) street circuit, and is located at Exhibition Place.

It is IndyCar's second-longest running street race, only behind the Grand Prix of Long Beach[1] and the fourth oldest race on the current schedule in terms of number of races run.[2] The Toronto Indy is one of seven Canadian circuits to have held an Indy Car race, the others being Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, Mont-Tremblant, Sanair, Montreal, Vancouver, and Edmonton.

History

In 1967 the first Indy race held in Canada was the Telegram Trophy 200, held at Mosport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario as part of the USAC Championship Car season. The race was won by Bobby Unser for his first career Indy victory. The Telegram Trophy 200 was again held in 1968 at Mosport, this time won by Dan Gurney.

Time trials for the 2013 race.

After a nine-year absence, Indycars returned to the Toronto area for the Molson Diamond Indy at Mosport Park won by A. J. Foyt in 1977 and Danny Ongais in 1978.

In the spring of 1985 Molson Breweries in-house promotional division, Molstar Sports & Entertainment proposed to run a CART sanctioned IndyCar race at Exhibition Place in Toronto. Toronto City Council approved the race by two votes in July 1985 for the race to be held the following year. [3]

The first Molson Indy Toronto was won by Bobby Rahal on July 20, 1986. The event quickly became Canada's second largest annual sporting event, eclipsed only by the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal, with three-day attendance figures routinely around 170,000 people.[4]

In the 1996 race, American driver Jeff Krosnoff was killed in a crash with 4 laps remaining. In that same crash, volunteer corner marshall Gary Avrin was killed, and marshall Barbara Johnston also received injuries in the crash; she was treated and released that evening. Adrián Fernández won the race.

Looking towards the Direct Energy Centre during the 2013 race. Team Penske pits are at the bottom of the image.

The name of the race was changed in 2006 from the Molson Indy Toronto to the Molson Grand Prix of Toronto after it was purchased by the Champ Car World Series from Molstar Sports and Entertainment. The name was also changed to distance Champ Car from the rival Indy Racing League (IRL), which had gained the exclusive right to use the "Indy" name after 2002. In 2007, after Molson dropped their title sponsorship to the race, Steelback Brewery signed a multi-year, multimillion-dollar deal to become the event’s title sponsor, renaming it the Steelback Grand Prix of Toronto. This marked the first title sponsorship change since the event started in 1986.

The unification of Champ Car and the Indy Racing League was announced on February 22, 2008, and the Grand Prix of Toronto's future was left in doubt. After attempts were made to preserve the race for 2008, it was confirmed on March 5, 2008, that the race had been cancelled. On May 15, 2008, Andretti Green Racing (co-owned by Michael Andretti) purchased the assets of the former Grand Prix of Toronto.[5] On July 30, 2008, it was confirmed that the race would return to Toronto on July 12, 2009.[6] On September 18, 2008, Andretti Green Racing announced that it had signed a multi-year agreement with Honda Canada Inc. for the title sponsorship of the race, henceforth named from 2009 onward as the Honda Indy Toronto.[7]

Michael Andretti is the all-time race win leader with seven victories.

Past winners

USAC (Mosport Park)

Season Date Driver Team Chassis Engine Race distance Race time Average speed
(mph) 		Report
Laps Miles (km)
USAC National Championship Trail
1967 July 1 United States Bobby Unser Leader Cards Racing Eagle Ford 40 98.36 (158.295) 0:59:14 102.770 Report
6 14.754 (23.744)
1968 June 15 United States Dan Gurney Oscar Olson Eagle Weslake-Ford 40 98.36 (158.295) 0:56:45 105.727 Report
40 98.36 (158.295) 0:55:16 108.564
1969
–
1976 		Not held
1977 July 3 United States A. J. Foyt A. J. Foyt Enterprises Coyote Foyt 75 184.425 (296.803 km) 2:03:35 90.733 Report
1978 June 11 United States Danny Ongais Interscope Racing Parnelli Cosworth 76 186.884 (300.761 km) 2:08:38 87.164 Report
1979 Not held
1980 Sept 14 Race cancelled following unification of USAC and CART schedules.
  • 1967: Run in two heats of 98 miles (158 kilometers/40 laps) each. Second race stopped after 6 laps due to rain.
  • 1968: Run in two heats of 98 miles (158 kilometers/40 laps) each.

CART/Champ Car/IndyCar (Exhibition Place)

Season Date Driver Team Chassis Engine Race distance Race time Average speed
(mph) 		Report
Laps Miles (km)
CART IndyCar/Champ Car
1986 July 20 United States Bobby Rahal Truesports March Cosworth 103 183.34 (295.057) 2:05:50 87.414 Report
1987 July 19 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi Patrick Racing March Chevrolet-Ilmor 103 183.34 (295.057) 1:54:35 95.991 Report
1988 July 17 United States Al Unser Jr. Galles Racing March Chevrolet-Ilmor 103 183.34 (295.057) 1:59:34 91.994 Report
1989 July 23 United States Michael Andretti Newman/Haas Racing Lola Chevrolet-Ilmor 103 183.34 (295.057) 2:01:00 90.9 Report
1990 July 22 United States Al Unser Jr. Galles/KRACO Racing Lola Chevrolet-Ilmor 94* 167.32 (269.275) 2:13:26 75.997 Report
1991 July 21 United States Michael Andretti Newman/Haas Racing Lola Chevrolet-Ilmor 103 183.34 (295.057) 1:50:57 99.143 Report
1992 July 19 United States Michael Andretti Newman/Haas Racing Lola Ford-Cosworth 103 183.34 (295.057) 1:52:21 97.898 Report
1993 July 18 Canada Paul Tracy Penske Racing Penske Chevrolet-Ilmor 103 183.34 (295.057) 1:53:58 96.51 Report
1994 July 17 United States Michael Andretti Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Ford-Cosworth 98 174.44 (280.733) 1:48:15 96.673 Report
1995 July 16 United States Michael Andretti Newman/Haas Racing Lola Ford-Cosworth 98 174.44 (280.733) 1:50:25 94.787 Report
1996 July 14 Mexico Adrian Fernandez Tasman Motorsports Lola Honda 93* 165.912 (267.009) 1:41:59 97.548 Report
1997 July 20 United Kingdom Mark Blundell PacWest Racing Reynard Mercedes-Benz 95 163.495 (263.119) 1:45:43 92.779 Report
1998 July 19 Italy Alex Zanardi Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda 95 163.495 (263.119) 1:52:24 87.274 Report
1999 July 18 United Kingdom Dario Franchitti Team Green Reynard Honda 95 166.725 (268.317) 1:56:27 85.897 Report
2000 July 16 United States Michael Andretti Newman/Haas Racing Lola Ford-Cosworth 112 196.56 (316.332) 2:00:02 98.248 Report
2001 July 15 United States Michael Andretti Team Green Reynard Honda 95 166.725 (268.317) 1:59:58 83.375 Report
2002 July 7 Brazil Cristiano da Matta Newman/Haas Racing Lola Toyota 112 196.56 (316.332) 2:06:19 93.361 Report
2003 July 13 Canada Paul Tracy Forsythe Racing Lola Ford-Cosworth 112 196.56 (316.332) 2:02:36 96.189 Report
2004 July 11 France Sébastien Bourdais Newman/Haas Racing Lola Ford-Cosworth 84 147.42 (237.249) 1:45:36 83.749 Report
2005 July 10 United Kingdom Justin Wilson RuSPORT Lola Ford-Cosworth 86 150.93 (242.898) 1:46:10 85.296 Report
2006 July 9 United States A. J. Allmendinger Forsythe Racing Lola Ford-Cosworth 86 150.93 (242.898) 1:38:01 92.386 Report
2007 July 8 Australia Will Power Walker Racing Panoz Cosworth 73 128.115 (206.181) 1:45:58 72.534 Report
2008 July 6 Race cancelled following reunification of Champ Car and IRL.
IndyCar Series
2009 July 12 United Kingdom Dario Franchitti Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara Honda 85 149.175 (240.073) 1:43:47 86.24 Report
2010 July 18 Australia Will Power Penske Racing Dallara Honda 85 149.175 (240.073) 1:47:15 83.451 Report
2011 July 10 United Kingdom Dario Franchitti Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara Honda 85 149.175 (240.073) 1:56:32 76.805 Report
2012 July 8 United States Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport Dallara Chevrolet 85 149.175 (240.073) 1:33:27 95.787 Report
2013 July 13 New Zealand Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara Honda 85 149.175 (240.073) 1:41:17 88.37 Report
July 14 New Zealand Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara Honda 85 149.175 (240.073) 1:35:02 94.177
2014 July 20* France Sébastien Bourdais KV Racing Technology Dallara Chevrolet 65* 114.075 (183.585) 1:15:44 90.37 Report
United Kingdom Mike Conway Ed Carpenter Racing Dallara Chevrolet 56* 98.28 (158.166) 1:20:36 73.168
2015* June 14 United States Josef Newgarden CFH Racing Dallara Chevrolet 85 149.175 (240.073) 1:39:00 90.41 Report
2016 July 17 Australia Will Power Penske Racing Dallara Chevrolet 85 151.81 (244.314) 1:42:39 88.739 Report
1997 Toronto Molson Indy
  • 1990: Race shortened due to rain.
  • 1996: Race ended with 1 1/2 laps remaining (93 of 95 laps completed) because of fatal crash on Lake Shore Boulevard. Driver Jeff Krosnoff and a track marshal were killed and the race was stopped near the impact point a lap later.
  • 2014: First race was postponed from Saturday to Sunday morning because of rain. The second planned race is still scheduled for Sunday afternoon which means two races in one day. Because of this, both races were shortened from 85 laps to 65 to compensate for the delay. The second race however was further shortened due to time limit.
  • 2015: Due to Toronto hosting the 2015 Pan American and Parapan American Games, the race was moved to June to avoid conflicting with the games.

Support race winners

Indy Lights / Atlantic Championship

ARS/Indy Lights   Atlantic Championship
Season Winning driver Season Winning driver
1986 Italy Fabrizio Barbazza 1986 Not held
1987 Republic of Ireland Tommy Byrne 1987
1988 United Kingdom Calvin Fish 1988
1989 United States Gary Rubio 1989
1990 Canada Paul Tracy 1990 United States Freddy Rhemrev
1991 United States P. J. Jones 1991 United States Stuart Crow
1992 United States Bryan Herta 1992 Canada David Empringham
1993 United States Bryan Herta 1993 Canada Claude Bourbonnais
1994 United Kingdom Steve Robertson 1994 United States Richie Hearn
1995 Canada Greg Moore 1995 United States Richie Hearn
1996 Brazil Gualter Salles 1996 Canada Patrick Carpentier
1997 Brazil Hélio Castro-Neves 1997 United States Memo Gidley
1998 United Kingdom Guy Smith 1998 Canada Alex Tagliani
1999 United States Geoff Boss 1999 Not held
2000 Not held 2000 Canada Andrew Bordin
2001 United States Townsend Bell 2001 Canada David Rutledge
2002 Not held 2002 Canada Michael Valiante
2003 2003 United States A. J. Allmendinger
2004 2004 United States Jon Fogarty
2005 2005 Canada Antoine Bessette
2006 2006 United States Robbie Pecorari
2007 2007 France Franck Perera
2008 2008 Not held
2009 Colombia Sebastian Saavedra 2009
2010 France Jean-Karl Vernay 2010
2011 United Kingdom Stefan Wilson 2011
2012 Colombia Gustavo Yacamán 2012
2013 United Kingdom Jack Hawksworth 2013
2014 France Alexandre Baron 2014
2015 United States Spencer Pigot 2015
2016 Sweden Felix Rosenqvist 2016
Sweden Felix Rosenqvist

SCCA Trans-Am Series

Year Winning driver Car
1993 United States Scott Sharp Chevrolet Camaro [8]
1994 United States Tommy Kendall Ford Mustang [9]
2004 Puerto Rico Jorge Diaz, Jr. Jaguar XKR [10]
2005 United States Paul Gentilozzi Jaguar XKR [11]
2010 Dominican Republic R. J. Lopez Chevrolet Corvette [12]

Pirelli World Challenge – GT

Season Winning driver Car
2007 United States Randy Pobst Porsche 911 GT3
2010 United States Randy Pobst (GT)
United States Peter Cunningham (GTS) 		Volvo S60
Acura TSX
2013 United States Johnny O'Connell (GT)
United States Lawson Aschenbach (GTS) 		Cadillac CTS-V
Chevrolet Camaro
2014 Race 1
United Kingdom Nick Tandy (GT)
Brazil Marcelo Hahn (GTA)
United States Dean Martin (GTS) 		Porsche 911 GT3 R
Lamborghini Gallardo GT3
Ford Mustang Boss 302S
Race 2
Canada Kuno Wittmer (GT)
United States Michael Mills (GTA)
Canada Mark Wilkins (GTS) 		Dodge Viper SRT GT3-R
Porsche 911 GT3 R
Kia Optima

Pirelli World Challenge – Touring Car

Season Winning driver Car
2007 United States Peter Cunningham Acura
2010 Canada Nick Wittmer Honda Civic Si
2013 Race 1
United States Michael Cooper (TC)
United States Joel Lipperini (TCB) 		Mazdaspeed 3
Honda Fit
Race 2
United States Michael Cooper (TC)
United States Ernie Francis Jr. (TCB) 		Mazdaspeed 3
Mazda 2

CASCAR Super Series

Year Race name Winner Car
1999 Miller Lite 100 Canada Robin Buck Pontiac [13]
2000 Exide 99 Canada Kevin Dowler Ford [14]
2001 Canada Robin Buck Pontiac [15]
2002 CASCAR Toronto Indy, presented by NAPA Canada Kevin Dowler Ford [16]
2003 Avenue ACDelco 100 Canada Jeff Lapcevich Chevrolet [17]
2004 CASCAR Toronto Indy 100 Canada Jeff Lapcevich Chevrolet [18]
2005 ATTO 100 Canada Kerry Micks Ford [19]

NASCAR Pinty's Series

Ron Beauchamp, Jr. practicing for the 2010 Jumpstart 100
Year Race name Winner Car
2010 Jumpstart 100 Canada Andrew Ranger Dodge [20]
2011 Streets of Toronto 100 Canada Andrew Ranger Dodge [21]
2016 Pinty’s Grand Prix of Toronto Canada Alex Tagliani Chevrolet [22]

Current series

Former series

A variety of racing series have previously run as support series on the race weekend. These include:

[24]

Race day attendance

Year Attendance
1986 60,000
1987 64,000
1988 59,155
1989 61,156
1990 64,245
1991 61,264
1992 65,094
1993 66,225
1994 66,503
1995 68,238
2000 72,976
2001 73,628
2002 73,160
2003 73,255
2004 72,561
2005 73,155
2006
2007
2008 Not held
2009 15,000 est.[25]
2010
2011 25,000 est[26]

[citation needed]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Toronto could shake up title hunt". ESPN. Retrieved July 18, 2013.
  2. ^ Genova, Victor. "10 Random Toronto Indy Facts". Honda Indy Toronto. Retrieved September 1, 2016.
  3. ^ "Retro T.O.: The first Indy". The Grid TO. Retrieved March 26, 2013.
  4. ^ "Honda Indy Toronto gains momentum". ESPN. Retrieved March 26, 2013.
  5. ^ Andretti Green buys Toronto Champ Car race.
  6. ^ Toronto, Edmonton on 2009 IndyCar Schedule.
  7. ^ Honda Indy Toronto News
  8. ^ "1993 Trans-Am Box Scores" (PDF). SCCA Archives. Retrieved April 23, 2013. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  9. ^ "1994 Trans-Am Box Scores" (PDF). SCCA Archives. Retrieved April 23, 2013. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  10. ^ "2004 Trans-Am Box Scores" (PDF). SCCA Archives. Retrieved April 23, 2013. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  11. ^ "2005 Trans-Am Box Scores" (PDF). SCCA Archives. Retrieved April 23, 2013. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  12. ^ "SCCA Trans-Am Series - 2010 Season". RolfsRacing.com. Retrieved April 23, 2013. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  13. ^ "CASCAR drivers shine at Molson Indy Toronto... Buck and Jefferson win". The Auto Channel. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
  14. ^ "Dowler wins at Toronto Indy". Motorsport.com. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
  15. ^ "2001 Molson Indy Toronto". Racing-Reference.info. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
  16. ^ "CASCAR - Toronto Indy Results and Summary". The Auto Channel. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
  17. ^ "CASCAR - Toronto Indy Summary & Results". The Auto Channel. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
  18. ^ "CASCAR: Lapcevich wins Toronto event". TSN.ca. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
  19. ^ "CASCAR: Micks takes Toronto win". TSN.ca. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
  20. ^ "Ranger wins Jumpstart 100". The Toronto Sun. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
  21. ^ "Quebec's Ranger grabs win in Toronto NASCAR race". The Toronto Star. July 9, 2011. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
  22. ^ "Tagliani wins Pinty's Grand Prix of Toronto". TSN. July 16, 2016. Retrieved September 2, 2016.
  23. ^ "Schedule". Stadium Super Trucks. Retrieved October 18, 2013.
  24. ^ "Exhibition Place". Ultimate Racing History. Retrieved March 26, 2013.
  25. ^ "Toronto Indy organizers pleased despite low turnout". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. November 17, 2009.
  26. ^ http://thestar.blogs.com/autoracing/2011/07/heres-how-many-people-watched-the-honda-indy-toronto.html
Preceded by
Iowa Corn 300 		Current
IndyCar Series races 		Succeeded by
Honda Indy 200

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