TMCnet News
Franchitti Finishes 17th, Dixon 25th in TorontoTORONTO, Jul 09, 2012 (NEWMEDIAWIRE via COMTEX) -- Results (with starting pos.) from Toronto 1. (6) Ryan Hunter-Reay, No. 28 Chevrolet 2. (13) Charlie Kimball, No. 83 Honda 3. (11) Mike Conway, No. 14 Honda 17. (1) Dario Franchitti, No. 10 Target Honda 25. (5) Scott Dixon, No. 9 Target Honda Target Chip Ganassi Racing (TCGR) driver Dario Franchitti finished 17th in the Honda Indy Toronto from the Streets of Toronto, while Target teammate Scott Dixon finished 25th. For the third consecutive race this season, Franchitti started from the pole - which marked the longest such streak of his Indy car racing career. With a strong initial start, the No. 10 Target Honda held the lead for the first five laps of the 85-lap race. He ran in second until making his first pit-stop of the day under caution on Lap 20. There was a delay in fueling the car, which dropped them back to 20th in the running order. Franchitti gradually worked his way back up through the field until being involved in a late-race incident. Dixon lined up fifth on the starting grid and at the drop of the green moved into fourth, where he would run the opening seven laps. On Lap 8, a mechanical failure in the No. 9 Target Honda forced Dixon to retire from the race, finishing 25th. With the results, Dixon is now fourth in the IZOD IndyCar Series point standings with 281 points, -54 points behind new leader, Ryan Hunter-Reay. Franchitti remains eighth in the standings with 230 points, -105 behind Hunter-Reay. Honda remains second in the manufacturer point standings with 69 points, -12 markers behind Chevrolet. Lotus is third with 40 points. Up next for Team Target is Round 11 of the IZOD IndyCar Series with the Edmonton Indy from the Edmonton City Centre Airport, July 22 at 2:45 p.m. ET on NBC Sports. NOTES - Franchitti earned his third consecutive pole of the 2012 season and his fourth career pole at Toronto. - Franchitti has led at least one lap in six of the 10 races this season. TCGR Quoteboard: Scott Dixon: "I think it was the engine - it was definitely something mechanical. We're not very happy of course, but Team Target will do a lot between now and Edmonton." Dario Franchitti: "Another tough day for the Target guys. We got caught out with a yellow and then had an issue on the pit stop with the fueling. That put us to the back and we tried to make something happen on strategy but couldn't make the fuel number. We finally got the yellow we needed on the last restart. There were massive amounts of marbles and cars going three-wide, and I went for a gap that closed. It was just one of those things today." About Chip Ganassi Racing Teams, Inc. Chip Ganassi has been a fixture in the auto racing industry for over 25 years and is considered one of the most successful as well as innovative owners the sport has anywhere in the world. Today his teams include four in the IZOD IndyCar Series, two cars in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, and one Daytona Prototype in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series. Overall his teams have 14 championships and 148 victories, including four Indianapolis 500s, a Daytona 500, a Brickyard 400 and four Rolex 24 At Daytonas. Ganassi boasts state-of-the-art race shop facilities in Indianapolis and Brownsburg, Ind. and Concord, N.C., with a corporate office in Pittsburgh, Penn. For more information log onto chipganassiracing.com |