Scott Dixon will attempt to make his 315th consecutive start, the second-longest streak in INDYCAR SERIES history as the Honda Indy Toronto gets underway this weekend in Canada. It will be the 37th IndyCar Series race held on the streets of Toronto’s Exhibition Place. Scott Dixon earned his fourth Toronto victory in 2022.
It is also the 10th race of the 2023 season which has seen five different winners in nine NTT INDYCAR SERIES races so far – Marcus Ericsson (Streets of St. Petersburg), Josef Newgarden (Texas Motor Speedway and Indianapolis 500), Kyle Kirkwood (Streets of Long Beach), Scott McLaughlin (Barber Motorsports Park) and Alex Palou (Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course-1, Streets of Detroit, Road America and Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course) have all won in 2023. The modern record (1946-present) for most different winners in a season is 11 in 2000, 2001 and 2014.
Dixon is the winningest active INDYCAR SERIES driver at Toronto with four victories (Dixon won both races in 2013, and in 2018 and 2022). Michael Andretti has the most wins at the track with seven. Dixon, three-time Toronto winner Will Power (2007, 2010, 2016), Josef Newgarden (2015, 2017) and Ryan Hunter-Reay (2012) are previous race winners entered this year.
Dixon has finished on the podium in six of his last 12 races at Toronto. He has 10 top-five finishes in 16 starts…Will Power has finished on the podium in five of his 16 Toronto starts…Toronto-area native Devlin DeFrancesco is the lone Canadian driver entered in the race.
From 2009-2019, the eventual NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion won the Toronto race six times. Dario Franchitti won in 2009 and in 2011. Ryan Hunter-Reay won in 2012, Scott Dixon swept both races in 2013 and won the single race in 2018, and Josef Newgarden won in 2017. Seven other drivers have claimed the INDYCAR SERIES championship in the same season they won at Toronto: Bobby Rahal (1986), Al Unser Jr. (1990), Michael Andretti (1991), Alex Zanardi (1998), Cristiano da Matta (2002), Paul Tracy (2003) and Sebastien Bourdais (2004).
Twenty-three drivers entered in the event have competed in past INDYCAR SERIES races at Exhibition Place. Helio Castroneves, Scott Dixon and Will Power (16) have made the most starts at Toronto among the entered drivers.
Eleven entered drivers have led laps at the track (Dixon 240, Power 162, Josef Newgarden 120, Castroneves 101, Ryan Hunter-Reay 36, Graham Rahal 29, Rinus VeeKay 18, Colton Herta 17, Pato O’Ward 3 and Felix Rosenqvist 1).
Chip Ganassi Racing has won eight times at Toronto: Michael Andretti (1994), Alex Zanardi (1998), Dario Franchitti (2009, 2011) and Scott Dixon (2013 both races, 2018, 2022). Team Penske has five wins at the track: Paul Tracy (1993), Will Power (2010, 2016), Josef Newgarden (2017) and Simon Pagenaud (2019). Team Penske has 10 pole positions at the track: Danny Sullivan (1988, 1990), Emerson Fittipaldi (1993), Helio Castroneves (2000), Gil de Ferran (2001), Will Power (2011, 2015), Simon Pagenaud (2017), Josef Newgarden (2018) and Simon Pagenaud (2019).
British Sports car racing standout Tom Blomqvist will make his INDYCAR SERIES debut in Toronto, substituting for Meyer Shank Racing driver Simon Pagenaud, who was not cleared to drive after his crash in practice July 1 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
The Honda Indy Toronto (85 laps, 151.81 miles) race is set to go at 2pm on Sunday local time (6am Monday NZ time).
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