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Power outruns Franchitti for Toronto win

Sun 18th, July 2010

Toronto, Canada (Sports Network) - Will Power from Team Penske claimed his fourth victory of the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series season with an impressive performance in Sunday's Honda Indy Toronto.

Power passed Justin Wilson for the lead just after a restart with 14 laps remaining. He then held off Dario Franchitti, last year's race winner at Toronto, by 1.28 seconds. All four of Power's wins this year have come on road/street courses.

"This whole team works so well together; our stops were good today," Power said. "We struggled in practice, but we worked really hard, and this was the end result."

Power won the first two races this season -- Sao Paulo, Brazil and St. Petersburg, FL. His last victory came two weeks ago at Watkins Glen, NY.

The 29-year-old Australian driver also widened his lead in the championship standings to 42 points over Franchitti, the defending series title-holder.

"I'm just so happy to give our car a bigger points lead, and the whole team worked really hard; man, it's all about winning," he added.

Franchitti led 22 laps during the mid-stages of the race, but Franchitti handed the top position to Power when he pitted during a round of green-flag stops on lap 55. Power and then second-place runner Wilson made their stops on the following lap. Wilson took the lead when he beat Power out of the pits and then entered the track ahead of Franchitti.

"Our car was pretty good," said Franchitti, who finished second. "It was all about track position, and we pitted one lap early. Justin and Will jumped us when they went a lap longer, and that was it. I managed to get past Justin when he was trying to get back up to speed on old tires."

Wilson started on the pole and led a race-high 32 laps, but Wilson spun out late in the race and wound up finishing seventh.

"Will got by me, and I was fine with that, and so will live to fight another day, but I went through turn seven and got sideways, so I got on the brakes and locked up the rears," Wilson said.

Ryan Hunter-Reay finished third, while Tony Kanaan and Graham Rahal rounded out the top-five. Danica Patrick recorded her best performance on a road/street course this year with a sixth-place run.

"It's a great confidence-booster not only for me but the whole team," Patrick said. "It's the best finish we've had on a street course this season. We were really happy with the way the car was performing throughout the whole race."

Marco Andretti finished eighth, followed by rookie Simona de Silvestro and Dan Wheldon.

The 85-lap race at Toronto featured several cautions for accidents, including ones that involved Helio Castroneves and Scott Dixon.

Just after the restart on lap 22, Castroneves tried to overtake Vitor Meira for second heading into the first corner, but Castroneves clipped Meira and then went off course before he slammed hard into the tire barrier. The Penske driver was not injured.

"When you're running back there and you brake a little earlier, I was not expecting [Meira] braking that early," said Castroneves, who finished 24th in the 26-car field. "I was using the push-to-pass and trying to go to the inside, but when you close it in, I wanted to go to the outside and not expecting him to brake that early. Obviously, he hit my right-front tire, and the race was over for us."

Dixon made contact with Hunter-Reay and got shoved up into the barrier, causing heavy damage to his left-front suspension. Dixon was knocked out of the event with 14 laps to go and ended up finishing 20th. He is now 78 points behind leader Power and 26 points in back of his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Franchitti.

Canadian Paul Tracy led early in the race due to fuel strategy, but the home crowd favorite fell back in the field after his first pit stop and then spun late in the event for a 13th-place finish.