It was a stunning end to an otherwise successful weekend for Gaunt Brothers Racing. The team, including Jason, started the event with a total of 15 laps around the 2.71 mile road course. It was a small amount of time to find an enormous amount of speed, especially considering Ranger and Mosport winner JR Fitzpatrick combined had raced in 13 events on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Bowles was having to figure it out on the fly.

“The first time I saw this track was on Saturday morning in the pace car. It’s like anything, we just had to work harder and be quick studies. There were a few tricky parts that I needed to figure out, but we had most of it covered by the end of practice,” said Bowles prior to qualifying on Saturday.

Bowles went from being close to six seconds off the pace in early practice to qualifying third and coming within a few hundredths of a second of posting the race’s fastest lap.

There was a strong fan showing for Sunday’s events with the partisan French-Canadian crowd cheering for the local boy Ranger. When the green flag fell after an aborted start, Fitzpatrick quickly bowed out of the top-three fray with an axle problem. This left Ranger and Bowles primarily in line to fight for the win. The race was a short 23 laps or one hour long, whichever came first, so there would be no pit stops. Just a sprint to the end.

Ranger captured the lead and held the top spot for all but a lap or two at the start when Fitzpatrick passed him prior to his problems. Bowles played his strategy, which in part involved learning more about the track and where he could make up speed on Ranger.

Cautions were sprinkled throughout the race, culminating with the fifth of the day on lap 19 that would bring out a green-white-checker finish. The race had already eclipsed it’s one-hour time window, but NASCAR was granted an extension and competitors were told there would be only one restart to decide the race. Bowles lined up outside Ranger for the restart. At the green Ranger pulled two car lengths on the No.11 Racewithrusty.com Toyota and held the advantage through the first lap.

As the two took the white flag, Bowles began to creep closer to Ranger and looked to make his move as they entered the hairpin.

“I had a run coming up through the esses there leading to the hairpin and had decided I was going to brake deeper there even on the lap before,” said Bowles. “When I got in there, he left the door open a little bit and I stuck my nose in. He came over, we touched and it got him loose, just enough to let me by.

As Bowles left the hairpin, Ranger corrected and chased the No.11 machine down the back straight, albeit from a few car lengths behind

“I knew going down the back straight he was going to try and out-brake me into the chicane, I just didn’t know he was going to use me as his brakes. When I went in, I went in deeper there than I had all day and I left him the opportunity to out-brake me, but he was back I think a little too far to try that. So I guess he figured he had only one option and that was to pile-drive me and stick me in the fence. Everyone is going to talk about this for a long time. The reality is, if it were reversed he would have done the same thing to me in the hairpin, that was racing – he even said he was being conservative in that corner after the race. The difference is I wouldn’t have done what he did in the last corner to him.

“At least just try and out-brake me, right? I didn’t even really have a defensive line going in, he could have tried to out-brake me, blown the corner and gotten into me that way. Honestly, I would have been cool with that, I fully expected him to come back at me, that’s just competitiveness. But he just showed what kind of racer he is though in outright taking me out. It’s ok though, I’ll be back next year and we’ll go round two.”

When Bowles and the No.11 Camry crossed the line after getting out of the tire barrier, the scoreboard showed a 20th-place finish. After finishing third at Mosport, and second at Toronto, Bowles was obviously hoping for that last step up on the podium in Montreal.

“Hey, we had a lot of fun coming to Canada and racing,” Bowles said. “This team came a long way in a short amount of time, especially on the road racing side where they didn’t have a lot of experience. It’s too bad we don’t have a couple more road races left to try and even the score, but John (Gaunt) can take over again and hopefully race it to the top in the last three races.”

GBR takes to the track again in two weeks at the Barrie Speedway in Ontario. Barrie is John Gaunt’s hometown and a track he owns multiple championships racing on over the years.

- Gaunt Brothers Racing Press Release

Jason Bowles

Kentucky Speedway

Penske Racing’s Power will enter the series’ ninth and final road/street course race of the season at Infineon Raceway Aug. 22 with a 41-point championship lead over defending series title holder and reigning Indianapolis 500 champion Dario Franchitti.

Power impressively built his leading margin through a five-race stretch that began with a fifth-place finish at Iowa Speedway June 20; continued with back-to-back victories on the Watkins Glen International road course July 4 and the Streets of Toronto July 18; then progressed with second-place finishes at Edmonton City Centre Airport July 25 and Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Aug. 8.

The second-year series competitor earned each of his four victories and placed no worse than fourth while generating and average finish of 1.9 in this season’s road/street course events to date. In addition to his overall championship advantage, the sterling effort helped him build a 287-point cushion over Franchitti in the newly-established series road-course championship.

“It’s been a good run. At the end of the day, we just have to keep finishing ahead of Dario the way the points are right now. Things can change pretty quick with (Scott) Dixon and (Ryan) Briscoe within striking distance. I know it’s going to be a tight championship all the way to the end, but I’m up to the challenge,” Power said.

In contrast to his road course success, the driver from Toowoomba, Australia earned his best oval-track finish of the season in Iowa and generated an average 10th-place finish in the four series races contested on oval tracks this season. He planned to use today’s test to solidify his car’s oval-track baseline and help him improve on last season’s ninth-place Kentucky finish.

“I think this test is important because it’s always good for me to get on an oval to get accustomed to the way we drive the car with this stretch coming up. We hope to get some good stuff done today to make the car go faster.

“The racecars on the ovals are the key when you put yourself in my position. That’s where I lack a little bit of experience, but I’m learning a lot quickly. We definitely have to be doing better than fifth-place finishes on ovals. We’ve been knocking on the door there and I’m really looking forward to the last four because I think I could be challenging for wins,” he said.

Andretti, currently eighth in the championship standings and 195 points behind Power, has raced to three top-five and five top-10 finishes this season highlighted by back-to-back third-place results at Indianapolis and Texas Motor Speedway June 5.

Despite capturing his second top-10 finish in the past three events with a ninth-place Mid-Ohio showing, the open-wheel legacy aims to add spark to a self-described disappointing season by taking at least one victory in final five races and possibly bettering his career-best seventh-place championship finishes from 2008 and 2006.

“It’s going to be tough. I have to beat my teammates sitting sixth, seventh and eighth. Last year we should’ve been fifth, but we had a mechanical failure in the last race at Homestead and it put us eighth. Now we’re just looking for a win. It’s definitely possible. If you get (the car) right, it can be anywhere,” he said.

He used today’s test as a starting point for finding the set-up that led to a 10th-place run and a third consecutive top-10 Kentucky finish last season.

“Racing here is about finding a balance of speed and comfort. You can be comfortable and be flat out all day, but you might not be quick enough. You have to find that balance and these places can be really tricky. For speed, you have to roll off the truck quick. If you do, it’s about dialing it in and fine tuning. If you can, you’ll be right in it,” he analyzed.

Ryan Hunter-Reay is making consistency the theme of his third full series season and first with Andretti Autosport. He arrived for today’s test coming off his sixth straight top-10 finish of the season after taking 10th-place at Mid Ohio. The wheelman from Boca Raton, Fla., ranks sixth in the championship standings, 125 points behind Power and is on pace for his best career championship finish.

He will look to further punctuate a surprise season by adding at least one more triumph to his 2010 ledger after capturing the second victory of his four-year series career on April 18 on the Streets of Long Beach.

“Just completing the whole season is a huge accomplishment. We started off only planning for three races and Andretti Autosport has turned it into a full season. It’s an excellent team and the best opportunity I’ve ever had.

“We’ve been running well. We’ve given away a lot of points this year in the pits and if it weren’t for that, we may be fighting in the top three. We’ve cracked into the potential that we have and now we’re looking forward to finishing out the rest of the season and putting together an off-season testing program looking toward 2011,” he said.

He planned to fine tune his qualifying set up during today’s test. He started last season’s 300-mile Kentucky battle 17th before finishing 14th. He earned his lone Bluegrass State top-10 finish with a ninth-place performance in 2009.

“I enjoy racing here and hopefully my best race here will be coming up. I see every race as an opportunity and we just really need the outright speed in the car. That’s what we’re working on. It doesn’t matter where we qualify, we always fight our way up into the top 10, top five, but we’re trying to qualify a little higher up on the grid. That’s what we’re doing here,” he added.

Carpenter, who placed second behind Ryan Briscoe by 0.0162 of a second in Kentucky Speedway’s closest all-time series finish last season, announced a collaborative agreement between Vision Racing and Panther Racing on Monday that will return him to a car for the Aug. 28 event at Chicagoland Speedway, the “Kentucky Indy 300” and the Oct. 2 season-finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

“We had a debut in Indianapolis with Panther Racing and Vision Racing. It was a successful month of May and everyone agreed we wanted to do more. It took us a little longer than we had hoped to get it all finalized, but I’m happy to we’re going to be racing in Chicago, and Kentucky before finishing the season off in Miami,” Carpenter said.

After being sidelined by following his 17th-place Indianapolis 500 finish this season, he will take on his abbreviated schedule with a renewed competitive hunger.

“It’s been painful. We didn’t have a great start to last season, but we definitely finished up strong, especially with Kentucky in the mix. I’m excited to get back to work, get in a car and do what I love to do again. When I get an opportunity to get out there, I want to maximize every moment,” he said.

The “Kentucky Indy 300” will be part of the speedway’s “Celebrate Speed” weekend that also will place the racing spotlight the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series “Built Ford Tough 225 presented by the Greater Cincinnati Ford Dealers” Sept. 3. Fans visiting Sept. 4 also will see the Firestone Indy Lights “Drive Smart. Buckle-Up Kentucky 100” and country music supergroup Diamond Rio.

Single-race tickets for the track’s inaugural Labor Day event weekend can be reserved through the tickets pages of www.kentuckyspeedway.com, by phone at 888-652-7223 (RACE) or by visiting the Kentucky Speedway ticket offices at 400 Buttermilk Pike, Suite 100, in Ft. Mitchell, Ky., next to the Montgomery Inn Restaurant or the Fan Center located off of Interstate 71, Exit 57 and Ky. Hwy. 35 N in Sparta, Ky. Tickets additionally are available through tickets.com outlets.

- Kentucky Speedway Press Release

Team Penske

Drivers: Helio Castroneves (No. 3 Team Penske), Ryan Briscoe (No. 6 Team Penske) and Will Power (No. 12 Verizon Team Penske)

Race: Honda Indy Edmonton at City Centre Airport in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

(1.973-mile temporary street circuit)

When: Qualifying – Saturday, July 24 at 5:30 p.m. ET (6:00 p.m. ET on Versus)

Race (95 laps) – Sunday, July 25 at 6:00 p.m. ET (5:00 p.m. ET on Versus)

TV/Radio: Versus/IMS Radio Network and XM Channel 145 and Sirius Channel 211

Edmonton Excellence: Team Penske has enjoyed solid results at Edmonton since the IZOD IndyCar Series added the popular airport circuit to its schedule in 2008. The team has won the pole there in each of the past two seasons (Ryan Briscoe in 2008 and Will Power in 2009) and it’s earned three podium results and one victory (last season with Power). Team Penske will look to make it two wins in a row at the City Centre Airport circuit this weekend.

Power Play: Power enters this weekend’s race as the hottest driver in the series. He won last Sunday in Toronto for his fourth victory of the year and his second straight win. It marks the second two-race winning streak of the season for Power, who now leads the series standings by 42 points over defending champion Dario Franchitti. Power was sensational at Edmonton in 2009, winning from the pole position while leading 90 of 95 laps. In addition to leading the series in wins, Power also has five poles to pace all competitors this season. Power will strive for his third straight win this weekend at a track that he dominated last season.

Power-ful Visit: Power will visit Stollery Children’s Hospital, located at 8440 112th Street in Edmonton, on Thursday, July 22 at 10 a.m. MT as part of the “Racing for Kids” program.

Canadian Reign: In Canada, Power has posted impressive results throughout his career. In nine races spanning Power’s career in both Champ Car and IndyCar Series competition on Canadian soil, he has produced three wins and two poles to go along with six top-five and eight top-10 results. In four career races at Edmonton, Power has earned a win, two poles and he’s led 118 laps of competition.

Power thinks his Canadian heritage may have something to do with the success north of the border. His grandmother, Jean Ella (Buchan) Power, was born in Brandon, Manitoba, but grew up and worked in Lethbridge, Alberta. Overall, Team Penske has earned two wins, two poles, five podium results and eight top-six finishes in its last four races in Canada.

Landmark Victory: On Sunday, Penske Racing earned its 150th all-time open-wheel racing victory as Power won on the Toronto street circuit. A total of 16 drivers have teamed to produce the record number of wins for open-wheel racing’s most successful organization, since 1968.

Going for Seven: Team Penske has earned six victories in 10 IZOD IndyCar Series races in 2010. The team won the first three races of the season with Power capturing the checkered flag in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car at both Sao Paulo, Brazil and at St. Petersburg. Castroneves won in the No. 3 Team Penske Dallara/Honda at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama to make it three in a row. Briscoe then took the No. 6 Team Penske machine to Victory Lane at Texas, before Power won the last two rounds of competition at Watkins Glen International and Toronto.

New Streak?: Team Penske saw its record streak of eight consecutive pole positions won in IZOD IndyCar Series competition snapped last week in Toronto. The remarkable run included poles won by all three drivers (Power – 5, Briscoe – 2, Castroneves – 1) and poles at all types of tracks (road course, street circuit, short oval, 1.5-mile oval and superspeedway). Eight in a row tied the all-time open-wheel racing record for consecutive poles. Last season, Team Penske swept qualifying at Edmonton as Power won the pole and Briscoe and Castroneves qualified second and third. The team looks to begin a new run this weekend at a venue where it’s won the last two pole positions.

Helio’s Edmonton Experience: Castroneves has run well at Edmonton over the last two seasons. He has qualified and finished among the top three at City Centre Airport in both 2008 and 2009 and he’s led 37 laps of racing at the venue. The three-time Indy 500 winner started second and finished second at Edmonton in 2008 and he started third and finished second last season behind Power.

Ryan’s Race Ready: Briscoe has also produced good results in his two races in Edmonton. He won the pole on the fast and physical street circuit in 2008 before finishing sixth and last season he qualified second and finished fourth. Currently fourth in the series standings, just seven points behind third place, Briscoe hopes a solid result this weekend will earn him a spot among the top three in the championship chase by the end of this weekend.

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING ABOUT THE HONDA INDY EDMONTON

Helio Castroneves: “I’m really looking forward to racing in Edmonton this weekend. It’s a very tough, fast circuit and the No. 3 Team Penske car has done well there, finishing second the last two years. We’ve been very close to a win there and I hope this is the year we can bring it home. I love the fans in Edmonton. They appreciate our racing and they always seem to draw a big crowd. Last week was tough at Toronto but I’m looking forward to putting that behind us with a strong result this weekend.”

Ryan Briscoe: “Edmonton is a unique track that our Team Penske cars have always been very fast at. I enjoy racing at the track and I have started on the front row in the past two years. Hopefully this year I can have another strong qualifying result and convert that into a win in Edmonton.”

Will Power: “I am looking forward to getting back on track at Edmonton. It’s a great place to race and the fan support is always good. I think it is going to be very competitive in qualifying and really tough in the race this weekend. I was pretty strong there last year and the Verizon team has been great all year so I’m hoping that we can come out on top in this event.”

- Team Penske Press Release

Jason Bowles

When the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series returned to the street race ticket in
Toronto for the first time in five years, it wasn’t without excitement.
Bowles knew going into Friday qualifying that starting in the front two rows
was all but mandatory to having a shot to win.

Starting fourth, Bowles actually tied series points leader DJ Kennington by
posting an identical time in qualifying, third-quickest overall. The No.11
GBR machine, however, lined up on the outside of row two for the green flag
based on points standing.

Bowles dropped a spot on the start to 5th, but quickly gathered it back, and
by lap 6, was the fastest car on the track. A caution on lap 9 slowed the
field and gave Jason a breather to radio in that the car took awhile to get
going.

On the subsequent restart, recent rival Kerry Micks got a run under Bowles
off the back straight into turn three, but couldn’t hold the braking zone at
the end and found himself behind on his steering trying to get the car back
in shape for the tight right hand corner that leads up a short hill. Bowles
crossed underneath trying to avoid the rainbow-shod No.02, tapping Micks in
the process, but gaining back the position.

“He got a good run going off turn two because I slid a little on the exit of
two. He tried to finish the pass under braking in three,” said Bowles. “I
think he just went a little too deep, got out of shape and there was no time
for me or anyone else to wait for him to get the car back together so went
by on the inside.”

By lap 22, Bowles was really reeling in third-place DJ Kennington, passing
the No.17 machine on lap 23. Ahead were leader Andrew Ranger and JR
Fitzpatrick, but with only a dozen laps to go it was going to take some help
to get a chance at them for the win. That chance came with five laps to go
when a full course caution allowed Bowles to close the gap, cool his tires
and line up behind leader Andrew Ranger for what would turn out to be a
green-white-checker finish.

As only NASCAR can have it, the restart was not without drama. One of GBR’s
spotters radioed that a significant amount of oil was on the track in the
back tight sections. When the green fell, Bowles tried to dive in behind
Ranger but was forced to follow Fitzpatrick through turns one and two.
Kennington was directly behind and the drag race down the back straight into
the passing zone had the top five cars spread out.

Kennington took a run, but couldn’t make a pass, so the cars headed up the hill into the tight
section. Bowles dove into the right-hand turn 7 trying to stay on
Fitzpatrick’s bumper to make a move at the end of the ensuing straight, only
to hit the oil slick and slide wide into the tires. His GBR machine bounced
off the tire barrier like a pinball, continued as Kennington dealt with the
same fate and blasted off towards turns 8 and 9.

As Bowles drove into the turn nine braking zone, Fitzpatrick ahead of him
over-cooked the corner and slid straight into the access road. The error
handed second-place over to GBR for a one lap dash to the checkered flag.
But shortly after Ranger and Bowles crossed the stripe taking the white flag
a big pileup littered the track and ended the race. Bowles would coast
across the stripe with a personal and team-best result in the NASCAR
Canadian Tire Series.

“We all knew there was oil back there, but there wasn’t really anything we
could do about it,” said Bowles after his podium celebration. “I thought for
sure I was going to see DJ drive by me underneath as I came off that tire
barrier but I guess he had the same thing happen to him. Then JR, it looked
like he took one big shot at Ranger in the last passing zone and just got in
too deep. We’ll take the spot, you have to be in position to take advantage
of those things and we were. Our car was really good, but we have some more
things to work on. It took a few laps to get going, then would be really
fast for a little while, but would taper off which means we still have some
thins to work out.”

“Overall, the team did a really good job of making the car fast; none of us
had ever been to a street course, so to come here and sit on the podium
again is a cool thing for everyone.”

Gaunt Brothers Racing will take the next week off as the series shifts to
Edmonton for another road racing event before swinging out to the west coast
for two ovals. Driver John Gaunt will take over again for the oval events.

- Gaunt Brothers Racing Press Release

Wilson looked to be on his way to victory with 20 laps left in the 85-lap event on the Exhibition Place street circuit. But Will Power overtook Wilson on Lap 72 of a restart on the 1.75-mile, 11-turn circuit and went on to a 1.7-second victory over Dario Franchitti.

Ryan Hunter-Reay was third, Andretti Autorsport teammate Tony Kanaan finished fourth and Graham Rahal – making his season debut with Newman/Haas Racing — was fifth. Danica Patrick finished sixth – the same as last year.

Also on July 18, J.K. Vernay pulled away from the field over the final 10 laps to win the Toronto 100. It was the fourth win of 2010 for the French rookie, who has led the Firestone Indy Lights point standings since the start of the season.

Dan Clarke, driving the No. 40 Wasteco Deans Knight Special, was second (his best finish of the season) and Gustavo Yacaman finished third (also a season best) in the No. 10 Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing entry.

DAY 3 NOTEBOOK:

TORONTO 100 POST-RACE NOTES:

•This is the fourth career Firestone Indy Lights victory for series rookie J.K. Vernay. He also won the first two races of this season, at St. Petersburg and Barber Motorsports Park and at Watkins Glen earlier this month.

•Series points leader J.K. Vernay has led laps in four races this season – St. Petersburg, Barber Motorsports Park, Watkins Glen and Toronto. He won all four races.

•Winner J.K. Vernay recorded his six top-three finish in seven starts this season. His only result off the podium came in May in the Firestone Freedom 100 at Indianapolis, where he finished 13^th.

•James Hinchcliffe failed to finish in the top five for the first time since the season opener at St. Petersburg, in which he was involved in a first-turn accident after starting from the pole.

•This is the first career podium finish for both Dan Clarke and Gustavo Yacaman. Clarke’s previous best was fourth place at Indianapolis earlier this year. Yacaman’s previous best finish was 4^th at Milwaukee in 2009.

TORONTO 100 POST-RACE QUOTES:

J.K. VERNAY (No. 7 Lucas/CJ/Sam Schmidt Motorsports, winner Toronto 100): “The beginning of the race is very difficult because in the first corner, the inside part of the track was very slippery. I touched James.  I didn’t want to do that but I had no choice.  After that, my front left suspension was a bit broken. It was really difficult.  I had to change my driving style to manage my tire. When my engineer told me ten laps to go, I knew I would be OK. I just wanted to push and make a big gap. I saw James crash on the last lap. I feel sorry for him but I can’t say it’s not a good thing for me in the championship.”

DAN CLARKE (No. 40 Wasteco Deans Knight Special, finished second): “It is great to be on the podium again. I would have been happy with third after the year we’ve had.  I’ve never actually finished in my previous races at Toronto. I was going to happy with third.  I got a good run on Hinchcliffe on the back straight of the last lap. It was the closet I had ever been to him and I knew I could get him then.  He kept it high in the breaking zone and I thought, fair enough, I have it. Then he just slid on. I know how it feels to do that.  But I’m very happy for Walker Racing. We’re going to celebrate now.”

GUSTAVO YACAMAN (No. 10 Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing, finished third): “This is my maiden podium, we really were struggling at the beginning of the year, it’s a new car, new team but we did a great job this weekend. Everyone on the team worked together and succeeded as a team which that is the way to go. This race is really challenging, it’s a really long race and physically really challenging. You’re just bouncing off of every wall and so close to them. I’ve never been closer to the wall in my life before, not even on an oval. But I’m just really excited, the car was really good and the guys just did an overall awesome job.”

CHARLIE KIMBALL (No. 26 Levemir FlexPen, finished fourth): “That was a lot of fun. It was a really long, hard, hot race. The #26 Levemir car was good from green to checkered. I could fight all day; I could have gone another 10-15 laps for sure. The car was only getting better. All the credit goes to the AFS Racing/Andretti Autosport guys. Except for a mechanical issue during qualifying, we were in the top five all weekend. On to Edmonton and, if not a win, definitely a podium finish.”

STEFAN WILSON (No. 28 Bryan Herta Autosport, finished fifth): ” It was a great race. It was difficult weekend for the number 28. We had been set up and were struggling to find the right direction to go all weekend. We qualified badly, ended up p10 but we worked really hard every day to try and improve the car and I think it paid off, we had a really fast car out there. I’m really pleased with the performance this weekend. The race was a little difficult; I made a mistake and went down the run-off barrier and had to spin the car around so I dropped at least 40 seconds to the leaders then had to work so hard to get back up with them.”

MARTIN PLOWMAN (No. 27 Automatic Fire Sprinklers/KEP Printing): “This was my worst finish in this season, but it was probably one of the best races I’ve run in the last two years. I lost a wing on lap 2 but my team did a fantastic job to get me back out there. I stayed on the lead lap, and didn’t lose a lap after that. I think I had the fastest car out there, I had quite a few good passes, and then when that full course yellow came out it was great because that allowed me to bunch up to the rest of the field. I made a few more passes on the restart and overall it was a fantastic way to end a bad start. I want to thank IZOD and everybody that was involved, because this is easily one of my favorite events of the year.”

SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA (No. 29 William Rast/Bryan Herta Autosport, finished 14^th): “It’s very disappointing, coming from last year which was such a victory for me, then coming to this year which is such a disappointment for me. It’s hard for us and hard for the points. We were looking forward to the championship but we’ll keep fighting with several races to go.”

HONDA INDY TORONTO POST-RACE NOTES:

• This is Will Power’s fourth win of the season.  He previously won at Sao Paulo, St. Petersburg and Watkins Glen.

• Power has won back-to-back races twice this season (Sao Paulo – St. Petersburg, Watkins Glen-Toronto)

• This is Team Penske’s 41st win in the IZOD IndyCar Series, further extending a record for most wins by a team.

• 2010 race winner Dario Franchitti finished second, his fifth podium finish of the 2010 season.

• Ryan Hunter-Reay finished third, his sixth top-ten finish of the season.

• Tony Kanaan finished fourth, his best finish on a road/street circuit this season.

• Graham Rahal, in his first race of the season with Newman/Haas Racing, finished fifth, a season best finish.  Rahal’s previous best finish this season was ninth at St. Petersburg and Iowa.

• Danica Patrick finished sixth, her best finish on a road/street circuit this season.  Her previous best road/street finish was seventh at St. Petersburg.

WILL POWER (No. 12 Verizon Team Penske, winner Honda Indy Toronto): “I’m just really happy to be in the Verizon car.”  (About his start going from 2^nd to 6^th): “I saw Ryan and Helio going for a big move and I didn’t want to be taken out so I just said well that’s enough and got out of the way. It’s such a wild race that a lot of stuff plays out.” (About restart on lap 71): “I knew just from the marbles and the pick -up that the restart was going to be really slippery. I saw him make a mistake coming off the straight so I got a run on him and pulled it off.”

GRAHAM RAHAL (No. 02 NHR/Quick Trim): “It feels really good to be back with Newman/Haas Racing and finish fifth with Quick Trim on board. A top-five finish is a great way to start off and move forward.  The guys worked really hard this weekend.  When we showed up the car wasn’t close.  In the race it was a lot better.  It will be great going to my home race next at Mid-Ohio coming off of some momentum like this.  The car was only put together Monday and left Tuesday afternoon without an engine.  For us to throw this together and be as successful as we have been in the first outing hopefully means it will only get better from here.  It’s definitely comforting to come back.  When I sat in the car for the first time it was really good. I was right at home just with different colors on the car.  Literally, I came here and just jumped in the car.  The seatbelts fit; the mirrors were right.  It was almost too good.  Even on a normal weekend you have to adjust something so that was great. (About contact with Ryan Briscoe): “I was a lot quicker than Ryan and I had a really good run down the back straight.  I got on Push to Pass right out of the corner and he just blocked me.  He blocked me all the way into the braking zone and he broke on the inside and I wasn’t expecting him too so I just punted him. He was against the wall and I was waiting for him to move out.  Then he hit the brakes before he ever moved.  That’s what happened and I hate hitting anybody; that’s not my style.  But seriously, if you’ve got a run on someone like that and they’re blocking you, that’s what’s going to happen.”

HIDEKI MUTOH (No. 06 Formula Dream/Panasonic): “At one point in the race I was quite happy but when we changed to option tires on the first stop, it was very hard to get up to speed on restarts so I gave up a lot of positions there.  We’re going to look at our tire pressures and temperature to understand that.  I was only able to pass one car.  It was a very tough race but we came back in one piece which is important for the quick turnaround for Edmonton.  Graham’s fifth place finish is very good news for the team.  I can also check his data for his restarts and any changes he made to his car during the race which will be good information to have for our next run.”

MARIO ROMANCINI (No. 34 Conquest Racing): “It was a very unlucky day. We had decent speed on the warm up and the car was good in the race. We had a problem in the first pit stop, but I think we had very good chances to recover because of all the accidents in the end.  We were still very competitive but I don’t know what Mario was thinking when he did that move, as he was more than five cars length behind me so I think he just missed his brakes and took me out.  It is a shame and I sorry for my guys, as we were having our best weekend so far and I am truly ashamed that we couldn’t finish our race here so now we have to think about Edmonton and hopefully it will get better there.”

BERTRAND BAGUETTE (No. 36 Conquest Racing/RACB): “It was quite a disappointing race for me. I did a good start and at the first stint I was P12 or 13, and then we missed a little bit on our first pit stop and I went to P17. Scheckter was behind me and he tried to attack me few times and at the last time I tried to brake later to keep him behind but it was obviously too late and I just hit the tires and had to stop there and wait for the marshalls to push be back and restart the car, so I lost one lap due to that. I was my mistake and it could be a race where we could finish P9, so now we are going to focus on Edmonton next week”

MARCO ANDRETTI (No. 26 Team Venom Energy): “It was another long day for the Venom car.  We just didn’t have it today.  It really came down to an attrition race and I think that has a lot to do with where we finished.  But, that said, it was nice to see all four Andretti (Autosport) cars finish inside the top eight.”

TONY KANAAN (No. 11 Team 7-Eleven): “We did a great job today we what we had. The guys had great stops and we, unfortunately, benefited from people’s mistakes, but that’s just the race. I’ve made some mistakes in the past that has cost me the race, but all in all, not bad.”

DARIO FRANCHITTI (No. 10 Air Wick): “Our Airwick car today was pretty good. It was all just about track position; I had to pit a lap early so Justin and Will jumped up ahead when they went a lap longer. This week we just didn’t run quite quick enough, we were fast in practice, but wasn’t quite fast enough to beat Will in the race. Just wasn’t to thank my guys cause they did a great job, and here we are in second.”

RYAN HUNTER-REAY (No. 37 Team IZOD): “We had a pretty tough pit stop, but I think a lot of people had a hard time, with the track and with marbles and everything. It was like qualifying the whole time. With all the chaos and all the yellows that was going on it I almost lost it four or five times. But it was a great finish for Andretti Autosport, it’s a great team and I’m just happy to race with this fresh outlook for the rest of the season and everything. It’s looking good from so we’ll just keep plugging away.”

DAN WHELDON, No. 4 National Guard Panther Racing: “t was disappointing that I made a mistake and didn’t get a great start; I was on the inside going into Turn One quite deep and then the field bottled up and I made contact. That was my fault, but then the entire National Guard Panther Racing team made a comeback and made a big improvement here compared to last year. We all just continued to get better as this weekend went on and learned a lot of things that are really going to help us moving forward.”

VITOR MEIRA (No. 14 ABC Supply Co./A.J. Foyt Racing): “Crazy race! Considering where we started, we got the position where we finished by being smart. The ABC Supply team did a very good strategy—couldn’t be better. The pit stops were good and the car was picking up lap by lap but the incident with Simona killed my front tires. We were faster than the cars around me but on the restart, I got a good run off two and tried to make a move on her but it was hectic under braking to turn three. Everyone started to brake early and she braked early and I had nowhere to go so I had to lock it up and hope for the best. We crashed there but got away lucky cause she stopped me from going straight off. But it killed my front tires and that’s how we lost our top-10 position in the last three laps. But the team did a very good job on the pitstops and strategy.”

EJ VISO (No. 8 PDVSA – Jet Aviation -KV Racing Technology): “I got hit by (Dan) Wheldon in Turn 3 at the start and dropped several positions.  But our pace was then good and I thought our car was coming along very well.  Our strategy was good too.  We were getting into position to move up in the race.   I was racing closely with Tag (Alex Tagliani) and (Raphael) Matos.  Tag took Matos wide and couldn’t avoid clipping Matos’ wheel.  He spun and I got hit.  We changed the rear wing and I went back out to at least finish today.  It wasn’t what we wanted but we got to the checkered flag.  I thought our pace with No. 8 PDVSA car was pretty good.  We’ll get ready for Edmonton now.”

PAUL TRACY ( No. 15 Make A Wish – KV Racing Technology): “I think we could have been a top seven or eight, but several things didn’t fall our way.  We struggled the first little bit with the handling.  The car seemed to come alive at the end.  My pace was as fast as the leaders and I was pretty happy with that.   The yellow flags hurt us in the end.  We want the first one and then get some green flag laps to get a little space for our second pit stop.  But the three yellow flags put us in a bad position for our strategy.  We felt we could run with the leaders if we got a break.  We led some laps and got some good air time for Make-A-Wish, Honda Canada and Motegi Wheels.  We had to deal with too much traffic after the first stop, and I tried to dive under Simona (de Silvestro) in turn three. The rear end got loose and I stalled.  That put us back a lap.  Then at the end, the car was quick.  I learned a couple of things in driving the car today that help with the handling.  I just wish we could have qualified better.  But we learned some things today and we’ll get better for Edmonton next week.  This was a great week back home with all of the appearances for Make A Wish and Honda Canada.  I was hoping for a better finish though.”

MARIO MORAES (No. 32 KV Racing Technology): “I think we should turn the page on this weekend.  It was tough for our KV Racing team.  We can look forward to the Edmonton race.  I feel badly for (Takuma) Sato.  I wasn’t expecting him to be in that spot on the track.  He was in my blind line and it was similar to Helio (Castroneves) and PT (Paul Tracy) last year.  So the two cars came together.  Later in the race, the car felt pretty good but we need to get ready to improve for Edmonton.  We just need to forget about this weekend now.”

HELIO CASTRONEVES (No. 3 Team Penske): “It’s very sad. We had an awesome car and I think we could’ve fought for the win. (Meira) just broke very early going into the turn and I just didn’t anticipate that. It’s really too bad. The Team Penske crew had a great pit stop and we were looking strong. We’ll regroup and come back with a better result next week at Edmonton.”

SCOTT DIXON (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing): I made a bit of a bobble coming out of Turn 1.  The cars in front of me were kind of messing round, they missed it a little bit. I followed a bit too hard and Ryan (Hunter-Reay) had a bit of a run. I held my typically line, moved over to the left, and he dove under. I had to go somewhere.  He was just carrying way too much speed and hit the front of my car and put us in the tires.  Before that, the car was pretty quick. We had troubles early on in the race but we definitely came back. Thought we could have had a shot at fourth or fifth but it didn’t work out.

RYAN BRISCOE (No. 6 Team Penske): “That was just really unfortunate to be taken out by a non-championship contender. The Team Penske car was definitely capable of a top-five finish today and we lost a lot of valuable championship points. We were able to finish, but now we’ll just have to put our heads down and get to work next weekend in Edmonton.”

DANICA PATRICK (No. 7 Team GoDaddy.com): “It’s a great confidence-booster not only for me, but the whole #7 GoDaddy.com team. 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. This is a good way to end a great weekend since we head to another road course next week in Edmonton. Overall, we were strong as a team with the four of us in the top 10.”

TAKUMA SATO (No. 5 Lotus – KV Racing Technology): “It was an exciting start and I was able to battle with other drivers and gain a few places.  Then I was following my teammate  (Mario) Moraes.  I caught up very rapidly on him out of turn two and pulled alongside of him on the back straight.  We went into the braking area in turn three, but I guess he didn’t see me out there and made contact which unfortunately ended my race.  It is so disappointing.”

***

The Next IZOD IndyCar Series race is the Honda Indy Edmonton on July 25 at Edmonton City Centre Airport. The race will be televised by VERSUS at 5 p.m. (EDT). The next Firestone Indy Lights race is the Edmonton 100 on July 25 at Edmonton City Centre Airport.

- Indy Racing League, Press Release

IZOD IndyCar® Series

1. (2) Will Power, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
2. (5) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
3. (4) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
4. (8) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
5. (14) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
6. (12) Danica Patrick, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
7. (1) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
8. (10) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
9. (21) Simona de Silvestro, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
10. (15) Dan Wheldon, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
11. (26) Vitor Meira, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
12. (22) Hideki Mutoh, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
13. (24) Paul Tracy, Dallara-Honda, 84, Running
14. (20) Mario Moraes, Dallara-Honda, 84, Running
15. (19) Tomas Scheckter, Dallara-Honda, 84, Running
16. (16) Bertrand Baguette, Dallara-Honda, 84, Running
17. (9) Alex Tagliani, Dallara-Honda, 84, Running
18. (7) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Honda, 83, Running
19. (13) E.J. Viso, Dallara-Honda, 82, Running
20. (6) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 71, Contact
21. (11) Raphael Matos, Dallara-Honda, 64, Contact
22. (17) Mario Romancini, Dallara-Honda, 31, Contact
23. (23) Alex Lloyd, Dallara-Honda, 26, Contact
24. (3) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda, 21, Contact
25. (18) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 15, Contact
26. (25) Milka Duno, Dallara-Honda, 8, Handling

Race Statistics

Winners average speed: 83.451
Time of Race: 01:47:15.2554
Margin of victory: 1.2757 seconds
Cautions: 6 for 21 laps
Lead changes: 6 among 5 drivers
Lap Leaders: Wilson 1-17, Tracy 18-31 Franchitti 32-53, Power 54, Kanaan 55-56, Wilson 57-71, Power 72-85.

Point Standings

Power 377, Franchitti 335, Dixon 299, Briscoe 292, Hunter-Reay 286, Castroneves 285, Kanaan 273, Wilson 240, Wheldon 233, Andretti 225.

- Indy Racing League, Press Release

Firestone Indy Lights

1. (1) JK Vernay, 50, Running
2. (3) Dan Clarke, 50, Running
3. (4) Gustavo Yacaman, 50, Running
4. (7) Charlie Kimball, 50, Running
5. (10) Stefan Wilson, 50, Running
6. (9) Tonis Kasemets, 50, Running
7. (8) Martin Plowman, 50, Running
8. (13) Pippa Mann, 50, Running
9. (14) Rodrigo Barbosa, 50, Running
10. (2) James Hinchcliffe, 49, Contact
11. (11) James Winslow, 49, Running
12. (12) Philip Major, 46, Running
13. (5) Adrian Campos Jr, 43, Running
14. (6) Sebastian Saavedra, 33, Mechanical
15. (15) Carmen Jorda,  22, Off Course

Race Statistics

Time of Race: 58:52.0083
Winners average speed: 89.439
Margin of victory: 1.7469 seconds
Cautions: 2 for 4 laps
Lead changes: None
Lap Leaders: Vernay 1 – 50

Point Standins

Vernay  295, Hinchcliffe 227, Kimball 220, Plowman 218, Saavedra 211, Wilson 176, Yacaman 165, Clarke 154, Campos 141, Mann 138.

- Indy Racing League, Press Release

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing

Toronto, Ontario, Canada (July 17, 2010)-

Today’s result is the team’s second career pole position. The last time that Dreyer & Reinbold Racing started from pole was in 2002 with Sarah Fisher at Kentucky. Additionally, this year will be DRR’s second year to compete at the 1.75-mile temporary street circuit. Last year the squad showed promise as Mike Conway made it into the Firestone Fast Six and qualified sixth. Both of the DRR cars were running high during the race, but it was ended early as both Scheckter and Conway were taken out due to contact.

Wilson amazed the crowd with each lap he turned during today’s qualifying. In the first session he went out on the Firestone Firehawk Primary (black sidewall) tires and turned the second fastest lap of the session, immediately advancing to the fast twelve. In the second session he clocked the fastest time of 60.52 seconds on the Firestone Firehawk Primary (black sidewall) tires. As a result, he moved to the Firestone Fast Six and still managed to save two sets of the Firestone Firehawk Alternate (red sidewall) tires for that session. He was able to save his “red” tires for the last stint and he posted a quick lap of 1 minute, 0.2710 seconds (104.827 mph), earning him his first IZOD IndyCar pole position.

Again, he quickly proved that he knows the Toronto circuit like the back of his hand. This will be his sixth year at the 1.75-mile temporary street circuit. Wilson competed in four Champ Car races at the track from 2004 to 2007. He won his first Champ Car race in 2005 at Toronto and led 10 laps after starting third. In 2006, he won the pole, led 10 laps and finished fourth. Last year, as the IZOD IndyCar Series made the return to Toronto, he finished fifth after starting fourth.

Earlier this season, Wilson earned DRR’s best result since team co-owner, Robbie Buhl, won in 2000 at Walt Disney World Speedway, as he came home with 2nd place finishes for the organization in St. Petersburg, Florida and in Long Beach, California. He started competing in the IZOD IndyCar Series in 2008 and since then he has won on a street course (2008 Belle Isle) and a road course (2009 Watkins Glen). Wilson has also qualified in every Firestone Fast Six since 2008, except for two (2009 -Edmonton and 2010-Barber), which makes a total of 15 Firestone Fast Six Qualifying sessions he has advanced to. Out of those sessions he has qualified in the top-5 ten times. So far this season he has started 3rd in Brazil, 4th in St. Petersburg, 3rd in Long Beach and 6th in Watkins Glen.

After a year of not competing on a road/street course, Tomas Scheckter had a solid run in qualifying. As he diligently worked to make it into the fast twelve, he was barely nudged out in the end. The South African will start 19th (1:02.0426, 101.833 mph) on the grid for tomorrow’s race.

Last year marked Schecker’s first start at the Toronto circuit. He started in 14th place, led six laps in 2009 start but was eliminated by contact with Alex Tagliani and Mario Moraes to finish 16th.

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing will be on track tomorrow for the tenth round of the IZOD IndyCar Series in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The race telecast will air live on Sunday, July 18th at 12:30 pm (EDT) on ABC. The race will air live on the IMS Radio Network, XM channel 145, and Sirius channel 211. For more updates on the team, please visit www.dreyerreinboldracing.com.

What they have to say…

Justin Wilson, No. 22 Z-Line Designs: “It’s great. We’ve had a couple of tough races so to come back and get the pole here is just fantastic. Everyone at Dreyer and Reinbold has worked so hard. I’m very pleased for Z-Line Designs. It’s a good weekend so far. We have to keep it up. We’ll keep pushing for the race. It’s easy in this stage to sit back and relax, but we have a lot of work to do. It’s great that this is the team’s second career pole and I want to get their second career win. That’s the big picture we’re looking at but this is a great moment. After the difficulties at Watkins Glen and Iowa, it’s been tough. We’ve been working so hard, trying to stay focus and stay on track and not go off on a tangent.”

Tomas Scheckter, No. 24 MonaVie: “The MonaVie car felt alright. I think that I led the team a little bit in the wrong direction. We wanted to save some red tires for the race so now we are looking good for the race. Right now I’m just supporting Justin. He did a great job and I’m trying to learn as much from him as possible.”

About Dreyer & Reinbold Racing:

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing is entering its 11th season of full-time competition in 2010, making it one of the longest-tenured teams in Indy Racing League competition. Current co-owners, Dennis Reinbold and Robbie Buhl, first teamed in full-time competition at the Walt Disney World Speedway in January of 2000. With Buhl behind the wheel, the two owners tasted victory in their debut race. The 2009 IZOD IndyCar Series season-opener on the streets of St. Petersburg marked Dreyer & Reinbold Racing’s 200th series start. DRR now has over 250 starts to tuck under its belt and has qualified a total of 27 cars for the Indianapolis 500. In its history, the team has boasted a championship list of alumni drivers. Besides Buhl, the team has run Indianapolis 500 winners, Al Unser, Jr., Buddy Lazier, and Buddy Rice, along with IndyCar Series race winner Ryan Briscoe. The team has one of the longest lines of heritage in American open-wheel racing and the Indianapolis 500 as Dennis Reinbold’s grandfather, “Pop” Dreyer, built leading roadsters that raced at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during the 30s, 40s, and 50s.

More information on the team can be found at www.dreyerreinboldracing.com

More information on the IZOD IndyCar Series can be found at www.indycar.com.

- Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, Press Release

Vitor Meira

The disappointment was palpable for the ABC Supply team which had been 11^th quickest on the time sheet in the practice session earlier in the day.

“We have to figure out what happened in qualifying still,” said Meira. “Definitely something that affected the brakes a lot happened—we know it’s happening but we don’t know where it’s coming from yet. Before that everything was great, the car unloaded good, it was fast. I was able to learn the track fast, the car was up to it, the team’s doing a great job, we just have to find what went wrong in qualifying. There’s only one worst time to have a problem and that’s in the race. It’s going to be a tough day out there but in this position, it’s easy to gamble.”

After four laps in the 15-minute first round qualifying session, A.J. Foyt told Meira to pit for a new set of tires. Meira didn’t make it back to the pits however, sliding into a tire barrier in turn five. The ABC Supply car wasn’t damaged but because a full course caution was brought out (initially for Paul Tracy who spun and stopped in the middle of the track) moments before Meira went into the tire barrier, Meira and Tracy lost their two best laps from the entire session.

When Meira returned to the track with another set of new tires, there were just five minutes left in the session. The car was a little better but not where it’d been earlier in the day. And his two best laps which would have put him around 16^th were disallowed due to the caution coming out.

Justin Wilson won his first IZOD IndyCar Series pole position driving for the Dreyer-Reinbold team. The Honda Indy Toronto will be televised live by ABC-TV tomorrow afternoon starting at 12:30pm ET.

- A.J. Foyt Racing, Press Release

No. 4 National Guard Car-Side

Wheldon posted a quick lap of 102.411 mph, 1:01.6926 seconds, which was the eighth-best time in his group. He will start in the eighth row alongside Conquest Racing driver Bertrand Baguette. Last season Wheldon started 21^st and was able to advance a total of seven positions during the race for a 14^th-place finish.

Panther is currently tied for eighth in the IndyCar Series point standings with Justin Wilson, and trails Tony Kanaan in seventh position by a total of 30 points.

Dreyer & Reinbold’s Justin Wilson qualified on the pole for the event and will be joined on the front row by Team Penske driver Will Power. Defending Toronto race winner Dario Franchitti will start fifth for Ganassi Racing.

Prior to the start of the race tomorrow, Wheldon will receive the Firestone “Tire-ific Move the Race” award for his efforts at the last IndyCar race in Watkins Glen. Firestone nominates three drivers following each race who best utilize their Firehawk tires to make a bold, dramatic move during the event. Wheldon received the most votes on IndyCar.com to win the award.

The Honda Indy Toronto, where the race will be broadcast live Sunday, July 18^th at 12:30 p.m. (EST) on ABC with additional coverage provided by the IMS Radio Network, www.indycar.com, XM Channel 145 and Sirius channel 211.

Dan Wheldon, No. 4 National Guard Dallara Honda

“It shows the strength of the team when you see that we never give up and work as hard as the National Guard Panther guys do because we’ve definitely improved the car a lot for qualifying. Looking forward to the race we’ll continue to work in the direction that we did for qualifying because we made a significant step forward that was very encouraging. We still have the warm-up (practice) tomorrow to continue what we’re doing and I think we’ll have a very good race.”

- Panther Racing, Press Release

Andretti Autosport

Will start tomorrow’s race in P10
“I think the Venom car is good, it just wasn’t as good as we wanted it to be. We’re still missing it a bit on set-up, but I was pleased to make it out of the first round. We’re starting inside the top ten in a very competitive field – anything could happen tomorrow.”

RYAN HUNTER-REAY, #37 TEAM IZOD CAR

Qualified for the race in P4
“It was a good effort. Fourth – we can work from there. It was very tight today, just as all the qualifying sessions have been this year on road and street circuits. (Justin) Wilson saved his set of reds for the end and that was the move of the day, for sure. We weren’t able to do that; we had to move on and take each step as it came.”

TONY KANAAN, #11 TEAM 7-ELEVEN/ NESTLÉ PURE LIFE CAR

Qualified for the Honda Indy Toronto in P8
“Qualifying was so close today and it always is. I missed making the Firestone Fast Six by four-thousandths of a second. But, it is what it is. Nowadays, that is what makes this series so hard and so exciting. We can definitely do it tomorrow. We’ve done it from 15th, so why can’t we do it from eighth?”

DANICA PATRICK, #7 TEAM GoDaddy.com CAR

Will start the race in P12
“I was pleased with our qualifying run today. It was great to advance out of our group, which had a lot of good cars in it. Today was a good step in the right direction. I’m happy with the GoDaddy car and hopefully we can have a decent day tomorrow.”

- Andretti Autosport, Press Release

Newman Haas Racing

Newman/Haas Racing

Honda Indy Toronto

QUALIFYING NOTES/QUOTES – Saturday, July 17, 2010

QUICK TRIM DRIVER RAHAL TO START 14TH IN THE HONDA INDY TORONTO; FORMULA DREAM/PANASONIC DRIVER MUTOH TO START 22ND

POLE:     Justin Wilson                       1:00.2710 / 104.827 mph                       (Round 3)

14th:       Graham Rahal                        1:01.7024 / 102.395 mph                       (7th fast in Round 1, Group 2; top 6 advance)

22nd:      Hideki Mutoh                       1:02.1453 / 101.665 mph                       (11th fast in Round 1, Group 2)

Graham Rahal, No. 02 Quick Trim Dallara/Honda/Firestone:  “We don’t have enough to put the car up front in qualifying.  We can’t maximize new tires.  We put them on and didn’t go quicker.  It’s frustrating.  We’ll see how the car is in race trim in the morning warmup.  We’re dancing around a bigger issue and I’m not sure what it is.  I can’t push the car any harder and go quicker and, unfortunately in race trim, that’s a very important thing.  We will keep working hard to figure it out.”

• FAST FACTS: Will be his FOURTH race here.  Started from pole in the 2006 Atlantic race but was hit by Raphael Matos on the first lap.  Repaired the damaged suspension and returned to the track a few laps down, set the fastest race lap but later retired in 15th place.  Started 15th in the 2007 Champ Car race as a rookie for NHR but an evasive move to avoid a pile up on Lap 1 led to him hitting the wall and a subsequent stop for a new front wing.  Had to pit again for another front wing later in the race after running as high as second.  Retired in 11th place after he made contact for the third time due to a broken steering rack. Last year, he started third but was hit by second place starter Will Power, who squeezed him to the wall on the opening lap before T1.  A forced stop to replace his front wing dropped him to the back but he charged through the field into seventh place.  He held his position behind Patrick but flat-spotted his tires which led to losing three positions before his next stop.  He tried to pass the lapped car of Ed Carpenter on the inside on a right-handed turn but the contact ended his race in 20th place after 57/85 laps…Is making his SIXTH start of the season here in Round 10.

Hideki Mutoh, No. 06 Formula Dream/Panasonic Dallara/Honda/Firestone:  “We are struggling with the car under braking.  It is very easy to upset the car on the bumps.  We flat-spotted a tire early in the qualifying session so that didn’t help me at all.  Graham and I both are missing something and we need to find out what it is.  The race car is always different so it will be better but today it wasn’t good for qualifying.  Since we are starting in the back we can gamble on the strategy and move to the front if it works out for us.”

• FAST FACTS: Will be his second IICS event here.  He drove to an 11th place finish after qualifying 22nd with AGR in 2009…His highest IZOD IndyCar Series start on a road/street course is FIFTH at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma in 2009 and best series road/street course finish is FIFTH at Mid-Ohio and Infineon…His highest overall series start is THIRD at Nashville Speedway (oval) and best overall series finish is SECOND (Iowa 2008).

NEWMAN/HAAS RACING’S 23 PREVIOUS TORONTO EVENTS: NHR has won SEVEN races at this track (Bourdais 2004; da Matta 2002; Michael Andretti 2000, 1995, 1992, 1991, 1989) and FIVE poles (Bourdais 2004, 2005, 2007; da Matta 2002; Mi. Andretti 1991).  They have earned a total of 16 podium finishes (2nd – Servia 2005, Mi. Andretti 1998, Ma. Andretti 1991, Mi. Andretti 1990; 3rd – Bourdais 2006, Junqueira 2003, Fittipaldi 2002 & 1999, Ma. Andretti 1986).

- Tune In… The race will be broadcast live on ABC Sunday, July 18th from at 12:30 p.m. EDT.  The radio broadcast also will be carried on www.indycar.com.  As always, fans can follow the action from every on-track session via the official website of the IZOD IndyCar Series, www.indycar.com.

- Newman-Haas Racing, Press Release

Dan Wheldon

On Sunday prior to the race, Wheldon will be honored with Firestone Racing’s ”Tire-ific Move of the Race” for his efforts during the last IndyCar Series race at Watkins Glen International Raceway. Following each race, Firestone nominates three drivers who best utilized their Firehawk tires to make a bold, dramatic move during the event. During the Watkins Glen event, Wheldon overcame contact early in the race and battled back for a sixth-place finish.

IZOD driver Ryan Hunter-Reay paced the day’s practice session and was followed on the final speed chart by Justin Wilson and Helio Castroneves.

The Honda Indy Toronto, where the race will be broadcast live Sunday, July 18^th at 12:30 p.m. (EST) on ABC with additional coverage provided by the IMS Radio Network, www.indycar.com, XM Channel 145 and Sirius channel 211.

Dan Wheldon, No. 4 National Guard Dallara Honda

“The National Guard Panther Racing boys worked really hard all day and we were able to try a lot of things on the No. 4 car. We might not be quite where we want on the speed chart right now, but fortunately we learned a lot today and will go over the data tonight and be even better tomorrow.  We’re making a lot of gains out there and we feel confident that we’re going to improve in practice and qualifying tomorrow.”

- Panther Racing, Press Release

No. 78 Team Stargate Worlds / HVM Dallara Honda

Piloting the No. 78 Stargate Resistance Dallara / Honda entry, Simona is looking forward to changing the recent tide of misfortune with a return to temporary street-course racing. It’s been 13 weeks since the IndyCar Series had its last temporary street-course race at the streets of Long Beach and, while the high walls and tight nature of this type of racing circuit might be intimidating to some, Simona is eager for challenge. The Toronto race is not new to Simona. As part of the Champ Car Atlantic Series, she raced at the track in 2007 and finished 18th.

Simona De Silvestro

Simona De Silvestro, Driver No. 78: “I’m very excited to be back to street course racing and especially happy to be back at Toronto. The city is beautiful and the fans have always been embracing, so I am glad to be back. We had some races that have not gone our way lately but we are ready to change that this weekend and hopefully, when all is said and done we will leave this weekend on a positive note.”

Keith Wiggins, HVM Racing Team Principal: “As a team we like this track, street courses and Toronto itself is a great city with keen fans. We are looking for a good result.”

Imran Safiulla, Team Stargate Worlds Team Principal: “Toronto is fantastic street circuit and it’s just a very well laid out event. We hope that we can have a good result here.”

About HVM Racing:

HVM is based in Indianapolis, Indiana. In its nine years of competition, the team has earned six wins, two pole positions, and an additional 16 podiums. The team finished fourth and third, respectively, in the Champ Car championship standings in 2006 and 2007, and earned drivers Mario Dominguez and Robert Doornbos Rookie of the Year honors in 2002 and 2007, respectively. Since joining the IRL Championship in 2008, the team has earned nine top-10 finishes with drivers E.J. Viso and Robert Doornbos. For 2010 HVM Racing has partnered up with Team Stargate Worlds and driver Simona De Silvestro for its IndyCar program. You can follow HVM Racing on twitter at www.twitter/HVMracing.com and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/HVMRacing

About Team Stargate Worlds:

Team Stargate Worlds enters the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series in collaboration with HVM Racing. Simona De Silvestro will be the driver for the team, referred now as Team Stargate Worlds / HVM Racing. In the 2009 Atlantic Championship season De Silvestro won four races and four poles in the Atlantics, and led the most laps, thereby becoming the first woman in series history to lead those categories in a single season. The 2010 season marks the team’s 6th year of competition in North American open wheel. For more information about Team Stargate Worlds please visit www.teamstargateworlds.com. The Team Stargate Worlds Twitter page can be found at www.twitter.com/TeamSGW

- HVM Racing / Team Stargate Worlds Press Release

DATE: Friday – Sunday, July 16-18

QUALIFYING BROADCAST: Live on www.indycar.com from 12:50 – 2:20 EDT on Saturday

RACE BROADCAST: Live on ABC at 12:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday

RADIO BROADCAST: The race will air live on IMS Radio Network, XM channel 145 & Sirius channel 211

INTERNET BROADCAST: Live streaming video and Timing & Scoring is offered on www.indycar.com

TRACK LAYOUT: 1.755-mile, 11-turn street course

RACE LENGTH: 85 laps / 148.75 miles

2009 WINNER: Dario Franchitti

2009 POLESITTER: Dario Franchitti

NEWS & NOTES:

Graham Rahal

GRAHAM’S RETURN TO THE TEAM & QUICK TRIM SPONSORSHIP

Graham Rahal joined Newman/Haas Racing in 2007 at the age of 18 and became the youngest driver to join the team and first true rookie. Previous drivers that were officially classified as rookies include Nigel Mansell, who joined the team as the reigning 1992 Formula One World Champion and Sebastien Bourdais, who joined the team as the reigning 2002 Formula 3000 champion. Rahal went on to become the youngest podium finisher in CART/Champ Car history with second place in Houston in 2007.

In 2008, he became the youngest race winner in Indy car history in his IndyCar Series debut in St. Petersburg and went on to become the youngest pole sitter in series history the following year in St. Petersburg in his third season with the team. He is making his first start for the team since the 2009 season-finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway on October 10, 2009 and will drive the No. 02 Quick Trim entry in five of his six races with the team.

“It’s nice to be back with Newman/Haas Racing, a group that I have been with for so long and have a lot of fond memories with, and it’s also great to be reunited with Quick Trim who made this possible,” said Rahal. “Quick Trim really enjoyed their experience in May and we had a great run. We have been talking about this for a long time and I’m happy we were able to extend the deal. I’m looking forward to getting back in the car and back in the series. To know what I am going to be doing for the rest of the season feels so good. The plan is to go out there and pick up where we left off.”

24TH TORONTO EVENT FOR TEAM

The 2010 Honda Indy Toronto will mark the 24th Toronto event for Newman/Haas Racing (NHR) who competed here from 1986 to 2007 in CART/Champ Car events and returned with the IndyCar Series in 2009. The team has won SEVEN races at this track (Bourdais 2004; da Matta 2002; Michael Andretti 2000, 1995, 1992, 1991, 1989) and FIVE poles (Bourdais 2004, 2005, 2007; da Matta 2002; Mi. Andretti 1991) as well as a total of 16 podium finishes (2nd – Servia 2005, Mi. Andretti 1998, Ma. Andretti 1991, Mi. Andretti 1990; 3rd – Bourdais 2006, Junqueira 2003, Fittipaldi 2002 & 1999, Ma. Andretti 1986).

GRAHAM RECALLS PODIUM POSSIBILITY IN 2009 EVENT

Graham Rahal’s third place start here last year had the team hoping for a possible win or podium finish. Contact on the opening lap by second place starter Will Power, who squeezed him to the wall on the opening lap before T1, put a damper on those hopes. A forced stop to replace his front wing dropped him to the back but he charged through the field into seventh place. He held his position behind Patrick but flat-spotted his tires which led to losing three positions before his next stop. He tried to pass the lapped car of Ed Carpenter on the inside on a right-handed turn but the contact ended his race in 20th place after 57/85 laps. Robert Doornbos started seventh and moved to third on L1 but an electrical failure in the gear shift system forced him to retire in 23rd place after 26 laps.

“Toronto was a good run for us last year but unfortunately Will hit us right at the start,” recalled Rahal. “We qualified third and to be hit at the start really killed us to be honest. Other than that we a strong run; the car was pretty good. I’m looking forward to going back to Toronto because I think Newman/Haas has only made the car better since then. I’m looking forward to getting back in the car. I imagine its going to take me a little bit of time because I haven’t been in a road course since Long Beach in April. It’s been a while but I’m looking forward to it.”

GRAHAM – IN TORONTO

The 2010 event will be his FOURTH here. He started from pole in the 2006 Atlantic race but was hit by Raphael Matos on the first lap. After his damaged suspension was repaired, he returned to the track a few laps down and set the fastest race lap but later retired in 15th place. Started 15th in the 2007 Champ Car race as a rookie for NHR but an evasive move to avoid a pile up on Lap 1 led to him hitting the wall and a subsequent stop for a new front wing.

He had to pit again for another front wing later in the race after running as high as second but retired in 11th place after he made contact for the third time due to a broken steering rack. Last year, he started third but was hit by second place starter Will Power, who squeezed him to the wall on the opening lap before T1. (Details above.) He ultimately retired after contact ended his race in 20th place after 57/85 laps.

Hideki Mutoh

In his first event in Toronto in 2009, Hideki started 22nd and finished 12th with Andretti Green Racing. One of his three teammates at the time, Tony Kanaan, who has excelled at road and street courses, started 20th and finished 17th. “Last year I struggled big time in Toronto,” said Mutoh, who driver the No. 06 Formula Dream/Panasonic entry. “It was the worst qualifying for me of the season. It was a very tough weekend. I just couldn’t find the grip so I couldn’t push at all and was kind of just cruising. It was a difficult weekend last year for my team at the time, Andretti Green Racing. Newman/Haas Racing has done very well in Toronto and has won seven times so the expectation is for us to run well there this year. Graham was fast in Toronto last year and the team has learned some new things as well since then so I think we will be better.”

WHY HIDEKI LIKES STREET COURSES AND ESPECIALLY THE ONE IN TORONTO

“Street courses are my favorite type of track because they are more challenging than a normal road course. It’s always fun to drive in a downtown area. You can’t enjoy the view while you are driving the car but when you get out of the car, you are right in the middle of town. It’s good to experience part of the city you are racing in because you are in the middle of the city. That’s the best part of street racing.”

HIDEKI ON THE CHALLENGES OF TORONTO

“The Toronto street course is very bumpy, especially the back straight. You can’t run in the center of it; sometimes you need to go right or left to try to find the smoothest spots. It’s very difficult to run on the track because of the asphalt and concrete surface changes but this is what makes racing in Toronto so challenging. I met with the team earlier this week and we went over the data the team has gotten from their 23 races there. The track is very low grip when you hit the concrete patches. I think, driving-wise, you need to find some trick and I bet the team has something special set-up wise to be able to run well there.”

NHR ON ROAD/STREET COURSES

Since being formed by Carl Haas and Paul Newman in the fall of 1982, the team has earned a total of 107 wins and 109 pole positions. 80 of their 107 wins and 90 of their 109 poles came on road and street courses. The team’s previous win on a road/street course came at Detroit when Justin Wilson drove to victory in Round 16 of 17. Their previous pole on a road/street course came on 4-4-09 when Graham Rahal became the youngest pole winner in series history in St. Pete. Nine of the 17 races on the 2010 schedule are on road/street courses.

- Newman / Haas Racing Press Release