Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing was victorious in Toronto as Christian Lundgaard in his No. 45 Honda cruised to his first career NTT IndyCar Series win by 11.7893 seconds over current series points leader Alex Palou.
Here are the 5 takeaways from today’s race.
5. Disappointing day for Tom Blomqvist & Meyer Shank Racing
Filling in for the injuried Simon Pagenaud in the No. 60 Honda, Blomqvist rolled off a respectable P20 as the green flag dropped, but Blomqvist wasn’t able to complete one single lap. A multi car pile up on lap 1 ended his day rather quickly. After being checked out by the IndyCar medical staff, Blomqvist said, “I’m pretty furious to be honest”. The other MSR driver, Helio Castroneves in his No. 06 Honda didn’t fair too well either. Castroneves got hit from behind by Kyle Kirkwood in his No. 27 Honda and the car would not restart.
"I'm pretty furious to be honest." #IndyCar #IndyTO pic.twitter.com/EaRXgbaqu3
— Matt Archuleta (@indy44) July 16, 2023
4. Successful Race for Juncos Hollinger Racing
After qualifying at P16 & P18, both drivers of Juncos Hollinger Racing finished in respectable positions on Sunday. Success hasn’t being easy this year for JHR, but maybe they are finally turning a corner. Both rookie Agustin Canapino & Callum Illot kept their race cars clean along with flirting inside the top 10 through the race on Sunday. Canapino finished P12, while Illot came home P18.
Unfortunate end for @callum_ilott but mega race from @AgustinCanapino. Let’s keep it up team 💪
Thanks Toronto 🇨🇦 #IndyTO pic.twitter.com/BvixBXRLom
— Juncos Hollinger Racing (@juncoshollinger) July 16, 2023
3. Stock Falling For Upcoming Free Agent Drivers
One race can make or break a season. With the upcoming NTT IndyCar Series silly season still a few months away and teams looking for drivers for 2024, a lot of pending free agents did not help their case to secure a ride in 2024. Jack Harvey (P24), Devlin DeFrancesco (P23) and Romain Grosjean (P22) just to name a few. Harvey, arguably, caused the pile up in Turn 1. DeFransesco’s race was ended by mechanical problems, and Grosjean saw his race end prematurely after hitting the wall.
2. Perseverance Pays Off For Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Is there any other team in the NTT IndyCar Series that has had more of a roller coaster 2023 season than RLL? A disappointing start to open the season at St Petersburg, crashing at Texas. All the way to the lowest of lows, when all 3 cars were involved in the bump day shootout for the Indy 500. Ultimately, Graham Rahal failed to qualify the biggest race of the year. Following this disaster, RLL underwent a complete staff shake up. Their race at Mid-Ohio was hopeful, and this weekend all their hard work finally paid off. As Christian Lundgaard took pole position and parked up in Victory Lane! Who would have thought that after all the trials and tribulations RLL has had to go through.
Goodbye mustache! @lundgaardoff #INDYCAR #IndyTO pic.twitter.com/OiXs4YK3ps
— Tim Hauraney (@timhauraney) July 16, 2023
1.Is There Anything Alex Palou Can’t Do?
After have an average qualifying run (P15) and starting in the middle of the pack, the chances of Alex Palou winning his 4th race in a row were slim. As the race played out, though, Palou slowly crept his way through the field. By the end of the race, Palou found himself P2. The Championship leader had to nurse the car to the finish for the final stint, due to a severely damaged front wing. Surprisingly, Palou was not shown the meatball flag by race control. Near the end of the race, it seemed like the front wing could snap off at any second. Despite the damage, Palou did everything he could to hold off a hard charging Colton Herta to bring home a P2 finish and increasing his points lead over teammate Scott Dixon to 117 points.
Up Next: Iowa Doubleheader July 22-23 (NBC / Peacock)
