On Sunday, July 8, 2012, the IndyCar series traveled to Toronto for the Honda Indy Toronto. In the end, dominate driver Ryan Hunter-Reay took the checkered flag. This marks his third victory in a row and the win put him in first place. He is now ahead of Will Power by 34 points. If he keeps up the great performance, he will be unstoppable and easily take the 2012 championship. A championship win would be great for the driver as he is in the final year of his contract with Andretti Autosports.
One driver had a newfound hope for the season. Simona de Silvestro, who drivers for HVM Racing, has been the only driver using a Lotus engine. Recently, she received an upgraded engine. The upgrades had been approved by the IndyCar series and it seemed her car was performing better. Unfortunately, her night ended early due to mechanical problems. After just nine laps she was forced to leave the race and she finished just one position out of last place. Scott Dixon had been the first driver out of the race when he had mechanical difficulties on lap seven.
On Friday, July 6, there was an accident on pit road during the first practice session. Justin Wilson's car was allegedly stuck in gear when he attempted to shift to neutral while coming into the pits. He wound up hitting four crew members. Two were injured severely enough that the two needed to go to the hospital for treatment. Chuck Homan, a crew member for Sebastien Bourdais, had his leg pinned between two cars. Raffi Aroyan, also a crew member for Bourdais, had injured his ankle. Both were treated and released and are expected to fully recover.
Any accident on pit road can end poorly, so it was a relief that no one was severely injured. I was disappointed that Simona de Silvestro did not get to show more of the new engine. It had been doing well in practice and I had hoped that she would actually get to finish well this time. At this point, it would seem that her team would be better off focusing on next season. Hopefully, she will be able to find another engine manufacturer and not rely on Lotus to get her to the finish line.
Kristin Watt has been a fan of motorsports since she was a young girl and she watched NASCAR races with her mother. That love of NASCAR quickly evolved into a great enjoyment of many different motorsports including everything from local dirt track action to the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans to the adrenaline rush of the extreme motocross events. She has been following motorsports for many years.
