Conway tire gamble pays off with victory in IndyCar race 2 in Toronto

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE (No. 27 United Fiber & Data Honda): “I’m pleased with a top 10 in Race 1, but we knew we had some room to improve the car, it was a bit of a handful. We took a swing at it and (the car) was so good at the start of Race 2. We were picking off guys and just got caught out on the wet concrete there when (Juan) Montoya crashed. It’s just one of those things, I mean, if the accident behind me hadn’t been so severe, we probably would have only gone one lap down and probably could have gotten that lap back. But (the safety officials) were rightfully attending to Mikhail (Aleshin) who was potentially hurt, and as a result we went four laps down and there’s no recovering from that. I’m really disappointed, the car was so good and the UFD guys did a great job so disappointed to not bring home a better result in Race 2.”

MARCO ANDRETTI (No. 25 Dr. Pepper Honda): “That was a survival weekend, really not pleased with how things went. I wasn’t pleased with the pace we had at all and was hoping for better results in both races. We’ll move on to Mid-Ohio in another week and look to improve.”

JOSEF NEWGARDEN (No. 67 Hartman Oil/Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Honda): “Toronto just wasn’t kind to us this weekend. We had a fast car this weekend, crew was stellar, the team effort was really good. We just didn’t get anything put together. Race 2, there was a lot of could have beens. Three different moments where we just needed circumstances to shake out for us and they didn’t work out. The red at the end really put the nail in the coffin. Without the red I think we would have still been OK, but that pretty much finished us off. Unfortunate weekend.” (On staying out on slicks when rain hit) “We tried to make the slicks work because we committed to it. We would have gone way in the back of the line if we switched to wets and at that point in the race you have to try and make it work. It started raining harder and then I looped in 11, but fortunately I was able to spin it into the pits and change to rain tires.”

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA (No. 2 Hawk Team Penske Chevrolet): “We stayed out on the reds (tires) and it was the wrong call. We just went from bad to worse. Starting in the back in such short races makes it almost impossible to get anything! In the second race it was really good. I told them the lap before I think we needed wets, but we didn’t come in. It felt OK, and started braking OK then when I got to the concrete, it just went straight. It was really wet by then and they couldn’t turn either.”

RYAN HUNTER-REAY (No. 28 DHL Honda): “Nothing really went right for us today. The first race with TK (Tony Kanaan), I was moving forward and I knew I had to make something happen with him on black (tires) and me on reds – we’re fighting for every inch of real estate here. So it’s really not his fault, I just stuck my nose in there. As for (Race 2) nothing went right at all. I was off the race track, off the racing line and coming to pit lane and then the pit close light went on. I thought I was OK to commit to pit. It was a matter of a split second and we ended up with a drive thru (penalty) for it. Then we missed the call to come in for slicks by a lap and then the yellow came out. A bunch of stuff just didn’t go our way, but we’re back to third in the championship and 69 points out. We can still make (the championship) happen, for sure.”

JUSTIN WILSON (No. 19 Dale Coyne Racing Honda): “It was an eventful second race. I really don’t know where to start with it! We just kept battling along and we opted to try to stay out and gamble and it didn’t really pay off. It was probably the right thing to do but it is just tough, you know, you are leading with five minutes to go and that red flag pushed things back. I guess that is just the way things go sometimes. We were really hoping for another on track incident and to go under yellow to the end which would have really helped us out. You have three laps there at the end on a dry track with wet tires and I tried to get as good of a restart as possible to make the most of it, but the last lap and a half guys were just driving by me. I was really hanging on there at the end. At the end of the day we earned two top 10 finishes, not happy, but we will keep trying to progress and keep improving.”

MIKHAIL ALESHIN (No. 7 SMP Racing Honda): “I just smacked the car and ended up under the car and that was not such a great feeling at all. So I’m sorry for my spectators and all the guys who support me, but that’s life and the most important thing is everything is fine and I was not hurt.” (About the look of the helmet, which indicates that the car was sitting on top of it) “You can see. You have some marks here on the helmet and it was not nice at all because I was sitting under the car. It was getting so hot from this car I couldn’t breathe at all because the car is very hot so I was just sitting under this car and it was impossible to breathe and it was not a nice feeling at all.”

SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS (No. 11 Hydroxycut KVSH Racing Chevrolet): “It was a great weekend for the Hydroxycut – KVSH Racing team. It was just a shame the way it ended with the Sato incident, which cost us a top-five finish in the second race. Regardless, we sat on the pole and we won a race. The Hydroxycut guys did a great job preparing the car and in the pits the whole weekend. Finally all the expectations, hard work and pace we have had for most of the season ended with good results. Those positives are what we should keep in mind. Obviously, we have to keep working, keep digging, keep finding speed. Hopefully, this is just the beginning of a long success story.”

WILL POWER (No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet): “Tony was very good on the half-wet track. I just wasn’t willing after yesterday to take a big risk and get caught out again. So I still had to battle hard with Charlie all over me. It was a good day for the No. 12 Verizon Chevy team, typical IndyCar race where they throw everything at you. You just have to survive, and that is what we did.”

JACK HAWKSWORTH (No. 98 Bowers & Wilkins Honda): “One of the craziest races I’ve ever been involved in before. We had a reasonable start and halfway through I made a mistake on the rain tires and spun the car so we ended up in the back. Once the track dried we opted to put the slicks on and gained a few positions and ended up P6. All in all a very good day, well done to everyone on the team, it was a good job!”

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