Mother Nature may have had her own plans for the drivers and team strategists participating in the 10th round of the Verizon Indy Car Series on the streets of Toronto this weekend, but it was Josef Newgarden and the CFH team who bested all she had to throw at them.

Newgarden and teammate Luca Filippi finished 1st and 2nd respectively, sharing the podium with Team Penske driver Helio Castroneves who brought his car home for 3rd place, giving Chevy the podium sweep.

This was win number two this year for Newgarden, adding him to the short list of double race winners so far this season ( Juan Pablo Montoya and Scott Dixon also have two wins under their belt)
Sunday's result also marked the first podium finish for Luca Filippi since joining the Verizon Indy Car Series.

The 85 laps race, which was moved up due to weather concerns, started out single file, with pole sitter Will Power leading the field cleanly through the first several laps, a feat almost unheard of at this venue.

Conor Daly, whose only previous experience on this track was driving pace laps, was the first off course, overshooting turn 8 on lap 5, but righting himself in the runoff to get back on course. Daly, who was filling in for injured Canadian driver James Hinchcliffe, would continue the race incident free, even engaging in and winning a spirited battle with Ryan Hunter-Reay in turn 3 on the lap 46 restart. He would finish 12th on the day. A great result for a first timer on this difficult track.

On Lap 7, Montoya overcooked it heading into turn 3, but kept it running, bounding back onto the track directly in the path of teammate Helio Castroneves, much to the amusement of commentator Paul Tracy, who likened it to his move on Alex Tagliani several years ago in San Jose, which lead to the famous pit lane altercation between the two. Unlike that incident, no contact was made here.

As the track continued to dry, teams prepared to ditch the rain tires, with Marco Andretti taking the plunge first on lap 9. He would rejoin the field ahead of leader Will Power, but before he could rack up any sort of lead time the rest of the field followed suit changing tires, pushing him down the order once again. Marco was the top finishing Andretti Autosport driver, crossing the finish line in 13th. His teammates would both retire from the race with mechanical issues, Munoz on lap 69, and Hunter-Reay with just one lap remaining in the race.

Team Penske kept viewers entertained early on taking turns battling each other throughout the course, but despite some close calls it was James Jakes who brought out the first caution of the day on lap 29 due to an encounter with the tires in turn 5. Though he essentially bounced off the tires back on course, he still required a boost from the Holmatro safety team to get going again.

Lap 31 saw the pits open and the leaders in for tires and fuel. Castroneves would stay out and take over the lead, followed by Newgarden and Munoz who pitted just prior to the yellow flag.

Lap 33 we’re back to Green, and Castroneves begins to pull away from the field, amassing an almost 5 second gap before the second caution of the day on lap 41, this one for debris caused by rookie Stefano Coletti hitting the wall on exit of 5 then dropping bits of carbon fibre all the way through to turn 8 as he limped back to pit lane, where he would be become the first to retire from the race.

On lap 42 Castroneves heads to the pits, giving up the lead to Newgarden.

Lap 46 sees the green flag wave, and the scrappy field back at it, with several battles and passes for position, including a few slick moves from Graham Rahal, who would finish the day in 9th spot, the top placing Honda once again.

On lap 57, Newgarden pits, handing the lead off to teammate Filippi, his first time leading an IndyCar race.

Filippi pits a few laps later, and the order is now Kanaan, Castroneves, Gonzalez (!), Newgarden, and Filippi, who would cycle in just behind his teammate in fifth.

Speaking of first laps lead, Gonzalez also had a moment at the front of the pack once Kanaan and Castroneves peeled off for stops thanks to an ambitious but unsuccessful off-sequence strategy. He would hold his own until lap 72, when he was forced to pit for tires and fuel. He would finish 18th on the day.

With the way clear, Newgarden once again takes the lead, holding off his hard charging teammate, all the way to the checkered flag.

Click for Official Box Score for Honda Indy Toronto

Quotes from the Podium:

JOSEF NEWGARDEN (No. 67 Hartman Oil CFH Racing Chevrolet): “I'm so happy we were able to get a win, but a 1-2 it just amazing because Luca (Filippi) is such a star. I'm super happy for the whole group. Just an amazing team effort - I can't believe we had a 1-2. It got a little close there with Luca but we were really just trying to keep up after we got into the final stint. I got a little bit of lapped traffic, but I couldn't do anything with the lapped traffic, but they wanted me to because of everyone that was coming. It's close racing and, for sure, I got a little lucky, too, on that yellow. But you can't discount that because it was an amazing effort by this crew at CFH Racing - they gave me amazing pit stops and a car to win. I'm definitely excited because this is Toronto and this is an INDYCAR town."
 
LUCA FILIPPI (No. 20 Fuzzy’s Vodka CFH Racing Chevrolet): “We had a goal to be on the podium and we both achieved it with both cars, so it’s nice when you set the goal and you achieve it. The team did everything perfectly to give us the opportunity to be up front. But we had a fast car and we knew we needed to be kind of in the clean air up in front and this is what we did -- just kept pushing. We were faster and we ended up in front. I’m very happy. Very happy. The team did a great job. I thank the Fuzzy’s Vodka team because they believe in me and they gave me the opportunity to race INDYCAR properly and my first podium. Many more to come.”
 
HELIO CASTRONEVES (No. 3 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet): “After all the circumstances today – what a great job from the Hitachi boys. Roger (Penske) made a great call. I had no idea how they put me up there, but we were running really strong laps. The car was on rails. It’s a shame, certainly, it was crazy. I was pushing like I stole it. But in the end it was great. It was a shame with the weather a little bit, but thank God we were able to put some dry laps out there for the fans. The Canadian fans are always awesome. This is a great event and I hope when we come here next year we get a win.”

Numbers of Note:
Lead Changes: 8
Most laps lead: Power (30) Newgarden (30)
Fastest Lap: Castroneves (105.186 mph)
Cautions: 2
Caution laps: 9
Penalties: talk to us on Wednesday ;-)

And so it ended, another all Chevy podiumpalooza… which will no doubt lead to more indigestion and sleepless nights for the engineers at Honda as they pack their computers, and reams of collected data, and head for the 2.5 mile oval that is Fontana in two weeks. Of the 11 Hondas in the field today, Rahal and Sato finished in the top 10, and only 3 of the 11 finished one lap down. In a glass half full world…that’s something.

Another impressive drive today was that of Will Power bringing his car home to a 4th place finish…with a busted up hand. Great players play hurt. But great players don’t have to drive like a bat out of hell, slow down and stop on a dime, turn left and right at high Gs…Oh…and not slam into a wall at 150mph. Like him or not, doing what he did, with a bum hand and bringing it home in the top 5 deserves some props. With the exception of a few bright moments and good close battles, the remainder of the Penske stable finished well off the pace of their weekend. JPM in 7th, and Simon Pagenaud in 11th. On the bright side JPM retained his points lead and Simon still continues to make strides settling in to his roll at Penske. Not a great day…but not a bad day for the Captain.

Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan continue to do what they do best…be there, work hard, be patient, and keep their eyes on the championship prize. They did that in spades Sunday. 6th and 8th may not be fancy, or get you in the post-race interviews, but interviews don’t win championships.

Ryan Hunter-Reay and Andretti Motorsport continue to struggle to locate any sort of a sweet spot, rhythm, magic, or…whatever they can find to get back on track. This many races into the season, and I’ll just add this…Perhaps too much information is a bad thing? Meaning, the smaller Honda teams seem to be showing slightly better results. Not banner results; but better. Are some of AA's issues perhaps information overload?


Here are the Championship standings as the drivers head into the next race:

Juan Pablo Montoya 371
Will Power 349
Scott Dixon 329
Helio Castroneves 322
Graham Rahal 283

The series now takes a two week break, giving teams and drivers, and all who support them, some well deserved down time before the next race on June 27th in Fontana.