With consecutive victories at Milwaukee and Iowa, Hunter-Reay is now second in the IZOD IndyCar Series point standings, three points behind the leader, Will Power. Hunter-Reay is also tied for the lead in the A.J. Foyt Oval Trophy point standings with Tony Kanaan. (RHR’s victories give him an edge in the tie-breaker with one oval race remaining.)
Toronto has historically been one of Hunter-Reay’s best tracks, as he recorded back-to-back third-place finishes in 2010 and 2011. Only once in his career has he finished worse than seventh at Toronto (IndyCar and Champ Car starts).
“It feels like we’re prepared for a championship effort. We’re going to keep our heads down and attack each race, each lap. The entire Andretti Autosport organization has been working so hard to give us drivers what we need to win races. A big part of our success the past two races has been the ability to save our tires and then make our move when the other cars lose pace. We can do some of that at a street course like Toronto, and the real secret to making that work is having a car that is well-balanced and allows a driver to stay with the leaders while still saving tires and equipment. The engineers have been able to give us that.
“We’ve shown we’ve been strong on the road and street courses this year, with podium finishes at St. Petersburg, Brazil and even Long Beach [Hunter-Reay crossed the line third at Long Beach, but a last-lap penalty dropped him to sixth in the finishing order], so we can expect the same at Toronto. Our focus is to remain consistent and be in contention for the win when Sunday rolls around. We’re going to fight for this championship right to the finish.”
Did You Know: Since joining Andretti Autosport in 2010, Hunter-Reay has never finished outside of the top 10 at any of the remaining tracks on the schedule. (He does not have a start at Auto Club Speedway, home of the season-ending 500-mile race.)
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