HONDA INDY TORONTO
Exhibition Place TV: 3 p.m. City/SN360 More Indy,
If the people attending Sunday’s Honda Indy Toronto, or watching on TV, see an exhibition of race-car driving like the one put on in Saturday’s NASCAR Pinty’s Grand Prix, they will indeed be fortunate.
Adam Andretti, a Trans-Am driver who is the son of Mario Andretti’s brother Aldo, brother of NASCAR driver John Andretti and cousin of Michael Andretti, raced his way from the back of the 20-car stock car field not once but twice to finish third and on the podium in the Saturday headline race won by Kevin Lacroix. L.P. Dumoulin finished second.
It was a rough race from the green flag with several crashes and lots of tradin’ paint.
Of particular note was a collision involving pole sitter Andrew Ranger and former IndyCar driver Alex Tagliani. Ranger spent three laps in the pits for repairs and Tagliani was given a drive-through penalty for instigating the collision. Tagliani finished14th and Ranger was15th at the checkers.
Andretti had to start at the back of the field because he missed the mandatory drivers’ meeting. Then, he had to make a pit stop that put him at the tail end of the pack of cars for the second time.
It was estimated he passed at least 25 cars en route to his third-place finish.
Andretti was full of praise for Pinty’s and NASCAR.
“I might have half the Trans Am teams and paddock up here before long,” he said. “The rules package is fantastic. This series really shines,” he said, suggesting he planned to drive in other Pinty’s races between now and the end of the season.