HONDA INDY TORONTO
TV: 3 p.m. (City) Newgarden on the pole,
Alex Tagliani knew he was a “sitting duck” when Saturday’s NASCAR Pinty’s Series race at the Honda Indy Toronto came down to a green-white flag finish.
Tagliani, who led 35 of the 37 laps, was passed on the restart by Andrew Ranger, who went on to win and claim valuable championship points. Tagliani finished second, holding onto a damaged car and fighting off third-place J.F. Dumoulin.
“It was difficult to decide what to do,” Tagliani said. “(Ranger) was my main competition in the race. There was a yellow (near the end of the race), then the restart. When you have a restart like that, you are a sitting duck. It was a great move by (Ranger). It was fair. The big picture for us was to finish the race on a restart like that.”
Ranger was referring to the recent NASCAR event at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, where he was bounced out during some tough contact on a restart with three laps to go.
With the win, Ranger moved into first place in the standings, three points ahead of Tagliani.
“I was trying to stay with Alex the whole race. I wasn’t able to pass him,” said Ranger, who chased Tagliani until making the pass on the final restart. The only one chance I had came on that (restart). It was a tight move, but I had an opportunity and it was my only opportunity.”
Ranger won for the second time in the four races that are now in the books. Overall, Dumoulin, who entered the day leading the points race, dropped to third place, six points off the pace. Gary Klutt finished fourth and held onto fourth place in the standings, a point ahead of L.P. Dumoulin.
Tagliani wasn’t exactly enamoured of J.F. Dumoulin after the race, blaming him for closing too hard in the restart. The result was hard contact between the two that caused Tagliani’s rear differential to fall slightly out of alignment, plus damage to the front right of the car. Tagliani actually fell behind Dumolin for a moment, then regained second place and kept it over the final lap of the race. But those were tense moments for Tagliani, since his right front tire was spewing white smoke from rubbing against the damaged body work. It appeared that the tire would blow at any moment, but it held together long enough.
“It was a great race for us, but I never was happy to finish second in my life,” Tagliani said. “Before that (Ranger’s pass), there was a big bang and it damaged my car. After that, we couldn’t chase (Ranger) down. I’m glad we were able to finish the race. I prayed everything would hold together.”
Dumoulin saw the restart — and the contact with Tagliani — differently. “I followed Andrew (Ranger) through. We touched (with Tagliani). He wants to (blame me), whatever.”
Tagliani and Ranger showed mutual respect, unlike after the 2017 race, where they had terse words for each other following contact early in the race.
“Something we both learned from that … we’re both fast, so it’s important for us to finish the race,” Ranger said. “If we both want to lead the points, then it’s important for both of us to finish. If you push too hard in Toronto, it’s hard on the brakes, You don’t want to damage your own car.”
Also Saturday, Ottawa’s Zach Robichon took the checkered flag in the first of two races in the Porsche GT3 Cup. Race two goes Sunday.