Brazilian Helio Castroneves was unable to climb the field in Toronto and finished the race in 17th place after a fight with former rival Will Power
Brazilian Helio Castroneves had a disappointing weekend in Canada. Starting in 17th position, the Meyer Shank driver couldn't climb the field and ended the Toronto GP in the same place he started. The four-time Indy 500 winner explained that the strategy of staying longer on the track with the red tires didn't work out as expected, and regretted that he couldn't take advantage of a car he considered "good enough".
"I started well, I was conservative, so I lost some positions, but I also managed to overtake, it was kind of insane. Then the strategies started to come in, the guys started to stop early and we got stuck behind some cars, but as soon as I had a free lap we went well. After the pit-stops we apparently came back in the same position, which was a shame, because the car was good enough," Castroneves said after the Toronto GP.
The Brazilian then got involved in some disputes on the track, but couldn't really gain positions in sequence. One of his rivals on the streets of Toronto was Will Power, who also didn't have a good qualifying and finished only 15th. The consolation for Castroneves was to see his teammate, Simon Pagenaud, show the car's potential by finishing seventh.
"After that it was me and Will, a rivalry from a while ago, he wasn't making my life easy and I lost some positions because of that. All in all we had a good pace, but it wasn't our day. At least Simon showed what the car could do by finishing in the top-10, which is great. Now we have to focus on Iowa," concluded Helinho.
With the result, Castroneves lost one position and is now 17th in the Indy standings. The series returns next Saturday (23), for the Iowa I GP, with full coverage from GRANDE PRÊMIO.