Chevrolet teams ready for the challenge of the streets of Toronto

Helio Castroneves, Team Penske Chevrolet

Photo by: xpb.cc

DETROIT – July 3, 2012 – This weekend Team Chevy returns to competition in the IZOD IndyCar Series on the Streets of Toronto’s Exhibition Place with 13 drivers powered by the purpose built Chevrolet V-6 direct injected turbo charged engine. The 1.75-mile 11-turn temporary street course in the picturesque city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada is always a welcome stop on the circuit for competitors and fans alike.

"After three consecutive oval races and a well-deserved weekend off,” said Chris Berube, Chevrolet Racing Program Manager for the IZOD IndyCar Series. “The Chevrolet IndyCar V-6 teams will be back in action on the Streets of Toronto, the fifth street course of the 2012 season. The diversity of the venues in the IZOD IndyCar Series keeps us busy with setups and the racing fresh for the fans. In fact, the race in Toronto marks the return of the push-to-pass feature that will bring additional excitement to the road/street courses for the rest of the season. All drivers will now have a limited amount of "turbo overboost" to use during the race to strategically execute passes with the press of a button on the steering wheel. We continue to work closely with the engineers from our Chevy teams to maximize the pool of information available, and are looking forward to a strong Chevrolet showing at Toronto."

IndyCar will set the engine control unit to allow one push-to-pass activation per run (service stop) in practice on July 6 for the Honda Indy Toronto. Push-to-pass will be disabled for practice and the three rounds of qualifications on July 7, but will be re-enabled for the race day warm-up and the race on Sunday, July 8.

Chevrolet drivers currently hold the top-two positions in the championship standings, Will Power leads followed closely by Ryan Hunter-Reay, and a total of six Gold Bowtie drivers are in the top-10 in points. Chevrolet continues to lead the Series’ Manufacturers’ Championship standings after nine races.

"Several of our Team Chevy drivers are in a very tight battle for the IZOD IndyCar Series championship,” Berube concluded. “With six races remaining in the season, every position and every point counts. The Manufacturer's Title is also not locked up, so focus on winning every race is still the goal for Team Chevy, one race at a time."

Chevrolet competed previously in Indy-style competition as an engine manufacturer in 1986-93 and 2002-05 with V-8 engines, winning 105 races, six of which were on the Streets of Toronto. Those wins powered Chevrolet to six driver champions, and included seven Indianapolis 500 victories.

CHEVROLET IN THE IZOD INDYCAR SERIES - FROM THE DRIVER’S SEAT:

WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – POINTS LEADER: “Toronto is certainly a place where I have had some success in the past and I hope we can keep that going for Verizon and the entire Team Penske crew. We have some unfinished business and I know everyone here is working hard to get back to victory lane. The car and Chevy engine have been right where we need them to be successful, now it is our job to finish.”

RYAN HUNTER-REAY, NO. 28 TEAM DHL/SUN DROP CITRUS SODA ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT – 2ND IN POINTS: "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."

HELIO CASTRONEVES, NO. 3 PENSKE TRUCK RENTAL TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – 4TH POINTS: “Toronto is a beautiful city and is it going to be fun to race the No. 3 Penske Truck Rental machine there. This is always a great race because the fans are so welcoming and the history of racing there. It is time for us to really start making the push for the championship and I hope I can continue Team Chevy’s success from the last couple weeks with a win this weekend.”

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE, NO. 27 TEAM GODADDY.COM ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET – 5TH IN POINTS: "I'm very excited to go home - I always love racing in Toronto. We've been very competitive on the street courses so far - Detroit obviously wasn't our strongest for a few reasons, but the car was still good and there's no reason to expect any different from the Go Daddy Chevy now. Then from the professional side, and the personal side, the race in Toronto is pretty much the reason I became a fan of racing. I went to that race the first time when I was 18 months old and have been to every one since, so it's always special to go home. The fan support for me, even in the junior formulas, was incredible and having all our friends and family come out... it's a very cool thing to be a part of."

TONY KANAAN, NO. 11 GEICO/MOUSER ELECTRONICS KV RACING TECHNOLOGY CHEVROLET – 7TH IN POINTS: It will be nice to be back in Toronto. It is a beautiful city with great fans. After four consecutive oval races I am looking forward to getting back on the street and road courses. We have had some success over the last four races and put ourselves back in championship contention. We just have to keep producing good results.”

RYAN BRISCOE, NO. 2 HITACHI TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – 9TH IN POINTS: “I love going to Toronto. It is a great city and a really fun event for everyone. It should be exciting to get the No.2 Hitachi car back on the street courses after this past stretch of ovals. We’ve got something new this week with it being the first time for the push to pass in the Chevy engine so that will be interesting and hopefully we can come out of there with a win.”

ORIOL SERVIA, NO. 22 PANTHER/DREYER & REINBOLD RACING CHEVROLET – 12TH IN POINTS: "I'm really looking forward to our second outing on a street course with Chevy power. Detroit was a good event for us and we finished in the top-five. Toronto is a race that I've been on the podium before and I've never won it and I think that we should be really competitive. I can't wait to hit the Canadian streets again and see what we can do. I just really like the city and I kind of forced myself to like the race track the first year that I went there. Now, after doing it so many years it's just so familiar to me that you're almost looking forward to that bump here or that concrete there or whatever it is that defines the track. I really don't have one thing that I really love about the track, just the fact that it's in Toronto."

MARCO ANDRETTI, NO. 26 TEAM DR. PEPPER ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET – 13TH IN POINTS: "We really found something in the set-up of the car during the race at Detroit [where Andretti finished 11th after starting 24th]. I really feel like it was breakthrough for a street course set-up that suits my style of driving, so I'm anxious to get to Toronto and try it there. The Iowa finish was good for me and the team, and we have an opportunity to string together a bunch of solid races to finish out the season. It would be really awesome to win at Toronto, where my dad was so successful."

RUBENS BARRICHELLO, NO. 8 BMC/EMBRASE KV RACING TECHNOLOGY CHEVROLET – 15TH IN POINTS: "I am really looking forward to the Toronto race. During my whole career in racing, I have been a fan of the Canadian races, but have not had A chance to get to know Toronto, so it is a great time to go there. The track seems very challenging, but I want to have a good weekend so I will be working extra hard for that."

E.J. VISO, NO. 5 CITGO/PDVSA KV RACING TECHNOLOGY CHEVROLET – 17TH IN POINTS: “I am looking forward to going back to Toronto. It's a beautiful place and the crowd brings a lot of energy. The race itself is normally exciting for both the drivers and the fans. We are hungry for a good result as we have been extremely close in the last few races.”

ED CARPENTER, NO. 20 FUZZY’S PREMIUM ULTRA VODKA ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET – 19TH IN POINTS: “It has been a very tough stretch for the team especially with the Indy crash in qualifying. But I’m proud of the effort everyone has put in with the tight schedule. We have finished every race too. That is a great showing for a first-year team. I felt we should have performed a little better in some of the races from a team owner’s standpoint. We have a few chances to make the top-three but we didn’t get the breaks. We need to improve our qualifying performance this year. Our setups for the races have been very good. We have made some good runs through the fields. I feel that our street settings have been better this year. So I hope to have a competitive car for the streets of Toronto. I like that circuit.”

SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS NO. 7 TRUECAR-MCAFEE DRAGON RACING CHEVROLET, 26TH IN POINTS (RUNNING THE STREET AND ROAD COURSE RACES IN 2012 FOR DRAGON RACING): “I am excited to get back at the wheel of the True Car – Mc Afee – Chevrolet entry. Toronto is always a great weekend of racing, and a track I have always been fast on. This is the start of our Canadian tour and I can’t wait to get back in the groove and score some big results for Dragon Racing”

Source: Team Chevy Racing