~ by Michelle Demaras ~
The best weekend of the year is when the IndyCars come to Toronto. The race weekend has three equally distinct days to it. While the fun, fan-girl side of the weekend is on Friday, Saturday is when it starts getting real, with one more round of morning practice, and of course, qualifying. We headed down the Gardiner Expressway to the track early in the morning. I didn’t want to miss a minute of action!
A third round of practice on the track is always fun to watch. Though, I ended up feeling pretty bad for Théo Pourchaire, the driver McLaren dragged out for the race, since he ended up missingthe morning practice session. Can you imagine you get called in the middle of the night at your home in France, being told that if you can make it all the way to Toronto, you can race for the team that just fired you? Not only that, but your first run on the track will be qualifying? I worry for the poor guy’s sanity.
It wasn’t all IndyCar racing. When the junior sports car series competed, Daniel ended up spotting some familiar faces up on the podium at Exhibition Place. From go-kart racing there was Cayden who was Daniel’s teammate at New Speed Motorsports. There was also Peter who competed in Formula 1200 against Daniel. Don’t worry, Daniel hid his jealousy pretty well. Maybe if he’s lucky, you’ll see Daniel racing at the event next year (fingers crossed!).
Qualifying was the main event. Imagine a stereotypical Englishman rooting for his nation in football – that’s me rooting for Team Penske. I was happy to see an exciting qualifying, with the quickest laps being under a minute! It’s the fastest anyone’s ever managed to get from one place to another in downtown Toronto. Maybe we should all start driving racecars!
It was a really interesting turnout on many levels. The McLaren F1 team and the McLaren IndyCar team were having two very different weekends. It’s not every day you see the best McLaren qualifying result all the way down in 14th.
I also got to see my personal favourite rookie, Christian Rasmussen, make it into the Fast-12 which was a pleasant surprise. That result, alongside Lundgaard’s stunning victory at the Honda Indy last year, makes me think drivers from Denmark have a knack for this track.
Will Power’s had an exciting season so far, standing 2nd in the Championship so far. Then again, it wouldn’t be Will Power if he’s not keeping us on our toes. Every last fan of his in the stands was biting their nails as he had this near-crash encounter during qualifying, just swerving away in time before hitting the wall. Talk about a save!
A good qualifying session will have you on the edge of your seat, and this weekend didn’t disappoint. If anything, I was glad Pourchaire didn’t end up crashing out during qualifying. Can you tell I feel bad for the guy? Seriously, all the way from France! How many drivers has McLaren gone through this season? Either way, qualifying left me with both a pit in my stomach filled with anticipation and excitement for the race to come.
Back again on Sunday, for the conclusion of the best weekend in the whole racing year – race day.