TORONTO (AP) — Coming off two wins on oval courses, Ryan Hunter-Reay showed he can dominate a street course when he cruised to the Honda Indy Toronto title on Sunday.
Hunter-Reay led the final 28 laps of the 85-lap race and also moved in front in the series points race. He is the first American-born driver to win three straight IndyCar races since AJ Allmendinger in 2006, whose third victory also came at Toronto.
He leads Will Power by 34 points in the series standings, becoming the first American to top season-long race since Sam Hornish Jr. won the title in 2006.
Hunter-Reay won under caution after numerous pileups followed a restart with three laps remaining. The trouble began when Sebastien Bourdais bumped and went into the wall on Turn 1. A few seconds later, Dario Franchitti, Ryan Briscoe, Simon Pagenaud and Ed Carpenter became entangled in Turn 3.
Hunter-Reay made it through, just beating Charlie Kimball to the corner and holding him off before the yellow flags. Kimball finished second, followed by Mike Conway.
"Three in a row, I don't know what to think about this," Hunter-Reay said. "It really shows that this team can get it done on all venues."
Hunter-Reay's eighth career victory was his fourth in his last 18 races. He finished third last year in Toronto.
The winning streak also means three consecutive victories for Chevy engines, which leads the manufacturers' points race. Chevy has won seven races, with Honda winning the other three.
Kimball and Conway enjoyed career-best finishes.
Franchitti, the defending champion and pole winner, continued to struggle. The Scot finished 17th, in part because of a dreadful first pit stop in which he stopped too far from the wall. That cost him extra time as a crew member had to move his car closer because the fuel hose couldn't reach.
Power ran into trouble on the 56th lap and finished 15th. He had contact with Josef Newgarden on the course, and it was enough to damage his front wing, which eventually fell off and slashed his left tire. That forced Power back into the pits.
Power then pitted again five laps later to have his new front wing adjusted.
Hometown favorite James Hinchcliffe finished 22nd after his engine failed. He had been running fourth 28 laps in.
Hinchcliffe had no luck with his engines this week. He qualified ninth, but an unapproved engine change on Friday forced him to start 19th.
"We had a mechanical issue and started losing power in the engine, and it's too bad," said Hinchcliffe, who grew up outside of Toronto. "It's a heartache to go out early here."
It was a wild finish to what was mostly an uneventful race on the narrow 1.75-mile, 11-turn street course on the grounds of Exhibition Place.
"Too many idiots, that's for sure," Bourdais said, saying it was Kimball who pushed him into the wall. "He shouldn't be standing on that podium, he doesn't deserve it."
Hunter-Reay was in second, behind J.R. Hildebrand, after his second pit stop on the 53rd lap. Hunter-Reay then regained the lead four laps later when Hildebrand pitted.
With 15 laps left, he had built a 6.5-second lead over Tony Kanaan, who was attempting to save fuel after he pitted with 34 laps remaining.
Scott Dixon's run of engine troubles continued. He was the first driver out of the race when his engine failed seven laps in.
That was a big blow in several ways for Dixon, who entered third in the points standings. He also entered the week having used up all five of his approved engines for the season. His next change will be unapproved, forcing an automatic 10-spot penalty in the grid in his next race.
The series takes a week off and will stay in Canada for its next race at Edmonton City Centre Airport in Alberta on July 22nd.