Simon Pagenaud paid homage to Bastille Day with a hard-charging victory in the Honda Indy Toronto.
The native of Montmorillon, France, completed a “perfect weekend” in the No. 22 DXC Technology Team Penske Chevrolet by leading 80 of the 85 laps, holding off five-time NTT IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon in the closing stage and taking the checkered flag under caution.
“I was sure we were going to have a yellow with five laps to go and we were going to have a restart,” said Pagenaud, who claimed the NTT P1 Award a day earlier. “But no matter what, we had the best car today. Chevy did a great job of giving us an update this week and it really paid off, and obviously on the fuel it was tremendous. The car was plenty fast all day. We never really got in trouble with anyone.
“Being able to win for France, after winning Indianapolis, it’s been a special year. I’m very proud to fly the French flag here in a cousin country.”
It was the third victory of the season for Pagenaud, who was runner-up to Dixon in 2018 at Toronto.
Josef Newgarden, who qualified fifth in the No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet, finished fourth and retained his championship points lead. Pagenaud is third in the standings, 39 points behind his teammate, with six races left.
Newgarden, a two-time winner and the 2018 pole sitter on the streets of Toronto, ran his streak of running at the finish to 34 races.
“Thanks to Chevy. They gave us a good package this weekend and that’s how we fought so hard,” he said.
Team Chevy drivers have secured six wins to-date in 2019, including three in five street course events, and five pole starts through 11 races this season. Overall in Indy car competition, Chevrolet has recorded 190 victories. On the 1.786-mile, 11-turn temporary street circuit, Chevrolet has won seven of the 10 races since returning to NTT IndyCar Series manufacturer competition in 2012.
The NTT IndyCar Series season continues July 20 with the Iowa 300 at Iowa Speedway. NBCSN will telecast the 300-lap race live at 7 p.m. ET. Chevrolet has won four of the seven races and earned five pole starts on the .894-mile tri-oval since 2012.
An interview with race winner SIMON PAGENAUD, NO. 22 DXC TECHNOLOGY TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET (third victory of season, 14th of career; pole sitter). Full transcript:SOUNDED LIKE AN ALMOST PERFECT DAY.“it was. What a great weekend really. We really hooked up the whole weekend with a fantastic racecar. Super proud for DXC Technology, they came here with a big group. I wanted to give them another win. We got a win with the Menards car and with the DXC Technology car, which is important to our partnership with Team Penske. They are supporting our program. Not only being a partner on the race car, but also on the support side of racing with all the technology to bring, it helps us being better on the racetrack. That’s very important to us. Then it’s Bastille Day in France. Being able to win for France, after winning Indianapolis, it’s been a special year. I’m very proud to fly the French flag here in a cousin country, which is Canada. I’m really excited and proud. I guess the French guy is leading the Tour de France today on the bike. I felt like I had to do the same. Super proud.”
TALK ABOUT THE RACE.“The first corner was difficult. We managed. We took off and the car handled really well. We definitely had an advantage on the tire wear. I knew we had a really good race car. We were able to match the Honda power pretty well. Helped us really to perform even better, so thanks to Chevy. On the black Firestone tires, we were trying to make the fuel. Passing the backmarkers at the end was very complicated. I just played the game with (Scott) Dixon to make sure I was covering myself through Turn 1, catch the backmarkers. That wasn’t very fun for the leaders or for the fans. If I was trying to pass them, I would use a lot of fuel. They were making it quite difficult. I just used my experience to be smart there.”
YOU SEEMED TO HAVE A STRONG APPROACH TO MAY, GETTING THE JOB DONE. HAVE YOU RETURNED TO THAT?“Yes. Detroit and Texas is a different story. But Detroit was not the way I wanted to run a race weekend. You see when I’m well-prepared, I can do the job. I’ve shown it before. It’s just a matter of being in that zone. Certainly the car was phenomenal this weekend, so it really was a matter of understanding how to extract the maximum out of it and stay on that aggressive level. I kept driving hard all weekend, while still having some margin, except in qualifying. We were always a little bit ahead of the competition while not taking too much risk. That really was a comfortable zone, yeah. Definitely a good approach certainly. I’m still working on that to make sure that happens every race. There are days that start really well for you. There are days that are really the easiest day in racing. It’s just a matter of executing. There are days where it’s more difficult. In those days you learn a lot more and you become stronger.”
AT WHAT POINT DID YOU KNOW SCOTT DIXON WAS BEHIND YOU? HOW DID YOU KEEP AHEAD OF HIM THOSE LAST 15 LAPS?“I knew the gap with Scott. Scott is a really good racer. He’s five-time champ. You know he’s going to be there at the end. I knew that was going to be the case. I built a gap at the beginning to be safe over the pit sequence. Then at the end when I saw the back markers, I knew that was his chance to come back. So what I did is once I figured out that Hunter-Reay was using ‘push to pass’, I could use my ‘push to pass’, but I was using a lot of fuel doing so. I was putting myself at risk. What I did is I just looked at where Dixon was strong and I adjusted my pace to make sure I was ahead of him enough and not bothered by the backmarkers through Turn 1 and 3. The rest of the track Dixon couldn’t pass me, so I was saving the fuel there. I kept a distance with the backmarkers not to be in trouble myself. I used a bit of experience there. Throughout the years I learned how to do that, watching the greats. That’s how I pulled it off.”
WHEN YOU HEAR HE’S RIGHT ON YOUR BUMPER, YOU HAVE THE TEAM TELLING YOU TO GO INTO FUEL CONSERVATION, HOW DO YOU HANDLE THAT?“I was very composed today because I knew I had such a great race car. It was just frustrating in a way. But I’ve been racing for a while now, so I managed to control my emotion and found a way to use the back markers to my advantage. Really I was in that mentality this weekend, just positive, never thinking negative. The goal is to finish first, doesn’t matter if it’s half a second, two-tenthhs, 10 seconds. It was really great for the fans, made it exciting. It’s good, good for the show. At the end of the day I feel confident always.”
OVER THE LAST MONTH, THERE’S BEEN SOME EAGERNESS TO MAKE THIS A ROSSI-NEWGARDEN CHAMPIONSHIP FIGHT. IS THAT MOTIVATION FOR YOU?“No, I think if you look at my Indy car career, I’ve been fighting for championships almost every year. Never count me out. That’s all I can say. Maybe here in the end, I’m showing it today, that’s my determination that’s talking, it’s not pretentious, it’s just that I have a great team behind me. We won the biggest race in the world. We just won an awesome race. To be at a driver track where you need to have a really good car, chassis and engine, we showed that today. We’ve got all the equipment, all the tools to do so well. Now it’s just a matter of knowing when to push it. It’s a long championship. You’ve got to build it. I’m here and I think Newgarden, Rossi and Dixon know it, like I know they’re here, too. It’s going to be a great fight in the end.”
WAS THIS WEEKEND IN MANY WAYS LIKE A MICROCOSIM OF YOUR MONTH OF MAY?“When you want it so bad, I guess it happens, right? That’s why I kept saying after Indy, I dreamt about winning Indy, just got to work really hard at it. It’s not about working hard, it’s about working well, focusing on the right things. I think last weekend, having time at home, studying tapes, studying data, going to the simulator, all that allowed me to have the time to rethink how I was going to approach this weekend. The same way I did for Indy. I found something there that works really well for me. I just got to keep riding that wave forward. So, yeah, it’s nice to be in that position.”
AFTER YOU SAW YOUR FACE FOR THE BORG-WARNER TROPHY AND WENT BACK TO FRANCE, DID YOU SAY THAT CELEBRATION TIME HAS COME TO AN END AND THE FOCUS IS ON THE CHAMPIONSHIP?“That’s a good point. Good point. I think that was definitely a closure to go to France and realize the impact of the biggest race in the world. I had no idea the impact it was going to have in France. It was quite incredible. We’re actually going back in August for a media tour with INDYCAR to celebrate with the media there and fans in my hometown as well, which I’m really excited about. (The) Borg-Warner (Trophy) is going to be there. Those are good moments, too. Yeah, I’m definitely switched to championship mode now even though I’m a happy person.”
WAS THIS ONE OF THE ONES YOU HAD IN YOUR MIND, I WANT TO WIN TORONTO?“Absolutely. Me, and my engineer (Ben Bretzman) was even more eager than me. We’ve been so fast here so many years, on the verge of winning so many times. Like I said earlier this weekend, yellow came out and then we finished either fifth or fourth, never had the win despite being fastest car. That’s another closure. It’s nice to be able to tick that box, say we’ve done it. For me, it’s one of the best street courses because it’s so dicey. I really enjoy that. I felt like I had to win it at some point, so I’m glad it’s done. Now I can focus on the rest.”
Inside Track Communications PR
