Hinchcliffe still fine tuning despite strong finish at last year’s hometown race

It’s been 14 years since a Canadian — Toronto native Paul Tracy — captured the checkered flag on the streets surrounding Exhibition Place. Tracy also won the event in 1993.

Last year’s podium finish was Hinchcliffe’s best result in Toronto. The Oakville, Ont., native said in an interview earlier this year that placing third along with claiming the pole position at the 2016 Indianapolis 500 were dream come true moments.

Hinchcliffe won the Grand Prix of Long Beach in April and finished third in the first of two races at the Detroit Grand Prix in June. He enters this weekend 12th in the driver standings.

Despite his street course win in Long Beach, the 30-year-old doesn’t necessarily believe that it will give him an advantage in Toronto.

“It’s certainly a good confidence booster and knowing that we can win on street circuits is a big thing for the team and a big morale boost,” Hinchcliffe said. “Toronto is not Long Beach, unfortunately.”

Hinchcliffe’s No. 5 car for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports was 16th after the second practice session on Friday.

Helio Castroneves, who ended a three-year win drought with a victory at last weekend’s Iowa Corn 300, was fastest after the first practice while Simond Pagenaud was first after the second practice.

Pagenaud was last season’s Verizon IndyCar Series champion and is searching for his second victory of the season after winning in Phoenix in April.

The final practice session takes place Saturday morning before qualifying in the afternoon.

Last weekend’s race in Iowa, where Hinchcliffe finished 10th, was the 100th of his career, a milestone which he said is “pretty crazy to think about.”

Former roommate and friend Conor Daly, who races for A.J. Foyt Enterprises, said that Hinchcliffe is on the exact path that you want to be after 100 starts.

“I mean the guy has five (career) wins and he’s been on pole at Indianapolis, he’s competitive all the time. I have no doubt that Roger (Penske) and Chip (Ganassi) are definitely looking at him,” Daly said. “He’s a huge face for our sport too which is really cool. And then the guy couldn’t be nicer so that also helps to bring more and more people to the sport.”

Even in his seventh IndyCar season, Hinchcliffe is still intrigued at the possibility of trying out different forms of racing, including NASCAR. He alluded to NASCAR’s early-August race at Watkins Glen International in New York as a future option.

“If it’s got four wheels and an engine, I’ll give it a whirl,” Hinchcliffe said. “I’ve always had some kind of interest in different forms of racing and to get into a stock car, which I haven’t done yet, at a road course seems like a logical first step.

“It’s obviously not in the cards for this season but it’s something that we’re actively trying to make happen in the future.”

Even with a street course win earlier this year, he’s still staying cautiously optimistic for Sunday.

“With the layout change last year it’s undone a bit of the work that we’ve done over the last couple years trying to get a good setup together,” Hinchcliffe said. “But the engineers know how to work and I’m confident we’re going to roll off with a decent car.”

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Ryan McKenna, The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

Hinchcliffe still fine tuning despite strong finish at last year’s hometown race

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