- McDonald’s driver Graham Rahal had high hopes after earning a third place starting spot for the 85-lap Honda Indy Toronto, the team’s 23rd event on the 11-turn street course around Exhibition Place.  Unfortunately those aspirations took a big hit on the opening lap when second place starter Will Power squeezed him to the wall and ran over the nose of his race car before the Start/Finish line.  Rahal had to pit for a new nose and Power came in for new Firestone tires due to cutting his when he drove over Rahal’s wing.  Both rejoined the race with Rahal in 21st and Power in 23rd.  At the end of the first of five cautions from Laps 8-10, Rahal pit to top off his fuel on Lap 10 and returned to the track in 17th place ahead of two cars that also pit because he only took on fuel.  The race resumed for one lap until Ed Carpenter spun in Turn 6 but resumed after a little assistance.  Once the race again resumed, he passed Hideki Mutoh on Lap 17 for 16th place and closed on Danica Patrick but was unable to pass her although he was capable of faster speeds.  On Lap 27 Will Power passed Rahal and then Patrick a lap later which enabled the Australian to close to the leaders and eventually finish third.  Rahal was still unable to safely pass Patrick and locked up his tires when she surprised him with her early braking point on lap 31.  He immediately reported to the team that he might have to pit to replace his compromised Firestone tires but the decision was made to stay on track to avoid making an extra stop for fuel later.  He struggled to maintain seventh place due to his flat-spotted tires and lost three positions to Scott Dixon, Mario Moraes and eventual winner Dario Franchitti on Lap 43 before he pitted on Lap 47.  He returned to the track in 16th place but moved into 13th as the pit cycle finished.  On Lap 58, Rahal attempted to pass the lapped car of Ed Carpenter who was running 20th but Carpenter turned into the corner – and Rahal -- as he was pulling inside on the right-handed corner.  Carpenter was able to continue and finished 15th but Rahal retired in 20th place and dropped from ninth to 10th in the point standings after only collecting 12 for a total of 209.  Pole sitter Dario Franchitti won the event while 11th place starter Ryan Briscoe finished second and Will Power, who hit Rahal on the start, finished third in the attrition filled race.  Following are Rahal’s post race comments:  

 

“It was a frustrating day for the McDonald’s boys.  Right from the start the race was bad because (Will) Power didn’t try to stay in his lane on the start.  It’s as easy at that; you’re supposed to be two wide and he wasn’t.  He came straight across and just took off my front wing.  So right away we were fighting an uphill battle and those are the worst races because it’s so frustrating when you know you’re out of the game at the start.  After coming in for the wing change I just tried to recover.  We had pretty good lap times but I just couldn’t hang in there being behind Danica.  She would brake so early and I was bad at judging where she was going to hit the brakes because it was inconsistent, but always early and I ended up flat-spotting my tires.  I tried to recover from that as well and then tried to pass Ed.  Danica dove in (ahead of Ed) and Ed stayed wide so I dove underneath him and got mid-corner and he turned in while I was there.  I tried to back out but I was pinched.  That was it for us.  I’m not going to blame him though because I should have known that’s what he would do.  The whole idea today was to get some points and close on fifth place but now (fifth place) Danica gained a lot of points and moved further away.”