By Canadian Press

Pagenaud holds off Dixon to win Honda Indy Toronto; Hinchcliffe sixth

Jul 14, 2019 | 4:03 PM

TORONTO — Simon Pagenaud held off defending champion Scott Dixon to win the Honda Indy Toronto on Sunday.

The victory on Toronto’s 2.89-kilometre, 11-turn street course comes seven weeks after Pagenaud won the Indianapolis 500.

Dixon was second, while Alexander Rossi was third. James Hinchcliffe of Oakville, Ont., finished sixth.

Pagenaud finished runner-up to Dixon in Toronto last year. Sunday’s win was the Frenchman’s third of the season, and 14th of his career.

The 35-year-old Pagenaud and his Team Penske Chevrolet had been the class of the field all week, earning the pole after recording the fastest lap in a pair of practice sessions.

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His fast driving continued on Sunday. Pagenaud led by as many as eight seconds. On Lap 35, and with a 6.04-second lead on the field, he told his team “I’m just cruising, really.”

But Dixon, a five-time IndyCar Series champion and three-time winner in Toronto, roared back and cut the gap to about a half second with 18 laps to go.

Takuma Sato was running a great race in fifth place when flames shot up from his Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda on Lap 67.

Pagenaud’s win came fittingly on France’s national holiday.

He tweeted a photo of himself with a French flag a couple of hours before the race.

“Happy #BastilleDay!” he wrote. “Proud to be French and represent my country at such a high level of racing today in Toronto!”

The Toronto race hasn’t seen a Canadian winner since hometown favourite Paul Tracy stood atop the podium in 2003. Tracy also won in 1993.

The Canadian Press