By Canadian Press

Ryan Hunter-Reay aiming to regain street track success at Honda Indy Toronto

Jul 14, 2016 | 11:05 AM

TORONTO — Ryan Hunter-Reay’s last race was five days ago, but it’s already a distant memory for the veteran IndyCar driver.

Hunter-Reay finished last at last weekend’s Iowa Corn 300, completing just 105 of 300 laps due to engine issues.

“I’ve almost burned that one out of my memory,” he said Thursday.

The 35-year-old will aim to get back on course at the Honda Indy Toronto this weekend when he races at a track that’s been kind to him in the past. Hunter-Reay led for 36 laps at the 2012 Indy Toronto en route to winning the event.

It’s something that he would like to do once again Sunday on the streets surrounding Exhibition Place.

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“It’s great to be back in Toronto,” Hunter-Reay said. “This place has some great memories here and it was a big part of our championship run in 2012.”

Aside from last weekend’s race in Iowa, it’s been a good run of late for the Fort Lauderdale, Fla., native. Hunter-Reay finished fourth at the Kohler Grand Prix at Road America on June 26, while placing third in the second leg of the Chevrolet Dual in Detroit in early June and seventh during the event’s first race.

Hunter-Reay has yet to record a victory this year, but does have three top-5 finishes and six top-10 finishes in the Verizon IndyCar Series, which places him 13th in the circuit’s overall standings.

“There’s no other racing series like this in the world and that’s what I like about it is every week — you need to change and adapt and be ready to really think outside the box on how you set the car up, how you need to be as a driver and how you need to approach the race weekend making changes each week,” Hunter-Reay said. 

“It’s a true challenge.”

Hunter-Reay has looked good on street tracks this season. Aside from the his success in Detroit, he started off the IndyCar schedule with a third place finish at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

The 2012 Verizon IndyCar Series champion then went on a bit of a rough stretch, including a 24th place finish at the Indianapolis 500, a race which he won in 2014. 

Hunter-Reay says that track positioning will be very important if he’s going to be successful this weekend.

“It’s such a small window here to get it right, because of the bumps, to get those shock settings and spring setting and the damper settings just right, you’re talking three-, four-tenths of a second here,” Hunter-Reay said. “If you’re out of that window, you’re basically, relatively speaking in IndyCar terms, out to lunch. You have to be right there within a tenth or two of a second to be fighting for that pole position on Saturday.”

Hunter-Reay adds that he and his team will need to adjust on the fly and make the set up right if he’s to finish on top of the podium.

“We at Andretti Racing had a bit of an off year here last year so we need to improve on that.”

With success earlier this season in Detroit and St. Petersburg, Hunter-Reay is hoping to carry his street track momentum into Toronto.

“That’s a big thing for us is getting the car maximized, the grip maximized so that I can extract the full potential out of the car,” Hunter-Reay said. “I had that here in 2012 and hopefully we can do it again.”

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Ryan McKenna, The Canadian Press