King travels north of the border to Toronto
Date: 12 / 07 / 2018
On the back of his highest result of the year at Road America, Jordan King now heads to Canada for the first time in his career to contest the Honda Indy Toronto as he jumps back into the No. 20 Fuzzy’s Vodka Chevrolet.
Not only will the 2018 Honda Indy Toronto be King’s first race at the street circuit, he will also be racing Canada for the first time. Though just 24 years old, King has raced in over 25 countries across the world but not yet Canada. New to the Verizon IndyCar Series in 2018, King will drive the 11-turn, 1.786-mile track for the first time during Friday morning’s practice session. The Brit takes over the No. 20 Fuzzy’s Vodka Chevrolet during the road and street course events from team owner and oval driver Ed Carpenter.
Ed Carpenter Racing is familiar with victory in the streets of Toronto, winning back-to-back races in 2014 and 2015. The team’s first 1-2 finish occurred at the conclusion of the 2015 Honda Indy Toronto, when Josef Newgarden held off teammate Luca Filippi to take the win. Mike Conway brought home the win in 2014 for ECR.
In the season-opening street course race in St. Petersburg, Fla., King set the track record in qualifying, made the Firestone Fast 6 and took the lead of the race on only the fifth lap. He has advanced out of the first round of qualifications in over half of the possible races this year, also making the Firestone Fast 6 at the INDYCAR Grand Prix. A myriad of unfortunate circumstances have prevented King from having results that match the speed he has shown throughout his first seven races. However, King had a smooth weekend and finished a season-best 12th at Road America, in his most recent race.
“I haven’t been to Canada in a very long time so I am actually quite looking forward to going to Toronto. I’ve got some good support from my family coming over so that will be nice! I’ve been on the simulator but it’s really difficult to say what the track will be like until I get in the car. It seems quite tight and twisty and seems very bumpy, but I’ve also been told it’s been resurfaced in a couple of areas. Learning the circuit as a whole might be a bit easier just because it’s a short one, but it seems to be a very niche track. It will be quite tough to learn all of the small characteristics, where the bumps are, how much curb you can use, how close you can get to the walls. It will be an interesting challenge!”
All practice Verizon IndyCar Series practice sessions in the streets of Toronto will be streamed live on IndyCar.com. Qualifications may also be watched live via the online stream on Saturday, July 14, then later on the 85-lap Honda Indy Toronto will begin at 20:35 p.m. (BST) on Sunday, July 15 – on BT Sport.