One weekend every year, the City Centre Airport in Edmonton is shut down to host the elite of North American open-wheel racing. . Since 2005, the Edmonton Indy had played host to the stars of Champ Car and the Izod IndyCar Series. After a controversial race two weeks ago on the streets of downtown Toronto, 26 IndyCars trekked across Canada for the second of two Canadian stops for the Izod IndyCar Series. Would there be payback from the events of the Toronto Indy or would everyone play nice under the watchful eye of IndyCar officials?

Lowdown Live Blog

3:16 PM – Late start for today’s #EdmontonIndy live blog. Cooking soup is more rewarding than watching Rahal brainfade into PT.
[It was a Cheddar Ale Soup. It was good. Not the best thing I ever cooked but not peanut-crusted Caribbean chicken. Better than soup from a can.]

3:18 PM – On Lap 1, Tagliani outbroke himself into Rahal and punctured GR38’s tire. Rahal got off track, spun back on in front of PT & wrecked both.

3:21 PM – On Lap 19, it’s Sato, Power, Dixon, Dario and Briscoe running in the top five. It’s a parade behind Takuma. Pit stops coming soon.

3:23 PM – Lead change: Sato makes a mistake out of a turn then locks up into the next. Power goes to the point.

3:24 PM – Dixon and Franchitti get by Sato in the next two turns (both hairpins) to move up to 2nd & 3rd respectively.

3:30 PM – Caution on Lap 25: Oriol Servia gets punted into the tires on his out lap after his pit stop by Mike Conway.

3:34 PM – Most cars pit under caution. It’s Power, Dixon, Dario, Briscoe, Sato, Helio, RHR, Viso, Wilson & Bourdais the top ten out.

3:36 PM – Saavedra, Conway and Tagliani pitted before the yellow so they stayed out. They’re your top three followed by Power and Dixon.

3:39 PM – Restart is called off. Saavedra pitted out of the lead. Conway leads but will be black-flagged for hitting Servia.
[It amazed me how wildly inconsistent IndyCar officials were race to race. The moves were dumber in Toronto but didn’t get penalized. But the less boneheaded moves in Edmonton were harshly dealt with. I don’t mind if IndyCar penalizes the drivers or not but they have to consistent race to race. If you change the definition of “avoidable contact” from week-to-week, you become a farce.]

3:41 PM – Back to green on Lap 30. Power takes the lead into T1. No problems until T2 when Viso hits Dixon and spins.

3:43 PM – Dixon has to pit because of damage from the Viso hit. They’re taking him behind the wall. Viso got restarted but is most of a lap down.

3:49 PM – Versus is showing us how to fill an IndyCar radiator. Meanwhile, Power leads from Sato, Hunter-Reay, Tagliani and Castroneves.
[At this point, the race started to fall apart. It became very processional very quickly.]

3:53 PM – Hunter-Reay out brakes himself massively and spins Sato out. The move never had a chance. Boneheaded move.

4:02 PM – Hunter-Reay did get a penalty for hitting Sato. On Lap 46, it’s Power leading Tagliani, Castroneves, Briscoe, Wilson & Bourdais.

4:08 PM – Tagliani pits out of 2nd w/ 32 laps left. Will need help to make it to the finish on fuel. It’s Power, Briscoe, Helio, Wilson, Dario.

4:14 PM – The leaders are in the middle of pit stops. Nobody has said what the fuel situation is for the guys stopping sooner.

4:22 PM – Pit stops have cycled through. Power leads with Castroneves right on his tail. Franchitti is 3rd followed by Briscoe and Kanaan.

4:32 PM – With 13 laps to go. Power, Castroneves and Franchitti run nose-to-tail. We’re in for a fun finish.
[Actually, nobody looked like they were willing to make a move. Running close is only exciting if somebody looks like they want to pass.]

4:41 PM – With 7 laps to go, Power, Castroneves and Franchitti are still running together. Power has 6 overtake pushes left. The other two have 5.

4:44 PM – Tagliani pits from 13th with 5 laps to go to top up his fuel. There hasn’t been a caution since the restart on Lap 30.

4:48 PM – White flag! One more lap to go. Briscoe pits out of 4th for a splash of fuel. No change up front.

4:50 PM – Checkered flag! Will Power wins the Edmonton Indy. It’s his 4th win of the season (Barber, Sao Paulo, Texas #2)

4:51 PM – Unofficial results: Power, Castroneves, Franchitti, Kanaan, Wilson, Bourdais, Hunter-Reay, Conway, Patrick and Briscoe.

4:52 PM – The Canadians didn’t have such a great day. Hinchcliffe was 15th, Tagliani 17th and Tracy was out on Lap 1 and classified 25th.
[Post-race, IndyCar dropped PT to 26th in the final running order because Brian Barnhart is clueless.]

Driver Tweets

Justin Wilson (@JustinWilson22) – It was fun racing. Saw some stupid sh#t but fortunately didn’t involved the 22 Z-Line car. Looked like @scottdixon9 & @GrahamRahal got hosed — Fun racing with @dariofranchitti @TonyKanaan and Sebastien. Racing is possible. Thanks to those guys. Thanks to everyone for all the tweets

Mike Conway (@MikeConwayIndy) – Good job from @FollowAndretti team,shame about penalty car was pretty quick.haven’t seen replay but felt like I was on the inside of servia
[You were but you took a huge liberty with Oriol and took him out.]

Ryan Briscoe (@RyanBriscoe6) – What a bummer today having to pit for fuel with 1 lap to go… Great run for all Team Penske cars today, I’m just frustrated right now.

James Hinchcliffe (@Hinchtown) – Well that sucked! Sorry to all Canadians, we didn’t show well for you today. Struggled with the car from the green flag! Stronger next time!

James Jakes (@JamesJakes) – What a shit day ,role on Mid-Ohio .Congrats to @LewisHamilton what a drive today .

Oriol Servia (@OriolServia) – Ok that makes it 3 bad races in a row, time to change wavelengths! Somehow still 5th in points. Anybody has armor I can borrow for Ohio?

Graham Rahal (@GrahamRahal) – Drivers in this series need to start driving with some respect. This is ridiculous. — Tagliani is doing what he does best today. Taking people out and holding people up!

Results

1. #12 Will Power
2. #3 Helio Castroneves
3. #10 Dario Franchitti
4. #82 Tony Kanaan
5. #22 Justin Wilson
6. #19 Sebastien Bourdais
7. #28 Ryan Hunter-Reay
8. #27 Mike Conway
9. #7 Danica Patrick
10. #6 Ryan Briscoe
11. #4 J.R. Hildebrand
12. #14 Vitor Meira
13. #24 Ana Beatriz
14. #26 Marco Andretti
15. #06 James Hinchcliffe
16. #34 Sebastian Saavedra
17. #77 Alex Tagliani
18. #18 James Jakes
19. #83 Charlie Kimball (-1 lap)
20. #59 E.J. Viso (-1 lap)
21. #5 Takuma Sato (-1 lap)
22. #2 Oriol Servia (-4 laps)
23. #9 Scott Dixon (-6 laps)
24. #78 Simona di Silvestro (-26 laps, Clutch)
25. #38 Graham Rahal (-80 laps, Contact)
26. #8 Paul Tracy (-80 laps, Contact)