The Honda Indy Toronto has a special sentimental feeling for driver coach Lee Bentham.
Not only is it a homecoming event for the Richmond Hill, Ont., native, but he also returns as defending champion after guiding Mike Conway and the underdog Ed Carpenter Racing team to the checkered flag during a wet and wild race at the street course a year ago.
“Obviously as a smaller team as we were, any time you can beat the big teams is a real accomplishment,” Bentham said. “This team is now full of more people but everybody here is dedicated in succeeding in any way we can. When you get a bunch of people together and it’s the right bunch of people and they’re all believing in the same things, the same goals and you’re pushing towards that, it’s really nice to see that come to fruition. It was a pretty special moment.”
Programming Alert: Watch the Honda Indy Toronto live on City and Sportsnet ONE Sunday with coverage starting at 2:30 p.m. ET.
Bentham is also able to draw from his own experience as a racer. The former Atlantic Championship driver finished second at Toronto in 1998 with Forsythe Racing en route to capturing the series title that season. He turned to coaching following his retirement from racing and returned to Forsythe in 2006 where he mentored the next generation of drivers such as fellow Canadian James Hinchcliffe, who was already a star in the making.
“Hinchcliffe always stood out as the guy that was the most media-savvy and has obviously done a lot to promote himself as well. He was very smart that way,” Bentham said. “That’s only gotten bigger. He’s got his own beer now and everything else. What more could you ask for as a Canadian than to have your own beer?”
Bentham joined Ed Carpenter Racing during their inaugural IndyCar season in 2012 and stayed onboard following the team’s merger with Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing heading into this season.
Now looking to help CFH Racing’s Josef Newgarden and Luca Filippi reach the podium in Sunday’s race, Bentham shared his top three keys to victory at the Honda Indy Toronto.
1) Survival
Simply put, the Honda Indy Toronto is a race of attrition. The narrow Exhibition Place track features bumpy streets, surface changes, tight corners and unforgiving barriers making it one of the toughest in IndyCar. The Toronto race has more than its fair share of mishaps, especially at the infamous Turn 3, where cars blazing down Lake Shore Boulevard straightaway at 180 mph come to a halt at the sharp corner and a pileup is bound to happen at some point.
“You’ve got to survive all of the accidents,” Bentham explains. “It’s a difficult street course and you’ve really got to be a street fighter to get around this place. It’s somewhat bumpy, it’s not as bad as Detroit for instance. First and foremost, you’ve got to survive the accidents and just keep your car running.”
2) Be Smart
Tied to survival is being able to quickly react to those aforementioned accidents and not get caught up in a wreckage.
“You’ve got to be smart with your executions as far as stops and things like that, which kind of goes with the survival part,” Bentham said.
Last year with weather playing a huge factor, having the smarts to know when to switch tires before everyone else was a key part in Conway’s success.
“You’ve got to have a little bit of luck but you’ve also got to read the weather right,” Bentham said. “The driver has got to be able to know when he’s got to go to rain tires or slicks and try to beat everyone to that by at least a lap.”
3) Attack
It’s still a race after all and a driver has to be on the offence but finding the right racing line around the tough corners and bumpy roads in Toronto can be a challenge.
“You have to always run hard,” Bentham said. “As any street course, it’s different from a smooth road course where your approach is always a little more calm, car placement is super important. Here it’s about whether to use the curb or not use the curbing or how to manage all of the speeds on a track that’s fairly bumpy. You’re finding little pieces of grip throughout various parts of a corner so it’s a little more of a challenge that way just to find overall grip.”
