Honda Indy Toronto

TV: NBCSN telecasts both races live (3 p.m. ET July 19 and July 20) and qualifications (1:30 p.m. ET July 19). Bob Varsha is the chief announcer with analysts Paul Tracy and Townsend Bell. The Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires race will air at 6 p.m. (ET) July 20.

Sportsnet coverage: Rob Faulds, analyst Bill Adam and pit reporter Todd Lewis provide coverage of both races (2:30 p.m. ET July 19 and 20) for Canadian audiences on Sportsnet East, Ontario, West and Pacific, Sportsnet NOW and Rogers Anyplace TV.

Live practice streaming: Live streaming of the July 19 Verizon IndyCar Series practice sessions will be on www.IndyCar.com, incorporating Timing & Scoring and the IMS Radio Network broadcast.

Twitter: @hondaindy, @IndyCar, #2inTO

Click it: Entry list || Tickets and event info || Championship standings

Weekend schedule (all times Eastern):

Friday, July 18 – 8:30-9 a.m. USF2000 practice
                        10-10:45 a.m. Verizon IndyCar Series practice *
                         1:15-1:45 p.m. USF2000 practice
                         1:55-2:50 p.m. Verizon IndyCar Series practice, including final 10 minutes for standing start practice *
                         3-3:35 p.m. Indy Lights practice
                         5:50-6:20 p.m. USF2000 qualifications
                         * streaming video on www.IndyCar.com

Saturday, July 19 – 8:15-9 a.m. Indy Lights practice
                            10 a.m. Verizon IndyCar Series Race 1 qualifications
                            1:30 p.m. Indy Lights qualifications
                            3 p.m. NBCSN on air, Verizon IndyCar Series Race 1
                            6:15 p.m. USF2000 Race 1

Sunday, July 20 – 9:05 a.m. USF2000 Race 2
                          10 a.m. Verizon IndyCar Series Race 2 qualifications
                          10:45 a.m. Indy Lights 45-lap race
                          3 p.m. NBCSN on air, Verizon Indy Car Series Race 2

Weather forecast: Partly cloudy each day, with highs in the upper 70s F

Qualifications: Three rounds of qualifying, including the Firestone Fast Six to determine the Verizon P1 Award, for Race 1. Entries divided into two groups for Round 1, with top six lap times in each group after 10 minutes of on-track running advancing to Round 2. Top six lap times after 10 minutes of on-track running in Round 2 advance to Firestone Fast Six. … For Race 2, all entries shall participate in one of two groups for 12 minutes each.  The Verizon P1 Award will be awarded to the best overall lap time in the qualifying sessions.

Race laps: 85 in clockwise direction on the 1.7-mile, 11-turn street circuit as measured by INDCYAR Timing & Scoring. Both races carry full points.

Start: Standing start for Race 1 … two-wide rolling start for Race 2 … single-file restarts. ANATOMY OF A STANDING START

Pit boxes: 36 feet.

Tires: Firestone street course primary tires are being used at all 2014 street course events; no change to the tread compound from 2013. The alternate tire also has the same tread compound used in 2013 and is being used at all street course events.

Fuel: 51 U.S. gallons of E85 for practice/qualifications and 51 gallons each race ... Verizon IndyCar Series cars carry 18.5 U.S. gallons.

Engines: 2.2-liter, twin-turbocharged V6s supplied by Chevrolet and Honda ... ... 150 kPa turbo boost for road/street course races; 160 kPa for push to pass (10 pushes for 15-second activation).

They said it: “Toronto is probably one of the most difficult courses we go to because of the fact that it’s fairly bumpy, and it’s tight. There are some high commitment corners and a lot of corners where concrete picks up mid-corner and that makes it pretty challenging. To get the car right there is always pretty difficult, but I think it’s a driver’s track; you can manhandle it a little bit to get more speed out of it if the car is good.” – Graham Rahal, driver of the No. 15 National Guard car for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

2013: Scott Dixon, driving the No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing car, swept the 85-lap races. Starting fifth in the opening race, Dixon led Sebastien Bourdais across the finish line by 1.7 seconds. In the second race, Dixon started from the pole and led 81 laps. Helio Castroneves was the runner-up and Bourdais finished third.

For spectators:  A Verizon IndyCar Series autograph session is from noon-1 p.m. July 20 at the INDYCAR Fan Village. … A mid-summer festival on the grounds of the Canadian National Exhibition complements the on-track activity. Multiple and varied food vendors and a craft beer fest, celebrating Ontario breweries, is on the menu. Entertainment includes competitions of the Stihl Timbersports Series and the Scott FireFit Championships, which have been described as the Olympics for firefighters. … Also part of the entertainment mix is the return of Honda Canada, with its Junior Red Rider program and the Honda World exhibit that features games, activities and racing-inspired displays. … Toronto native Danny Fernandes will perform the Canadian national anthem for Race 1. Canadian opera singer Douglas Tranquada will perform both the Canadian and U.S. national anthems for Race 1. … Tim Warmels, the new bachelor for Season 2 of “The Bachelor Canada,” will serve as the grand marshal for Race 1. Ryan Merchant and Sebu Simonia of Capital Cities will be the grand marshals for Race 2. … Grab an autograph from Nazem Kadri of the Toronto Maple Leafs along with Natalie Spooner and Meaghan Mikkelson from the Canadian women’s Olympic hockey team, who are also current competitors on “The Amazing Race Canada.”

Of note: Luca Filippi will contest his second event of the season in the No. 16 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing entry and his first at Toronto. … The Toronto winner has gone on to claim the IndyCar Series championship in four of the past five years. … Nineteen drivers entered have competed at Toronto. Five are previous winners. … Chip Ganassi Racing has six wins. … Bourdais has finished in the top 10 in eight of his nine races at Toronto, including four podium finishes (second and third in 2013; third in ’06; victory in ‘04). … There have been six different winners in the eight road/street course races, representing five teams. There have been eight different winners in the 12 races overall. There have been nine different Verizon P1 Award winners. … The No. 12 Verizon Team Penske crew won the Firestone Pit Stop Performance Award at the Iowa Corn Indy 300 presented by DEKALB with a total pit lane time of 113.685 seconds. They’ll receive $10,000. ... Dixon turns 34 on July 22. ... This is the third and final doubleheader of the season. No one has swept either the Verizon P1 Awards or races at Detroit and Houston.

History: The doubleheader will be the 29th and 30th Indy car races on the streets of Exhibition Place since 1986 when Bobby Rahal won the CART-sanctioned event. Danny Sullivan was second and Mario Andretti completed the podium. Emerson Fittipaldi started from the pole. … Michael Andretti won the race seven times.