Hunter-Reay wins third Indy in a row

Ryan Hunter-Reay cruised to victory on Toronto's Exhibition Place street circuit on Sunday to claim his third straight IndyCar victory and move to the top of the series standings.

Hunter-Reay inherited the lead on lap 57 when JR Hildebrand pitted. In five laps on the 1.75-mile (2.8km), 11-turn course Hunter-Reay built his lead over Brazilian Tony Kanaan from .6040 of a second to 4.0794sec.

Charlie Kimball got past Kanaan on lap 72 but couldn't make any serious charge at Hunter-Reay, who led by 7.6sec with 10 laps remaining.

Hunter-Reay was able to stay well clear of a post-caution re-start pile-up with three laps remaining in which Dario Franchitti, Ryan Briscoe and Marco Andretti were caught up.

Hunter-Reay crossed the finish line under caution to claim a third straight victory after wins on oval circuits in Iowa and Milwaukee last month. Kimball notched his career-best finish with a second place and Mike Conway was third to give AJ Foyt Racing a first podium finish since Brazil in 2010.

Kanaan finished fourth and Spain's Oriol Servia was fifth.

Hunter-Reay, who came into the race trailing first-placed Will Power in the drivers' standings by three points, leap-frogged over the Aussie to take the lead with 335 points Ä 34 ahead of Power going into the next race at Edmonton.

Power finished 15th after a brush with Josef Newgarden's car on the 56th lap.

Brazilian Helio Castroneves, who finished sixth, overtook Scott Dixon for third in the standings, 46 points off the lead. Dixon was sidelined early on Sunday with an engine problem.

With five races remaining, Franchitti's bid for a fourth straight IndyCar series title was all but over after his 17th-placed finish.

Franchitti, who started from pole position, had a fueling problem on his first pit-stop and never recovered. He's 105 points off the series lead. -AFP

RESULTS

1. Ryan Hunter-Reay (USA) 85 laps

2. Charlie Kimball (USA)

3. Mike Conway (GBR)

4. Tony Kanaan (BRA)

5. Oriol Servia (ESP)

6. Helio Castroneves (BRA)

7. JR Hildebrand (USA)

8. James Jakes (GBR)

9. Takuma Sato (JPN)

10. Alex Tagliani (CAN)

STANDINGS