INDYCAR: 'It was a really weird race' - Daly

After his strong showing in qualifying, when he took the seventh starting spot for the Honda Indy Toronto, the race proved an enigma for Conor Daly and his Dale Coyne Racing squad.

"It was a really weird race. It was really, really tough to defend from anyone, even though overall we were quicker," mused Daly after finishing 15th, one spot behind teammate-for-the-weekend Luca Filippi. "We were good into Turn 1 and I'd get runs, but I couldn't defend myself and I couldn't pass even with overtake (push-to-pass). We have to look into that.

"Other than that, a lot of contact, beating and banging. Some pretty unfair driving every now and then, but it is what it is. It's just a shame that it worked out that way. I made one big mistake on the restart that really kind of put us out of contention, but I have no idea why that happened. I've never experienced the cold-tire grip that the blacks had in my life, so it was really weird."

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"The race went the opposite way than we wanted," admitted the Italian. "We started on black Firestones and tried to survive in our position (10th). Everything was good up until then, but we lost a couple of positions after our stop and I couldn't make those reds work for us at that point.

"But it was still decent and we had the potential to finish in the top 10, easily. However, a yellow came out at the wrong time and it killed our race. It's a shame. I wish we had more luck to be able to show our pace. It would have been nice to put some laps together and get up front."