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Hunter-Reay adds to IRL winning streak at Toronto

Ryan Hunter-Reay won his third straight IndyCar race Sunday. (Associated Press)
Associated Press
Ryan Hunter-Reay won his third straight IndyCar race Sunday. (Associated Press)

Coming off two wins on oval courses, Ryan Hunter-Reay showed he can dominate a street course when he cruised to the Honda Indy Toronto title on Sunday.

Hunter-Reay led the final 28 laps of the 85-lap race and also moved in front in the series points race. He is the first American-born driver to win three straight IndyCar races since AJ Allmendinger in 2006, whose third victory also came at Toronto.

He leads Will Power by 34 points in the series standings, becoming the first American to top season-long race since Sam Hornish Jr. won the title in 2006.

Hunter-Reay won under caution after numerous pileups followed a restart with three laps remaining. The trouble began when Sebastien Bourdais bumped and went into the wall on Turn 1. A few seconds later, Dario Franchitti, Ryan Briscoe, Simon Pagenaud and Ed Carpenter became entangled in Turn 3.

Hunter-Reay made it through, just beating Charlie Kimball to the corner and holding him off before the yellow flags. Kimball finished second, followed by Mike Conway.

“Three in a row, I don’t know what to think about this,” Hunter-Reay said. “It really shows that this team can get it done on all venues.”

Hunter-Reay’s eighth career victory was his fourth in his last 18 races. He finished third last year in Toronto.

The winning streak also means three consecutive victories for Chevy engines, which leads the manufacturers’ points race. Chevy has won seven races, with Honda winning the other three.

Formula One

Red Bull driver Mark Webber won the British Grand Prix in Silverstone, England, overtaking Fernando Alonso late in the race to cut his rival’s lead in the points race.

It gave Webber a second victory in this unpredictable season to move within 13 points of Alonso, the only other driver to win more than once in 2012.

NHRA

Spencer Massey raced to his fourth Top Fuel victory of the season to regain the points lead, beating Steve Torrence in the final of the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio.

Mike Neff topped the Funny Car field, Vincent Nobile won the Pro Stock competition, and Andrew Hines took the Pro Stock Motorcycle event.