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Jakes gains 16 spots to claim career high

09/07/2012
Heat Index from Toronto - James Jakes

TORONTO - James Jakes started out 24th on the grid for the Honda Indy Toronto because of an unapproved engine change (a 10-grid spot penalty), but in a race that was a true test of survival, James fought through the field and propelled his No. 19 Boy Scouts of America Honda gaining 16 positions and finishing a career best eighth.

"Thanks to all the guys," Jakes said, "obviously for staying late and working hard for the engine change, and thanks to Honda as well for giving us a fresh one. Hopefully, we can get qualifying sorted for the next time at Edmonton so we can battle to be in the top three.

"We had a good car at the end of the race and we managed to pick quite a few guys off. A lot of people were saving fuel there so that was good because we were good to go."

James' Dale Coyne Team mate Justin Wilson, driver of the No. 18 Sonny's Bar-B-Q Honda, had a weekend with both highs and lows. He recovered from a pit incident and two minor contacts with the wall on Friday by qualifying into third position on Saturday, narrowly missing the pole.

"The Sonny's Bar-B-Q Honda was pretty good out there and we were having a good race. In that last stint I was just battling away to get on the podium and I thought we had a good shot at that. About half way round that last lap I started to lose power, but it was intermittent, so it would just die and accelerate, die and accelerate. Eventually I got to Turn 11 and it died as I entered. As I got to the apex suddenly it gave me full power back. It spun the wheels, the rear came out and clipped the wall and bent the suspension. So I'm very disappointed, but we'll learn from it. We've got a quick race car, so bring on the next race."

In two weeks, the IZOD IndyCar Series heads to Edmonton for the Edmonton Indy. The race can be seen live on NBC Sports Network starting at 2:45 p.m. (EDT) on Sunday, July 22.