Ryan Hunter-Reay knew the challenges that would lie ahead of him when he took the job at Ed Carpenter Racing midseason. When ECR and Conor Daly mutually parted ways early last month, the team wanted a veteran presence in Daly’s steed.

They didn’t like where they were headed and needed to turn this ship around.

In came Hunter-Reay. However, the 18-time victor in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES was well aware of the challenges that he might face ahead. If this car and this team were operating on all cylinders, then he wouldn’t be in this situation to begin with.

That’s why his first start with the team at Road America was more of a learning experience than not. This was his first time outside of a test in the Fall of 2021 with ECR, to run on a road course. He didn’t run at all in 2022 and his only start since the 2021 season finale was in this past May’s 107th Running of the Indianapolis 500. He did so with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing.

Now, he was making right hand turns too for which he had to get acclimated with that, the team and the Chevrolet power plant.

While he’d start last, he’d improve 10 positions in that race to come away 17th. The good news from that is that they now had a full weekend’s worth of data to pour over and a week off between races to do so. Plus, the next race was on a like track at Mid-Ohio.

Now, after another week off to digest what they’ve learned through the first two race weekend’s, it’s time to head north of the border for Sunday’s Honda Indy Toronto (1:30 p.m. ET, Peacock, INDYCAR Radio Network).

“Toronto has always been a huge hit on the NTT INDYCAR SERIES calendar with some of the most passionate fans we race in front of,” said Hunter-Reay. “The Canadian fans make this event what it is.”

This weekend will be vastly as challenging for Hunter-Reay as it was in Road America. That’s because this is his first start in Toronto since 2019. It’s also his first street race in general since August 2021.

Street courses race entirely different than natural free flowing road courses. So, it’s almost back to square one for the Floridian.

“This will be my first street course race behind the wheel of the No. 20 BITNILE.COM Chevy, so we’ll be working through our long test list of items in both practice sessions ahead of qualifying,” Hunter-Reay continued.

The good news is, Hunter-Reay has competed in the streets of downtown Toronto a total of 16 times, dating back to 2003. He scored a podium finish for three consecutive years, culminating with a victory in 2012.

However, this weekend isn’t necessarily about results on track. It’s about making ECR better still for next season.

Street courses haven’t typically been a strong suit for this team over the last few years. Daly was 21st, 12th, 12th, 20th and 17th on these tracks respectively last year while Rinus VeeKay was 6th, 13th, 16th, 13th and 12th himself. They each finished outside the top 10 in St. Pete, Long Beach and Detroit too. 

So no one is expecting Hunter-Reay to come in and challenge for a win, let alone a top 10. This is more so a fact-finding mission to help this program improve for the future.

In fact, Hunter-Reay may need to lean on his teammate in VeeKay who ironically enough, will only be making his second Toronto start in INDYCAR this Sunday.

VeeKay led 18 laps in last year’s race after starting 20th. He may have been a rookie for INDYCAR last year, but he also raced the street circuit six times in the Road to Indy and earned five podium finishes.

“I am very excited to go to Toronto,” VeeKay said via a team release. I” like the city a lot, it’s so nice to be up there. I love the atmosphere surround the race and the track itself, there’s so much to look forward to this weekend!

“It’s another street course, which creates great opportunities for us. I am planning on staying out of the chaos and getting a good result for BITNILE.COM! Hopefully, we are up to speed right away and can turn the season around.”