Two years after winning in Edmonton and having his victory overturned because of a controversial decision by the race directors, Helio Castroneves won today, definitively, the 11th race of the IZOD IndyCar Series, in the same Canadian city’s airport. The result not only represented his 27th win in Indy, but also allowed him to assume 2nd spot on the championship. The Brazilian now has 339 points, against 362 of Ryan Hunter-Reay. That’s 23 points apart and are still in play, with only four races and 212 points to go.

After starting in 5th, he moved to 4th place right on the first corner, remaining there until his first pit on lap 26. Upon returning to the track, in a few laps settled in 2nd place and took the lead of the race on lap 54, two after completing his second and last pit.

At this stage of the race, continuously led the final 22 laps, even under attack by Japanese driver Takuma Sato. In the final push, Castroneves scored his fastest lap of the race (1min17s4142) when there were three laps to the finish, concluding with a lead of about 0s8367 over Sato. The Team Penske driver completed 75 laps of the race in 1h38min50s9294.

“Really, I’m very happy. The events of 2010 are still chocked in my throat and to win here today was very special to me. My guys of Team Penske Truck Rental were great and we maintained good performance throughout the race and the two pits, “said Castroneves, who stressed the second place in the championship. “As I said before, this league is very competitive, fully open and I am very happy and be fighting for the title,” the driver, who now adds two victories to this season, counting the win at the opening of the championship in St. Petersburg.