Josef Newgarden turned a luckily-timed caution period into a CFH Racing 1-2 in a thrilling mixed weather IndyCar race in Toronto.

Luca Filippi followed his team-mate home in second place ahead of Penske’s Helio Castroneves as the podium finishers benefited from the intensity of the battles going on around them.

Newgarden had started in 11th and made what would prove to the key move of the race when he pitted slightly early at the end of his second stint.

Just as he entered the pits, James Jakes spun on the greasy track and brought out a caution, which allowed Newgarden to move up towards the front when the pitlane reopened and everyone else made their stops a couple of laps later.

Once he was in the lead, Newgarden never really looked under threat and his restart following a later caution was perfect; he was patient when stuck behind the off-sequence Rodolfo Gonzalez, and never put a wheel wrong the rest of the time.

Filippi’s second-place was earned a little more conventionally; the Italian having started on the third row and raced towards the front of the field all afternoon.

His big break came when he was able to stay out a little longer than most before his third stop, which allowed him to filter back into the race ahead of Castroneves, who was also on an alternate strategy.

There was also an element of luck for Filippi at that point, as Castroneves had been delayed by an extra second or so in the pits, and would otherwise have likely have rejoined ahead of the Italian.

Conditions were similar to those that caused chaos in Detroit a couple of weeks ago there was a big difference in driving standards as Toronto featured close racing right through the pack from start to finish, largely without incident.

That it did make the afternoon busy for the likes of eventual fourth-place finisher Will Power, who was fast when the track was at its most wet but appeared to struggle when it dried.

He spent the entire race in a battle that variously included Scott Dixon, Sebastien Bourdais and Juan Pablo Montoya, who himself had an early scare when he ran wide while fighting Dixon and ended up seventh.

Elsewhere, it was a case of what might have been for Carlos Munoz, who was on the same strategy as Newgarden, but eventually lost a battle against a gearbox problem.

The only other DNF was Stefano Coletti, who broke his front wing in a clash with Charlie Kimball and then drove into the wall a couple of corners later.

RESULTS – 85 LAPS:

LEADING CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:

Newgarden gets lucky with caution timing for Toronto Indycar win