Dean Stoneman lost ground at the top of the Indy Lights Series after technical problems prevented him from racing in Toronto yesterday.

But the Bishop’s Waltham star had reduced the gap at the top of the IndyCar feeder series championship after finishing fifth in race one - despite driving over half the race with a damaged rear suspension.

Stoneman, racing for the first time on the streets of Toronto, started from 11th after a frustrating qualifying session.

He was ninth after the first lap but his race nearly ended on lap nine on the bumpy Canadian circuit.

An irrational dive down the inside at the end of the long fast straight by Juan Piedrahita caused a huge collision to the rear of the Andretti driver’s car.

Stoneman was unharmed, but his car suffered a severely bent rear wishbone.

The resulting crash moved the British rookie up to seventh and the 25 year-old showed real class to pick off  more places as he dived down the inside of championship leader Ed Jones whilst nursing the suspension damage.

“After a frustrating qualifying session, I’m pleased to have got fifth from eleventh,” he said. 

“I thought we had a good start and I was confident we could move up the field.

“The collision was crazy, I could see the car coming and moved slightly to the left but it really wasn’t a smart place to try to pass me. I wasn’t sure how much damage we had or if we had a puncture.”

Standings: 1 Ed Jones 268pts, 2 Santiago Urrutia 244, 3 Felix Serralles 236, Kyle Kaiser 233, Dean Stoneman 230.