IndyCar Preview: Indy Markham
- Dan Jones
- 1 hour ago
- 6 min read
It is time for IndyCar to cross the border, as the second stop of the season-ending five-week road trip reaches Ontario, Canada for the only race outside of the United States this season. Unlike years past, that trip across the border takes 45 minutes longer as the series hits Markham which replaces the previous event at Toronto. A new street course with seasons and futures on the line creates a must-watch event on the Streets of Markham, Race 14 of 18 in 2026.
What happened in Portland?
The start of IndyCar's six races in five weeks began at Portland International Raceway and although the series was trying to keep Portland weird, there was nothing weird about seeing Álex Palou in Victory Lane as the Spaniard stormed to a sixth victory of 2026 and a third at Portland.
As has often been the case in the previous four seasons, Palou executed the strategy game perfectly, overcutting polesitter Felix Rosenqvist at the end of the first stint with Rosenqvist unable to respond to the four-time champion. Rosenqvist had to settle for a third runner-up spot at Portland whilst Will Power came home in third for a third podium of 2026.
FOX Sports averaged 677,000 viewers, a 4.6% decrease on the figure achieved 12 months ago. It was the second-lowest viewed race of the year, albeit FOX does remain 16% ahead of the overall 2025 figure at this stage of the season.
You can read the full race report here, the DIVEBOMB IndyCar Podcast's race review here and my gradebook here.
Palou's victory meant that he further extended his championship lead, establishing a two-race margin to Kyle Kirkwood, who himself leapfrogged back past David Malukas for second in the standings with a fifth-place finish. The full top 10 are as follows:
Palou - 510
Kirkwood - 400
Malukas - 392
Lundgaard - 375
O'Ward - 355
Rosenqvist - 338
Newgarden - 335
McLaughlin - 321
Ericsson - 278
VeeKay - 269
All you need to know about Markham
Just a few days after the chequered flag fell at Portland, the series now embarks on the second of three new street courses this season. Although Markham may be new to the schedule, the series has been racing in the Greater Toronto area since 1986 at Exhibition Place, which has been a fan-favourite event over recent years.
However, the traditional Toronto race could not have been hosted in 2026 without significant logistical challenges, as the track would not have been able to be built against its usual schedule due to the hosting of FIFA World Cup matches in the Toronto Stadium which is adjacent to the circuit. That initiated a move 45 minutes north to Markham, who's promoters agreed a five-year deal with the series late last year, marking the 40th IndyCar race in the Greater Toronto area.
The circuit is a 2.19 mile (3.52 km) street circuit located in the eastern precinct of downtown Markham, between Kennedy Road, Enterprise Boulevard, Unionville GO tracks and Highway 407. The circuit features a high-speed chicane to start the lap at Turns 1 and 2 before slower left handers at Turns 3 and 4. The run to Turn 5 brings the most intriguing corner on the track, a 180 degree roundabout which leads onto the longest flat-out section on the track.
The slow right-hander at Turn 6 provides what will likely be the best overtaking opportunity at the track before slower speed corners at Turns 7 and 8. Turn 9 is a high-speed right-hander before a chicane at Turns 10 and 11 and a slow speed corner at Turn 12 brings drivers back onto the main straight. Like has been seen at other street tracks at Arlington and Detroit, Markham will also feature a double-sided pit lane.
Five of the current field have won across the border, with Scott Dixon being the most successful, having done so four times in 2013 (x2), 2018 and 2022. Will Power has won three times, having found Victory Lane in Toronto in 2007, 2010 and 2016 whilst his ex-teammate Josef Newgarden did so twice in 2015 and 2017. Arrow McLaren pair Christian Lundgaard and Pato O'Ward have also claimed a Toronto victory each, in 2023 and 2025 respectively.
Power, Dixon, Newgarden and Lundgaard have all claimed pole positions on Canadian streets previously.
Sunday's race will take place over 90 laps, with drivers will have 150 seconds of push-to-pass throughout the race, with a maximum time of 15 seconds per deployment. Drivers will get access to five sets of primary and five sets of alternate tyres with rookies allowed to have a further set of primary tyres.
What to look out for in Markham
There are not many things that Álex Palou has not done in his IndyCar career but one thing he has not done is win outside of the United States. With Palou's current form, there would be no surprises if he were to do so this weekend. Palou's championship has also rather become a case of when, not if, and a strong Markham weekend could lead us to calculating the championship permutations heading into Washington D.C.
That said, he is expected to face fierce competition from his closest championship "challenger" in Kirkwood, who's only win so far this season came on the other new street course race on the Streets of Arlington. Kirkwood, along with Andretti Global have generally had the best form on street courses over the last few seasons and rolled off the blocks very quickly in Arlington. However, a loss to Palou in the Streets of Detroit was certainly a head-scratcher for Andretti, which marked Palou's third street course win of the year after Long Beach and St. Petersburg.
Kirkwood's teammates Power and Ericsson have started to find their form in recent races, with Andretti more regularly competing at the front as a three-car line-up. All drivers were strong at Arlington, with Ericsson having taken his maiden IndyCar pole whilst Power earned his first Andretti podium behind Palou and Kirkwood. The team were firing on all cylinders at Portland too and carry strong momentum this weekend.
Team Penske's road/street course form has been hit-and-miss so far this season, although the team did look strong early on in at Arlington before crashes for Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin de-railed their weekends. With Kirkwood expected to have a strong weekend, it could be damage limitation for Malukas as he aims to climb back into second in the championship. Although the young American has impressed, he is still without a top five finish on a street course thus far in his IndyCar career.
Arrow McLaren have endured an awful stretch of races since O'Ward won in Mid-Ohio with the team not being able to replicate the pace they showed a year ago at Nashville and Portland. O'Ward comes in as the defending Toronto winner and although that form won't translate, both O'Ward and Lundgaard will need to have stronger weekends if they aim to be in the fight for second in the championship.
Some outsiders to watch this weekend include Felix Rosenqvist, who has had an impressive turn in form in recent races as he aims to claim a last victory with Meyer Shank Racing before he departs to Arrow McLaren at the end of the year. Rinus VeeKay has also been on an impressive run, having three top four finishes in his last five races as he aims to continue to impressive team owners as he bids for a 2027 seat. It is an important weekend too for Dixon who aims to continue his 20 year streak of winning at least one race in a season. He just has five chances to go before that streak comes to an end.
A strong weekend in Portland for Dennis Hauger extended his lead in the Rookie of the Year standings to 27 points over Caio Collet. Mick Schumacher has made impressive ground in the last two races, with the German only lying a point further back from Collet. Being a new track, none of the trio have any Markham experience - potentially levelling the playing field for Schumacher (as Hauger and Collet have raced at the majority of venues in Indy NXT).
Timings
Practice 1: 15:05 ET (20:05 BST) Friday
Practice 2: 10:05 ET (15:30 BST) Saturday
Qualifying: 14:25 ET (19:25 BST) Saturday
Warm-up: 08:40 ET (13:40 BST) Sunday
Indy Markham: 12:22 ET (17:22 BST) Sunday
Indy NXT will not follow its parent series this weekend, as will be the case next time out in Washington.
Can Palou continue to further extend his championship lead to put him on the verge of a fifth series title or can Kirkwood's street course prowess delay the inevitable title celebrations? Will McLaren bounce back after a difficult stretch of races? Can the likes of VeeKay continue to impress as the driver market continues to heat up? Will the Markham circuit prove a success?
That's all to be found out and throughout the action DIVEBOMB will bring you all the news and updates throughout the weekend as well as post-race analysis.
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