O'Ward takes advantage of chaos to win Indy Toronto

Written by Morgan Holiday

Credit: Dominic Loyer

Pato O'Ward won the Indy Toronto race after starting from 11th on the grid. Behind him, Dale Coyne Racing's Rinus VeeKay took his first podium since 2022, and Chip Ganassi Racing's Kyffin Simpson grabbed his maiden IndyCar podium.

How it happened

For the second race in a row there was a driver unable to take the start - this week it was AJ Foyt Racing's Santino Ferrucci whose car was damaged after a crash in practice. Ferrucci had qualified 23rd on Saturday, so only a few drivers were able to make up a place before the race had even begun.

Andretti Global's Colton Herta started the race from pole position after his teammate Kyle Kirkwood was unable to challenge him in the Fast 6. But ready to improve, Kirkwood wasted no time making up places at the start, and by Lap 2 of the race he had jumped up from sixth to third.

Herta led strongly from the start, as Marcus Armstrong passed championship leader Álex Palou for second place. The field kept it clean at the start and until Lap 3, when Scott McLaughlin hit the wall after losing his rear left wheel and brought out the first caution of the day.

The front-runners pit during the yellow, Herta, Armstrong and Kirkwood coming out in 17th-19th as Palou took the lead of the race. Kirkwood, however, recieved a penalty that dropped him three places for being out of place at the race start.

Palou led Rinus VeeKay and Louis Foster at the restart on Lap 8. Behind them Kyffin Simpson and David Malukas battled for fourth place, Malukas winning and gaining the place a few laps later. Malukas then got past VeeKay for third, as Simpson dropped down to eighth.

Also making his way up the grid was Scott Dixon, who started 17th after a grid penalty for an unapproved engine change.

Another caution came out a few laps later, as Will Power and Christian Rasmussen made contact. On the restart, Malukas continued to improve and took second place from rookie Foster.

The race settled down for a few laps until Alex Rossi hit the wall and blew a tire on Lap 30, bringing out the caution once more. Four laps later, still under caution, the pit lane opened, and the majority of the field dove in. Palou and Dixon surprisingly opted out of pitting, as Armstrong tagged Kirkwood from behind coming into the pits and spun the Andretti driver around as he headed towards his pit box. Armstrong picked up a drive-through penalty for the incident.

When pit stops were said and done, Palou and Dixon led VeeKay, Simpson and Conor Daly. The field went green on Lap 37 but immediately went back to caution as rookie Jacob Abel hit the wall, catching Josef Newgarden (who ended up underneath Abel's car), Louis Foster, Devlin DeFrancesco and others in the aftermath.

Palou and Dixon finally pit on Lap 42, coming out in 16th and 17th as the field went green yet again. VeeKay, Simpson and Daly led the restart. Making his way steadily up through the field was O'Ward, the Arrow McLaren driver getting up to second place within a few laps of the restart.

Credit: Julia Bissessar

On Lap 55 Palou came in again, coming out in 18th as VeeKay and O'Ward continued to lead the field. Dixon followed his teammate to the pits a lap later. VeeKay waited until Lap 57 to finally pit, having spent 45 laps on the hard tyre. O'Ward stayed out a further lap in an attempt to overcut VeeKay, and was able to come out ahead of the Dutch driver after his pitstop.

the Andretti pair of Ericsson and Herta led from O'Ward, VeeKay and Sting Ray Robb with 30 laps to go. After the Andrettis both peeled into the pits O'Ward was back in the lead, now with David Malukas in third behind VeeKay.

The race settled down towards the end, Simpson and Herta rounding out the top five with Malukas one of the few drivers who would likely need to make a final pitstop. When Malukas pitted and dropped to 15th after a slow stop, Ericsson was promoted into the top five and Simpson stepped into a podium position.

Just outside the top 10 a fierce battle for position between Christian Lundgaard and Palou almost ended in contact several times, but Lundgaard made it up to 11th before Malukas passed them both to jump back into the top 10.

With 8 laps to go Lundgaard continued to scrap, actually making contact with the wall this time before dropping down to 14th.

With three laps to go, Arrow McLaren's Nolan Siegel, back in his car after missing Race 2 in Iowa due to a concussion, made contact with a struggling Felix Rosenqvist and brought out the final caution of the day.

With no racing left to do, O'Ward ran out the final laps to take his second race win of the year. Behind him, VeeKay gave Dale Coyne Racing their first podium since 2023, and Simpson claimed his first career IndyCar podium in third place.

Herta, Ericsson and Kirkwood came home in fourth, fifth and sixth, a disappointing best result for the Andretti team that is typically so dominant at this track.

Graham Rahal, Callum Ilott, Malukas and Dixon rounded out the top 10 finishers of the day at Indy Toronto.