Winners and Losers: Indy Markham
- Morgan Holiday
- 3 minutes ago
- 5 min read
Marcus Ericsson claimed victory in a chaotic race in Markham, Ontario that was a nail-biting watch for fans.
With plenty of crashes, on track action, heartbreak and excitement, there were many winners and losers this weekend. DIVEBOMB takes a look at some of the big stories from IndyCar’s inaugural trip to Markham.
Winner - Romain Grosjean
Grosjean ended an almost two season podium drought in Markham after he was able to climb through the ranks from 14th to second.
After qualifying 14th, it seemed like this weekend would be another anonymous one for the French driver, whose best finish so far this year was an eighth place at the season opener in St. Petersburg. After finishing on the podium at least once in his first three seasons of IndyCar, his fourth in 2024 saw his first season without standing on the steps, followed by a year out of the category.
Coming back to IndyCar in 2026 with Dale Coyne Racing, the team he debuted with in 2021, everyone has been waiting to see if he could achieve the results he had in the past. Starting in 14th at Markham, Grosjean stayed out of the chaos (a rare achievement) and was able to capitalise on the cautions to come up the order and led most of the second half of the race.
Ericsson took the lead with five laps to go and claimed the win shortly after, but while Grosjean will be devastated to have lost out on a maiden IndyCar win, a return to the podium was a badly needed good result that he can take a good measure of satisfaction in.
Winner - Sting Ray Robb
Another driver who scored their best result of the season so far in Markham was Sting Ray Robb, who finished 11th after surviving chaos and several incidents.
Robb finished ninth in the first group of qualifying on Saturday, which put him 17th for the start of the race. Early on in the race, Robb was involved in incidents and made contact with both Marcus Armstrong and Graham Rahal but was able to continue on.
In the second half of the race, Robb was able to stay out of trouble and came through to an 11th place finish, just shy of the top 10. The young American driver hasn’t finished in the top 10 since Long Beach last season, and even though he didn’t quite make it in Markham, 11th is a good improvement on his previous best finish of the season, which was a 14th place result in Detroit.
Since street courses seem to be more Robb’s speed, keep an eye out for him this coming weekend when IndyCar takes on the streets of Washington D.C. to celebrate 250 years of America.
Winner - Pato O’Ward
O’Ward scored his eighth top-five finish of the year in Markham after improving on a tough qualifying result.
After causing a yellow in qualifying, which deleted his best lap time, and taking a grid penalty for an engine change ahead of the weekend, O’Ward was starting down in 23rd on Sunday for the race. With his teammate Christian Lundgaard starting second, it wasn’t a great look.
Like Robb, O’Ward encountered and partook in some of the early contact, but was able to stay out of trouble in the second half of the race as he came through the field and eventually passed his teammate Lundgaard, finishing an impressive fifth from 23rd on the grid, albeit just one place above Lundgaard.
Arrow McLaren has been at the forefront of the news this IndyCar season, and O’Ward’s struggles early on did not go unnoticed, especially in comparison to Lundgaard, who was announced to be out of a seat for next season as the team brings in Scott Dixon. But O’Ward has picked it up nicely in the second half of the year after taking his first win of 2026 in Mid-Ohio last month, and another top five finish, especially after such a poor qualifying result, is a good sign for fans of McLaren and O’Ward.
Loser - Louis Foster
In contrast to O’Ward, whose dismal qualifying was turned into a solid result, Foster’s qualifying performance was the highlight of his weekend.
Foster finished third in Practice 1 before setting the fastest time of the weekend so far in Practice 2. He stayed on top of things in Saturday’s qualifying session, finishing second in the first round, then advanced to the Fast 6. In the final session of the day, Foster secured pole position with a lap time of 01:13.2383 was four tenths faster than Lundgaard’s second place time, granting Foster his second career pole position, and first of the 2026 season.
In the race, Foster led at the beginning before an untimely caution put him off the optimal strategy. But even having lost the lead, he continued to battle at the front till a mistake he made on Lap 43 trying to overtake Ericsson for third put him into the wall and out of the race.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) has already announced that one of their entries will be sold to Dreyer and Reinbold Racing for 2027, meaning that one of their drivers will be out of a confirmed seat for next year. With Graham Rahal unlikely to move, Foster and rookie Mick Schumacher are the drivers on the chopping block, both looking to prove that they’re the right choice to stay with the team for next season. Foster’s only consolation in what could easily have been a maiden win or podium will be that Schumacher still finished behind him.
Loser - Kyle Kirkwood
What looked like it could be a strong result for Kyle Kirkwood devolved into disaster as he hit the wall during the second half of Sunday’s race at Markham.
Kirkwood was among the drivers carrying a penalty for an engine change coming into the weekend, and an anonymous 16th place qualifying saw him down even further to start the race. But like other drivers able to capitalise on the chaos of Sunday’s race, Kirkwood was up six places back to 16th in the first few laps, and was running well in the top 10 when disaster struck.
On Lap 54, Kirkwood hit the wall at Turn 10 and lost both his front wheels before grinding to a halt on track, dropping him out of the race and losing any chance at pulling together a good result. While his teammate Ericsson went on to win the race and Will Power jumped up from the back of the grid to third place, Kirkwood was the sole Andretti off the podium.
As he now barely hangs on to second place in the overall standings, this weekend was one Kirkwood may come to rue in the final moments of the season.
Loser - Christian Lundgaard
Christian Lundgaard may be a controversial choice for the losers column this weekend, but after losing out on a fight for the win, Lundgaard lost another of his few opportunities left to prove to high level IndyCar teams that he’s a worthy signing for next season.
The IndyCar world was shocked earlier this summer when McLaren’s signing of Dixon and Felix Rosenqvist left Lundgaard out of a seat at the team that had previously touted him as a part of their future. While the No.9 Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) entry seems the obvious placement for Lundgaard, it’s clear that the team is taking their time making their decision as to who will replace Dixon and considering plenty of solid options.
While Lundgaard’s oval performance is likely the main hangup that CGR or other teams will have when considering Lundgaard for next season, in times like this every performance counts. A solid second place qualifying for the Danish driver was exactly what he needed, but he faltered in the race and ended up sixth behind his teammate O’Ward.
With just a few races left now to put on a showing that will help secure him a seat for next year, anything less than a win or a podium is a disappointment for Lundgaard.
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