Andretti Global celebrated Sunday after Colton Herta in the No.26 Gainbridge Honda said it was fantastic as he claimed his first victory in 41 races. Herta led every session throughout the weekend and led 80 of 85 laps, while Kyle Kirkwood ended the race in second place, just ahead of Scott Dixon, who came from 15th on the grid to complete the podium.
Not only was it Honda’s first win of the new hybrid era, but they also locked out the podium and, indeed, the top seven positions. Championship leader Alex Palou came home in fourth for Chip Ganassi Racing, while Marcus Armstrong gave Chip Ganassi Racing 3rd, 4th, and 5th.
David Malukas was sixth just ahead of Christian Lundgaard in what a chaotic Ontario Honda Dealer Indy Toronto while Rinus VeeKay was the leading Chevrolet-powered team in eighth place. Romain Grosjean was ninth, while Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Graham Rahal rounded out the top ten. Josef Newgarden, who started the race from seventh, came home in 11th following a puncture, while Will Power was 12th despite a drive-through penalty for causing an avoidable accident. Speaking following the race, Malukas said:
“The race was going pretty smoothly up until those last 20-laps. It was up, down, left right and we still managed to finish where we started. I think from my side there’s a lot to learn. With it being mid-season, the rest of the drivers have learned a lot more coming into this weekend when it comes to the raecraft. Every single race I have been doing is just a lot of learning. Overall it’s been a big positive, we finally got our first top-ten finish and it feels really good. It feels like this is where we need to be for the rest of the season and we’ll take this into Gateway.”
Linus Lundqvist recovered from an incident to finish the race in 13th, just ahead of Theo Pourchaire, who arrived in Toronto only on Saturday afternoon. Toby Sowery ended the race in 15th. The Dale Coyne Racing driver was the last one to finish the race following a number of crazy incidents, most noteworthy being the collision between Will Power and Scott McLaughlin, which took McLaughlin out of the race while Power received his drive-through.
Pato O’Ward, Marcus Ericsson, Pietro Fittipaldi, Santino Ferruci, and Nolan Siegel were all involved in a big crash that resulted in Ferrucci going upside down. Fortunately, Santino left the crash and maintained his place in the top ten in the points standings.
Kyffin Simpson hit the wall hard, retiring from the race, while Felix Rosenqvist, in the No. 60 MSR Honda, suffered a mechanical issue that also put him out of the race.
Hunter McIrea in his first INDYCAR SERIES race was forced to retire from the race and was classified in 24th place just ahead of Stubg Ray Robb, Agustin Canapino and Christian Rasmussen who also retired from the race.