TORONTO – The 2024 NTT IndyCar Series season has had a plethora of dominant performances yet nothing in the past decade can seemingly compare to the performance of Colton Herta on the streets of Toronto at Exhibition Place.
Herta topped the speed charts in every practice session, put his No. 26 Gainbridge Honda on pole, showed the way in the morning warm-up session and led 81 of 85 laps to win the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto.
Herta fended off Andretti Global teammate Kyle Kirkwood and hard-charging Scott Dixon to earn his first win since May 2022 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
“It’s disappointing when you have success in a series, then you don’t get it for a long time,” Herta said. “For whatever reason, it just hasn’t gone our way, we’ve had plenty of podiums. We’ve had a lot of poles, top fives, but no wins. It feels great to finally get one back.”
Herta leaves Toronto on a race weekend where he looked unbeatable from the start of the first practice session to the checkered flag. The 24-year-old Californian continues to be in the championship discussion.
Sitting in fourth place and 57 points back in the standings behind Alex Palou, Herta also returns to the GRID Ranking in 21st overall.
On The Podium
Andretti Global had a strong weekend in Canada. (Photo: Joe Skibinski | Penske Entertainment)
Herta was not the lone Andretti Global driver to shine on the streets of Toronto as Kyle Kirkwood was right behind his dominant teammate every step of the race. The driver of the No. 27 AutoNation Honda played the role of wingman, who focused on holding off Scott Dixon instead of battling Herta for the lead.
“Of course, I would rather have won,” Kirkwood said. “That’s always the thought. I also wasn’t going to push the envelope whatsoever in that situation. We didn’t have that much pressure from behind. The last thing I’m going to do is attack Colton and potentially cause an issue just so I can win. Took it as an Andretti Global win today.”
Kirkwood’s second-place finish marks the first Andretti 1-2 result since Romain Grosjean chased him down to victory last year at Long Beach. It is also Kirkwood’s fourth top-five finish of the season and his first trip to the podium in 2024.
For Scott Dixon, it was a historic third-place finish, marking the 141st podium in his career. Dixon ties Mario Andretti for the most podium finishes in IndyCar history.
The Kiwi worked hard for it, moving his No. 9 PNC Bank Honda from 15th up into the top three.
“Once we got clean air, we could run really fast pace…just started overcutting everybody,” Dixon said. “I guess in theory, we needed a bit of a longer race, maybe a 120-lap race would have been great.”
Cautions toward the end of the race certainly were not helping Dixon, managing to thwart any on-track progress made toward the two Andretti drivers ahead. A third win of the year may have been in the cards, but a third-place result still keeps him well in the championship battle, 53 points off Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Alex Palou.
The six-time IndyCar champion now sits 15th in the GRID Ranking.
Off The Steps
Despite drama between the team and driver, Theo Pourchaire made a shock return to Arrow McLaren in Toronto. (Photo: Joe Skibinski | Penske Entertainment)
A game of musical chairs at Arrow McLaren continued on Friday when Alexander Rossi was sidelined for the remainder of the weekend after the opening practice session. The driver of the No. 7 Chevrolet sailed into the outside tire barrier of Turn 8, breaking his right thumb in the process.
Rossi’s replacement for Toronto came as a shock, with the unexpected return of Theo Pourchaire. The 2023 Formula 2 champion drove Arrow McLaren’s No. 6 Chevrolet in select races earlier this season.
However, Pourchaire got replaced by the young Nolan Siegel before the race weekend at Laguna Seca, despite the F2 graduate’s expectations of going full-time IndyCar racing with the team after the Indianapolis 500.
A plan went into place 10 minutes after the team announced Rossi’s injury, with a phone call to Pourchaire from Sporting Director Tony Kanaan. Less than 16 hours later and with time to spare, the Frenchman made the trek from Nice, France to Toronto, Ontario in Canada.
Saturday afternoon’s qualifying session was Pourchaire’s first time driving around the Exhibition Place street circuit. A lackluster, but understandable 26th-place result in qualifying was no surprise given how quickly the situation unfolded and the lack of track knowledge.
But come Sunday, Pourchaire would once again weave through the chaos of street racing, and take the checkered in 14th place.
“It was a very tough and challenging race for me,” Pourchaire said. “I think we did an amazing job with the No. 7 Ryde Arrow McLaren Chevrolet crew. The car was amazing, and the team did their best. I did my best, as well. With the end of the race now, I probably arrived 26 hours ago. I didn’t know the track, and I haven’t raced in about five weeks.
“It’s an amazing job to go from P26 to P14 and avoid major incidents. I made one small mistake during the race that cost us perhaps a top-10 finish. I am just proud of myself and the team. We showed great pace, and I am so proud and happy that I was able to race again.”
What a time.
— Arrow McLaren IndyCar Team (@ArrowMcLaren) July 21, 2024
An incredible showing of team effort all around to make the impossible happen. pic.twitter.com/bDShBkiBd4
The other two Arrow McLaren drivers failed to finish the race after a monstrous multi-car wreck on Lap 73. It started with Pato O’Ward, who spun tail first into the outside wall of Turn 1.
O’Ward reported that his rear locked up to cause the spin after running in sixth. Stuck broadside in one of the narrowest parts of the track, and with a delayed yellow flag, Marcus Ericsson had nowhere to go and wedged himself next to the stranded O’Ward.
Pietro Fittipaldi and Santino Ferrucci also had nowhere to go as both drivers ramped off the nose of O’Ward before Nolan Siegel would make a huge impact, destroying his car and pushing teammate O’Ward to the middle of the track. Toby Sowery was also involved.
“I am so surprised IndyCar didn’t call a yellow,” O’Ward said. “You’re just calling for a massive shunt. They had a solid five seconds to call yellow and tell everyone that was coming.”
Ferrucci had the scariest ride of the ordeal. His No. 14 Sexton Properties Chevrolet got airborne off the nose of O’Ward, flying into the outside wall wheels first, with the bottom of the car making contact with the catch fence before coming to a halt upside down.
“When I came through there I never saw Pietro clip him, nothing on the spotters, no yellows, nothing,” Ferrucci said. “So I didn’t know to check up.”
A massive Turn 1 incident involving multiple cars sends the No. 14 airborne.
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) July 21, 2024
The red flag has been displayed.
: #IndyTO on Peacock pic.twitter.com/pxVdFIsQ68
One of the biggest incidents of the year brought out the red flag to address medical needs and clear debris. Fortunately, all drivers were seen and released from the infield care center.
Restarting from the red flag, there was drama between two Team Penske drivers as Will Power and Scott McLaughlin collided with nine laps remaining. Running fourth and fifth at the time, Power made a late lunge on McLaughlin into Turn 5.
Then, Power locked up the rear tires in the process, shouldering his teammate into the outside wall. With McLaughlin’s day done and Power receiving a drive-through penalty for avoidable contact, Power ended up finishing 12th while McLaughlin settled for 16th.
“It was a low percentage move when we were both having a really good day,” McLaughlin said. “I get that we’re racing for a championship, but when we’re both ahead of (Alex) Palou, it’s just a low percentage.”
Now the Penske teammates collide in the closing laps!@smclaughlin93 is out of the race!
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) July 21, 2024
: #IndyTO on Peacock pic.twitter.com/NsoXIjcmNN
On a day that could have closed the gap significantly to Palou, both Penske drivers lost ground. Power remains second in the championship but is now 49 points back, and McLaughlin was demoted to sixth, 83 points back.
However, both remain in the GRID Ranking, Power is down to 16th and McLaughlin in 23rd.
GRID Ranking
The 2024 GRID Ranking is the eighth year of the world’s premier motorsport ranking and was initially released on Sunday, April 7.
The official ranking includes drivers that participate in seven racing series (NASCAR, IndyCar, Formula 1, Formula E, World Rally Championship, Repco Supercars, MotoGP), and each driver earns GRID Ratings, which help determine their seeding in the GRID Ranking.
GRID Ranking Week 16 INDYCAR Drivers:
|
DRIVER |
OLD RATING |
PREVIOUS RANKING |
MOST RECENT FINISH |
NEW RATING |
NEW RANKING |
|
Alex Palou |
15.21 |
7th |
4th |
15.45 |
6th |
|
Scott Dixon |
12.06 |
15th |
3rd |
12.71 |
15th |
|
Will Power |
12.87 |
12th |
12th |
11.88 |
16th |
|
Colton Herta |
N/A |
N/A |
1st |
10.97 |
21st |
|
Scott McLaughlin |
11.52 |
18th |
16th |
10.63 |
23rd |
The NTT IndyCar Series will take a multi-week break for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris before returning to the St. Louis area for a short oval race at World Wide Technology Raceway.
Coverage of the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 begins on Saturday, Aug. 17 at 6 p.m. ET.
Results: 2024 Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto at Exhibition Place
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