Mexico's Pato O'Ward has long admired Toronto, yet he has consistently faced challenges at the IndyCar Series race held around Exhibition Place. Year after year, the street course proved to be a significant hurdle for the seven-year veteran driver. However, O'Ward marked a milestone this Sunday by securing his first victory in Canada at the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto.
The win was attributed to a combination of factors, including a motivational pep talk from Arrow McLaren's team principal, Tony Kanaan, effective strategy, and a touch of luck. “It’s a big day. It’s a very big day,” O'Ward expressed during the post-race news conference. “It feels pretty special in a place that has arguably been one of the biggest headaches every single year that we come here.”
During the race, O'Ward, like many of his competitors on the 11-turn, 2.874-kilometre course, began with a set of less-favourable alternate Firestone Firehawk tires. In a strategic move, he opted for an early tire change during his first pit stop just before a caution was called on Lap 3. This maneuver allowed him to limit the use of the alternate tires to just two green-flag laps, ultimately paving the way for a more competitive run on the primary tire compound for the remainder of the race.
“It’s a really good feeling that we didn’t just nail the strategy and get lucky, but we also had to earn our win today,” O'Ward stated. He emphasized that the victory wasn’t just handed to him; his team provided him with a capable car that made the triumph possible.
Kanaan, the IndyCar Series champion of 2004 and the 2013 Indianapolis 500 winner, expressed his frustration with the prevailing narrative that suggested O'Ward and Arrow McLaren struggled in Toronto. “It hasn’t been historically a good weekend for us here, which I didn’t want to hear that coming in here,” Kanaan mentioned. He described a team meeting the night before the race where he encouraged his crew to change their mindset and break this negative trend.
Rinus VeeKay from the Netherlands finished in second place, while Kyffin Simpson from the United States clinched third. Defending champion Colton Herta, who started on pole, was closing in on Simpson towards the race's end when a late caution solidified the podium positions. “Definitely the final part, looking forward, really trying to close the gap to Pato, it was really hard to close,” VeeKay noted. He analyzed the race dynamics, stating that the track didn’t present many overtaking opportunities, though there were numerous passes throughout the 90-lap event.
Interestingly, the race reported a total of 226 on-track passes, marking the highest number since 2014, and 201 passes for position, the most since 2019. This indicates a competitive race, despite VeeKay's struggle for overtaking at the front of the pack.
In terms of championship standings, Alex Palou from Spain, the current overall points leader, finished in 12th place, thereby losing substantial ground to O'Ward in the championship race. Entering the weekend trailing Palou by 129 points, O'Ward reduced that deficit to 99 points with four races remaining in the season. O'Ward insisted on the need for consistent high performance to remain competitive. “We need to make sure that we continue to have days like today, not just one but a few,” he remarked, expressing the importance of maintaining momentum as they head into the final stretch of the championship.
Among the competitors, Toronto's Devlin DeFrancesco, the lone Canadian in the race, finished in 22nd place after completing 57 laps. His performance was adversely affected by a lengthy pit stop needed to repair his car following damage sustained in an incident during the 37th lap.
