By: NTT INDYCAR SERIES (Photo Courtesy INDYCAR)
TORONTO (Sunday, July 21, 2024) – Michael Andretti’s raised right arm said it all following the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto at Exhibition Place, and the team owner could have raised two.
One for Colton Herta, another for Kyle Kirkwood.
The two drivers gave Andretti Global a win for the first time since last year’s rebranding and its first 1-2 finish in a race since Kirkwood and Romain Grosjean delivered in 2023 at Long Beach.
Herta ended a 40-race winless drought by scoring his first NTT INDYCAR SERIES race in 799 days, and an Andretti car won this event for the ninth time. Andretti won seven times as a driver, Ryan Hunter-Reay went to victory lane for Andretti’s team in 2012.
“We needed this so bad,” Andretti said after the race. “We’ve been competitive all year but we just haven’t been able to get the final result.
“It was a big day.”
Herta effectively led from start to finish, relinquishing the lead only twice to pit. Officially, he paced 81 of the 85 laps, with Kirkwood following him throughout, including on the stops.
For the weekend, Herta had the fastest lap in all three practices, won the NTT P1 Award and then he won the race, a feat that is mind-boggling if not unprecedented. It’s believed no driver in the sport’s history has so dominated an event weekend. Herta now has eight career wins.
“We’ve been knocking on the door to win for so long,” Herta said. “Forty-one starts without a win is a long time, and it’s been disappointing for us. I think we’re a team – Michael is the owner — that demands perfection … (I’m) so happy. The Gainbridge Honda was so fast.”
The separation between Herta and Kirkwood at the finish line was .3469 of a second, but the driver of the No. 27 AutoNation Honda said he was less concerned with passing Herta than keeping third-place Scott Dixon at bay.
“Putting us at risk was just not the move today,” Kirkwood said of the team’s approach. “I played a little bit more defense as you probably noticed over the (late) restarts. Super happy with second place. (Finishing 1-2) was the goal today.”
Kirkwood said Herta earning the pole on Saturday made him “deserving” of the race win.
Dixon finished third to tie Mario Andretti for the most top-three finishes in series history. Each has 141.
Behind those three was something of a mess, including stoppage for a multi-car accident in Turn 1 on Lap 73.
Pato O’Ward was running sixth when he spun his No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet halfway around. At that point, there wasn’t much damage to his car, but there soon was. Worse, he was facing traffic and could see oncoming traffic at speed.
Marcus Ericsson veered his No. 27 Delaware Life Honda into O’Ward’s car on the left side of the track, but that wasn’t the end of it. Pietro Fittipaldi was the fifth car in line after Ericsson’s contact, and he struck O’Ward’s car with enough force to lift his off the ground. Santino Ferrucci was trailing Fittipaldi, and his No. 14 AJ FOYT RACING/SEXTON PROPERTIES Chevrolet launched, hitting the fence with the bottom of the car before landing on the track upside down.
Rookie Nolan Siegel and his No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet followed Ferrucci into the crash site, and his car struck O’Ward’s as well. Rookie Toby Sowery then hit Siegel with his No. 51 Global Kartin League/Vuzix Honda of Dale Coyne Racing. Fortunately, no one was injured.
Just prior to the accident, rookie Kyffin Simpson hit the Turn 8 wall with his No. 4 Journie Rewards Chip Ganassi Racing Honda as Alexander Rossi did in Friday’s practice. Whereas Rossi broke his right thumb, Simpson was not injured.
Minutes before that, Felix Rosenqvist overshot Turn 3 in the No. 60 AutoNation/SiriusXM Honda of Meyer Shank Racing and drove into the escape area. Ericsson similarly had to take evasive action.
Rookie Theo Pourchaire, who was standing in for Rossi in the No. 7 Ryde Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, had contact with fellow rookie Linus Lundqvist (No. 8 The American Legion Chip Ganassi Racing Honda).
If that wasn’t enough, Team Penske had a disastrous lap with nine laps remaining. Will Power (No. 12 Verizon Business Team Penske Chevrolet) bumped Scott McLaughlin (No. 3 Gallagher Team Penske Chevrolet) into the Turn 5 wall, leading to a penalty and sarcastic applause from McLaughlin as he waited for his teammate to come back around. They were racing for fourth place.
If that wasn’t bad enough for Team Penske, Josef Newgarden (No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet) suffered a cut tire in the sequence and was forced to pit. Whereas the team had three cars in the top seven at the time, they finished 11th, 12th and 16th as Newgarden later overshot Turn 3.
All three Penske drivers, plus O’Ward, have had designs on overtaking Palou for the series championship, but those hopes too a big hit as Palou drove from the 18th starting position to finish fourth. Palou extended his series lead over Power to 49 points. Dixon is third, 53 points out. Herta moved to fourth, 57 points behind Palou (No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda).
The series will take three weekends off as the Paris Olympics are held. The 13th race of the 17-race season will be the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway on Aug. 17.
Results Sunday of the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto NTT INDYCAR SERIES event on the 1.786-mile Streets of Toronto’s Exhibition Place, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):
1. (1) Colton Herta, Honda, 85, Running
2. (2) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 85, Running
3. (15) Scott Dixon, Honda, 85, Running
4. (18) Alex Palou, Honda, 85, Running
5. (13) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 85, Running
6. (6) David Malukas, Honda, 85, Running
7. (16) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 85, Running
8. (22) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 85, Running
9. (5) Romain Grosjean, Chevrolet, 85, Running
10. (8) Graham Rahal, Honda, 85, Running
11. (7) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 85, Running
12. (9) Will Power, Chevrolet, 85, Running
13. (24) Linus Lundqvist, Honda, 84, Running
14. (26) Theo Pourchaire, Chevrolet, 84, Running
15. (21) Toby Sowery, Honda, 84, Running
16. (4) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 76, Contact
17. (14) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 72, Contact
18. (11) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 72, Contact
19. (23) Pietro Fittipaldi, Honda, 72, Contact
20. (17) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 72, Contact
21. (19) Nolan Siegel, Chevrolet, 72, Contact
22. (20) Kyffin Simpson, Honda, 66, Contact
23. (3) Felix Rosenqvist, Honda, 63, Mechanical
24. (25) Hunter McElrea, Honda, 57, Contact
25. (27) Sting Ray Robb, Chevrolet, 13, Mechanical
26. (10) Agustin Canapino, Chevrolet, 4, Contact
27. (12) Christian Rasmussen, Chevrolet, 0, Contact
Race Statistics
Winner’s average speed: 91.568 mph
Time of Race: 01:39:28.4293
Margin of victory: 0.3469 of a second
Cautions: 5 or 15 laps
Lead changes: 5 among 3 drivers
Lap Leaders:
Herta, Colton 1 – 34
Dixon, Scott 35 – 36
Herta, Colton 37 – 53
Dixon, Scott 54
Ericsson, Marcus 55
Herta, Colton 56 – 85
NTT INDYCAR SERIES Point Standings: Palou 411, Power 362, Dixon 358, Herta 354, O’Ward 340, McLaughlin 328, Kirkwood 314, Newgarden 266, Alexander Rossi 265, Ferrucci 231, Lundgaard 229, Ericsson 222, Rosenqvist 221, Armstrong 203, VeeKay 201, Grosjean 199, Rahal 197, Lundqvist 173, Fittipaldi 135, Simpson 133, Robb 121, Rasmussen 109, Canapino 109, Pourchaire 91, Siegel 88, Malukas 82, Jack Harvey 80, Tom Blomqvist 46, Callum Ilott 39, Ed Carpenter 32, Sowery 32, Luca Ghiotto 27, Helio Castroneves 26, Conor Daly 26, Katherine Legge 24, Kyle Larson 21, Takuma Sato 19, Tristan Vautier 12, Colin Braun 10, Ryan Hunter-Reay 6, McElrea 6, Marco Andretti 5
