How Ericsson won another messy IndyCar street race

There’s something about first-time IndyCar street course races that seems to suit Marcus Ericsson. When all hell breaks loose, the steady Swede almost always manages to fight his way through, and often at the front.

The inaugural running of the Grand Prix of Markham is the latest case in point. The first two-thirds of the 90-lap race carrying on a 40-year history of IndyCar racing in the Greater Toronto Area was blighted by six full-course cautions that ate up 25 laps. Ericsson found his Andretti Global Honda in the lead at that point, but he alone of the 25 runners would have to make a final pitstop. Based on the way the race had gone, it certainly didn’t look like a winning strategy.

But once out front, Ericsson – who had qualified fourth fastest and ran near the front all day – was able to show the speed he knew he had in his Dallara-Honda. In eight laps, he pulled an 18-second gap over Romain Grosjean and Scott McLaughlin. After a short pitstop on lap 69 that included mounting a new set of Firestone alternate tyres, Ericsson resumed in sixth but soon lost a place to his team-mate Will Power.

McLaughlin and the rest of the Chevrolet runners were marginal on fuel, and Power and Ericsson moved their way up to third and fourth positions with 10 laps remaining. Ericsson was visually faster, and before Power could radio his team to say he’d let his team-mate past, the Swede barged down the inside at the Turn 5 hairpin, the two Andretti cars making substantial side-to-side contact.

No harm, no foul. Ericsson was through unscathed, and it took him just three laps to hunt down and pass championship leader Alex Palou. Seven tours remained, but Ericsson minimised any potential drama by slipping past Grosjean on lap 85 of 90 and pulled away to triumph by 7.53 seconds over the still winless Frenchman.

“There were a lot of curve balls thrown at us, but all through the race I knew I had a really fast car,” Ericsson said after his fifth career IndyCar race win, four of which have come on street circuits. The other came at the 2022 Indianapolis 500.

Ericsson took his first IndyCar win since the 2023 opener at St. Petersburg

Photo by: Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

“There were some key decisions and I was pushing hard for us to stay out because I felt like the car was so fast and I wanted to use that to my advantage. It was fun, that middle stint when I was doing laps 2, 2.5 seconds faster than the field. That was a good time.

“It was still tough to make our way back into the lead after coming out seventh,” he added, crediting race engineer Zack Porter for believing in the aggressive strategy. “Had to work for it today.”

Ericsson’s first career win came in 2021 while driving for Chip Ganassi Racing in a crash-fest on the new downtown Detroit street course. He prevailed again later that year at IndyCar’s first run on the short-lived downtown Nashville layout after being involved in one of many incidents early in the race.

"Will Power has been a big part of that, as well, driving the development on the set-ups in a certain direction. That's been really, really good" Marcus Ericsson

Despite winning four races in a three-year period for Ganassi and coming painfully close to adding a second Indianapolis trophy, Ericsson still couldn’t escape the pay-driver stigma that followed him to IndyCar from Formula 1. Ganassi finally made Ericsson an offer, but it wasn’t in the vicinity of what Scott Dixon and other top IndyCar pilots were making.

Andretti was willing to pay a higher fee for Ericsson’s services, but the 2024 and ’25 seasons went poorly and the 35-year-old’s seat was very much on the line this year. Ericsson regrouped and has responded with his strongest overall campaign since 2023.

Swapping Colton Herta for two-time IndyCar champion Power in Andretti’s #26 car has made a big difference for Ericsson. And he was just rewarded with a contract extension.

“I had a terrible season last year,” he admitted. “I lost a lot of confidence in myself and struggled with the car. It was a big reset over the winter. I worked very hard on myself, but also within the team, with my guys, to sort of try and get the car more to my liking, more in a window where I feel like I can perform and get the most out of myself. I think Will Power has been a big part of that, as well, driving the development on the set-ups in a certain direction. That's been really, really good.

Ericsson feels he has benefitted from Power's arrival at Andretti Global

Photo by: Penske Entertainment

“I feel like we've had quite a few big results and podiums taken away from us from - I hate saying bad luck, but things not really going our way. Races where we’ve been looking to be on our way to a podium for a lot of the race, but a few things haven’t gone our way.”

Grosjean was a factor throughout the Markham race but ended a bridesmaid for the sixth time in his IndyCar career. He had no answer for Ericsson, but was able to hold off Palou for second. “I thought there was no way Marcus could catch us,” he said. “The #10 [Palou] was behind me, which is always a worry, but I opened a gap and thought, ‘We should be safe.’ Next thing I knew, the #28 [Ericsson] was coming and nothing much you could do to defend.”

Palou qualified outside the top 10 for the first time in 31 races but kept it clean on race day to end up fourth and stretch his championship advantage to 133 points over Kyle Kirkwood, who crashed at Markham. Christian Lundgaard (-137) and David Malukas (-139) still also harbour remote title hopes with four races remaining.

Next up for IndyCar is the one-off Freedom 250 in Washington DC, which has been extended to 250 miles – the longest street course race in series history. For a first-time event on a new urban street course, only a fool would bet against Ericsson to do it again.