IndyCar Toronto: Herta ends win drought in red-flagged race

Andretti Global’s Colton Herta ended a more than two-year IndyCar win drought with victory in a dramatic Toronto street race that was red-flagged for a multi-car crash.

After starting on pole, Herta managed to lead 81 of 85 laps on a weekend that saw him lead every session and eventually beat team-mate Kyle Kirkwood by 0.3469s to pick up his first win since May 2022 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course – a run of 41 IndyCar races.

After a miserable qualifying for Chip Ganassi, Scott Dixon stormed from 15th to third, ahead of team-mates Alex Palou in fourth and Marcus Armstrong in fifth.

The Toronto race was red-flagged with 13 laps to go after Pato O’Ward spun at Turn 1, which put Marcus Ericsson into the outside wall.

Unsighted by the stricken cars, Pietro Fittipaldi and Santio Ferrucci ended up running into O’Ward's car, with Ferrucci launching off the nose and sending him into the air and riding the catchfence before rolling upside down and coming to a stop on overturned.

Ferrucci was unhurt in the incident, with his spotter apologising and noting he was blind to that part of the track from the hotel vantage point where several other spotters were located.

Santino Ferrucci, A.J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet

Photo by: Joe Skibinski

Arrow McLaren rookie Nolan Siegel was directly behind Fittipaldi and Ferrucci, and was part of a triple-hit on the front of O’Ward’s car. Dale Coyne Racing rookie Toby Sowery was also involved, rear ending Siegel.

After a near-20 minutes suspension Herta led the field at the restart with nine laps to go.

But the race was under caution once again moments later after Scott McLaughlin was hip-checked by Penske team-mate Will Power at Turn 5, sending the former into the wall and destroying his right-front. At the same time, the third Penske of Josef Newgarden was hit with a right-rear puncture and was forced to pit.

Power was given a drive-through penalty for colliding with McLaughlin, which enabled Meyer Shank Racing’s David Malukas to take a season’s best of sixth place ahead of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Christian Lundgaard in seventh.

Rinus VeeKay (Ed Carpenter Racing), Romain Grosjean (Juncos Hollinger Racing), Graham Rahal (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing) rounded out the top 10.

IndyCar Toronto - Race results

Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info

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Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Driver	#		Laps	Time	Interval	Mph	Pits	Points	Retirement
1	C. Herta Andretti Global with Curb-Agajanian	26		85	1:39'28.4293		101.792
2	K. Kirkwood Andretti Global	27		85	+0.3469 1:39'28.7762	0.3469	102.012
3	S. Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing	9		85	+0.9680 1:39'29.3973	0.6211	102.366
4	A. Palou Chip Ganassi Racing	10		85	+1.6911 1:39'30.1204	0.7231	102.119
5	M. Armstrong Chip Ganassi Racing	11		85	+2.7719 1:39'31.2012	1.0808	101.767
6	D. Malukas Meyer Shank Racing	66		85	+3.0853 1:39'31.5146	0.3134	102.017
7	C. Lundgaard Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	45		85	+3.8925 1:39'32.3218	0.8072	101.976
8	R. van Kalmthout Ed Carpenter Racing	21		85	+4.6346 1:39'33.0639	0.7421	102.301
9	R. Grosjean Juncos Hollinger Racing	77		85	+5.6537 1:39'34.0830	1.0191	100.407
10	G. Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	15		85	+6.1456 1:39'34.5749	0.4919	101.126
11	J. Newgarden Team Penske	2		85	+10.4924 1:39'38.9217	4.3468	101.495
12	W. Power Team Penske	12		85	+11.5555 1:39'39.9848	1.0631	104.279
13	L. Lundqvist Chip Ganassi Racing	8		84	+1 Lap 1:39'35.1306	1 Lap	101.954
14	A. Rossi Arrow McLaren	7		84	+1 Lap 1:39'35.5503	0.4197	101.825
15	T. Sowery Dale Coyne Racing	51		84	+1 Lap 1:39'35.9040	0.3537	101.978
16	S. McLaughlin Team Penske	3		76	+9 Laps 1:28'10.8618	8 Laps	71.550			Accident
17	P. O'Ward Arrow McLaren	5		72	+13 Laps 1:21'44.4725	4 Laps	97.786			Accident
18	M. Ericsson Andretti Global	28		72	+13 Laps 1:21'46.8808	2.4083	97.078			Accident
19	P. Fittipaldi Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	30		72	+13 Laps 1:21'49.6394	2.7586	95.613			Accident
20	S. Ferrucci A.J. Foyt Enterprises	14		72	+13 Laps 1:21'50.1026	0.4632	95.518			Accident
21	N. Siegel Arrow McLaren	6		72	+13 Laps 1:21'50.7316	0.6290	95.142			Accident
22	K. Simpson Chip Ganassi Racing	4		66	+19 Laps 1:14'02.5914	6 Laps	103.886			Accident
23	F. Rosenqvist Meyer Shank Racing	60		63	+22 Laps 1:10'40.7835	3 Laps	103.101			Mechanical
24	H. McElrea Dale Coyne Racing	18		57	+28 Laps 1:04'49.1748	6 Laps	92.443			Accident
25	R. Robb A.J. Foyt Enterprises	41		13	+72 Laps 17'46.8887	44 Laps	101.754			Mechanical
26	A. Canapino Juncos Hollinger Racing	78		4	+81 Laps 6'13.8674	9 Laps	76.624			Accident
27	C. Rasmussen Ed Carpenter Racing	20		0	+85 Laps 1.2612	4 Laps	66.790			Accident
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