IndyCar tackled Canada’s newest street course on Sunday afternoon, with a tight and tricky layout threatening to cause chaos right from the green flag.
The start of the race got underway with a surprising lack of incidents, however.
Drivers fanned out four-wide into the first turn, but were able to keep from shoving each other into the wall.
READ MORE: IndyCar Markham – Full Race Results
Kyle Kirkwood took full advantage and climbed a full six positions on the first lap, moving forward quickly from his grid position near the back of the group.
Chaos did come eventually, with six separate caution periods interrupting the action.
As the race approached the final laps, Romain Grosjean found himself in the lead with a hard-charging Alex Palou gaining slowly but surely.
The longest green flag run of the race allowed the battle to play out naturally, but Palou’s tires gave up with just before they met on track.
Grosjean then had more serious troubles when Marcus Ericsson approached on fresher tires in the final five laps.
Ericsson employed a unique strategy that saw him stay out for an extended second stint and push hard in the final 30 laps.
He bullied his way past Will Power and Palou, and then set his sights on the top spot.
Ericsson blasted past into the lead, and quickly pulled away for the win. It was the Swede’s first win since 2023, and his fifth overall in IndyCar.
Grosjean finished in second place, his sixth career runner-up IndyCar result and he still is yet to earn a victory.
Will Power climbed from the 25th and final starting position to earn the final spot on the podium.
The veteran ran as clean of a race he could have considering the circumstances to earn his fourth podium of the season.
Palou slipped to fourth, but still increased his points lead with the solid result.
Devastating outcomes
The driver that looked the strongest all weekend was Louis Foster.
Foster started on pole and held the lead for a good amount of time. Even after he was shuffled to the back based on a poorly timed caution, the sophomore driver quickly moved back forward.
On lap 43, he was passing Marcus Ericsson for third through Turn 3 when he clipped the inside barriers.
The slight contact sent Foster hard into the outside wall and his nosecone completely crumpled to absorb the impact.
What could have been a hallmark weekend for 23-year-old ended up in disaster and a finish outside the top 20.
Just a few laps after Foster’s crash, Kyle Kirkwood committed the same mistake at the same corner.
He was also running inside the top five and was on track to convert his lowly starting position to a podium or even a win.
The unforced error ended his day on the spot, however, because three of his four wheels were nearly ripped off the car in the impacts.
Felix Rosenqvist also had a promising weekend and was looking to build momentum from his good race last weekend.
That did not transpire as he was forced to retire with fuel pressure issues, preventing him from following up his Portland podium with a similar success story.
Unfortunately for Caio Collet, his troubles from qualifying continued and hit hard again on the first lap.
He was involved in some early contact that flattened a tire and broke some suspension pieces in the process. Collet returned to the track, but finished multiple laps down.
Restarts galore
The restart on lap 19 was arguably more chaotic than the initial start, with Dennis Hauger dropping a few positions, stacking up the rest of the field, and causing near calamity at the ultra-tight hairpin.
Hauger fell nearly to the back of the field by time he fell into a consistent position. Instead of a promising run near the top of the field, the rookie ended the day in 15th.
Nearly every restart led to more chaos, and there were four separate cautions over the course of 23 laps in the middle portion of the race.
Small mistakes led to large consequences for more than one driver across the afternoon.
Throughout the entire race, the hairpin was the site of small issues. Multiple drivers nosed into the rear attenuator of those in front and lifted rear wheels off the ground.
Most of the time, drivers were able to continue without any real penalty, but a few times cars were spun sideways in the melee.
With no more steering lock available, drivers often had to choice but to run into competitors that were in the way.
Cautions and more cautions
Mick Schumacher brought out the first caution of the day on lap 15 when he nosed his #47 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda into the barriers at Turn 4.
The IndyCar rookie had been running inside the top 10, but clipped the inside wall and slid directly into the outside wall a moment later.
Marcus Armstrong spun at the hairpin and brought out the second caution. He then was issued a penalty for driving away from the AMR safety crew as they attempted to help, which impeded the field as it came through behind the safety car.
Another caution came a short time later when Scott Dixon was spun at Turn 8 and rolled into Christian Rasmussen.
Dixon received service in his pits to fix broken suspension parts, but Rasmussen was forced to retire on the spot.
Josef Newgarden also fell a few places down the order after being turned sideways by Nolan Siegel in the hairpin.
The veteran dropped to 13th by time the checkered flags flew, and Siegel was issued a penalty that dropped him to 12th.
In total, only 14 cars finished on the lead lap, and indeed only 17 of the 25 drivers were on track for the checkered flags.
Teams only have a few days to make a host of repairs to their cars, and will regroup for another new street course running through Washington D.C.
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