Colton Herta Dominates in 1st Win of 2024 IndyCar Season

Colton Herta dominated the entire weekend at the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto from the Streets of Toronto.

Herta accomplished something unprecedented for the first time in NTT IndyCar Series history, a driver finished first in every single session in a single weekend. Herta snapped a 41-race winless streak, his first one since the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course and earned his eighth career win.

Herta stayed in front of Andretti Global teammate Kyle Kirkwood as the two ran 1-2 throughout the race. Kirkwood finished seconds behind the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda.

Scott Dixon was among the biggest movers in the race, capitalizing on pit strategy and making up many positions. Dixon finished on the final step of the podium and his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Alex Palou avoided all trouble after starting in 18th to finish fourth. A third CGR driver Marcus Armstrong completed the top five.

David Malukas, Christian Lundgaard, Reenus Veekay, Romain Grosjean and Graham Rahal rounded out the top 10 in sixth through 10th, respectively.

Turn 1 once again proved to be difficult for the field on the start as Christian Rasmussen and Santino Ferrucci were both involved in a lap 1 crash that brought out the first caution of the day. Caution has flown at Toronto in the last five of six races at the street course. Rasmussen had to get towed away while Ferrucci had to just change a front wing.

The second restart brought the second quick caution as Augustin Canapino battled with Scott Dixon, knocking him into the wall and out of the race before finishing the lap.

Meanwhile, Herta stayed ahead of his Andretti teammate Kirkwood for the lead on the start and the two restarts.

Once the field started to run during the green flag, the noticeable difference was that the alternate green tire was mightily inferior to the black primary tires. Scott McLaughlin was a driver who opted to start the race on the green tires and fell to fifth. He was the first to commit to pit road on lap 19.

Dixon was the final driver to pit in the first cycle of pit stops and was the biggest mover as he improved from 15th to sixth in the opening cycle.

Most of the leaders opted to take their required alternate tires in the second run of the day.

The final pit cycle of the day saw many drivers fall into trouble during the cycle. Alexander Rossi‘s last-second substitute Theo Pourchaire and Linus Lundqvist went wide in turn 3 as well as Felix Rosenqvist and Marcus Ericsson would run wide in the same corner.

Rosenqvist came in and be out of the race after a hybrid issue. The Swede had been running in the top five all race.

Dixon once again moved up in the cycle up to third, trailing the No. 27 Honda of Kirkwood.

The race did not stay green the rest of the way for Herta. Kyffin Simpson crashed in turn 10 on lap 68, destroying his car and racking the field once more.

With 12 to go, a major crash out of turn 2 started with Pato O’Ward spinning and Ericsson ended with Ferrucci on his lid after ramping off the No. 5 McLaren Chevrolet of O’Ward. Pietro Fittipaldi and Nolan Siegal were also involved in the multi-car pileup. Ferrucci waved to the crowd, signaling that he was OK. The red flag would be displayed to clean up the debris.

The field wouldn’t escape another incident as Team Penske’s McLaughlin got doored by his teammate Will Power in turn 5, McLaughlin gave him a round of applause during the caution, and Power had to serve a costly penalty for Power in the championship.

Herta managed the gap to Kirkwood one last time on the final restart to take the win.

IndyCar Toronto Results

The IndyCar Series returns to action at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway on Saturday, August 17 at 6 p.m. ET. Coverage will be provided by USA Network and Peacock.