After surviving five full-course yellows, Pato O’Ward had to survive one more incident to put the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet on the top step of the podium in Sunday’s (July 20th) Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto.
O’Ward was running behind Nolan Siegel and Felix Rosenqvist when the Swede lost control in Turn 10 in the race’s final three laps. Siegel had nowhere to go, hitting Rosenqvist and causing both drivers to stop.
The ensuing full-course yellow meant that no passing would happen for the last two laps, giving O’Ward his second victory of the season.
“I can’t say I saw this one coming today, but I was feeling so good on the prime tire all weekend, really,” O’Ward said. “We were just struggling a bit to get the alternates to work in qualifying and sadly that’s the one you need to transfer but I knew I had a great car underneath me to race with and the guys nailed it on the strategy.
“We just keep making our Sundays a little bit difficult. Before warmup today there was a bird that dropped a load on the car, my outside front and I said ‘That’s going to be a good day today,’ and it was. So I’m stoked for everybody and I would never expect to have gotten this much better in Toronto because it’s been the most challenging track and circuit for us in the past.”
Rinus VeeKay finished second for Dale Coyne Racing ahead of Kyffin Simpson’s third-place finish for Chip Ganassi Racing.
The race’s first full-course yellow came out after Scott McLaughlin’s left rear tire came off as the No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet went through Turn 2.
McLaughlin had started on the green sidewall alternate tires and pitted early to switch to the preferred primary compound tires; however, his left rear tire was not properly secured to the car.
After VeeKay and Simpson’s teams left them out on the green sidewall tires, the pair maintained their positions near the front of the field but soon fell through the field as their grip quickly deteriorated.
As much of the field was passing Simpson, another collision occurred, this time between Will Power and Christian Rasmussen as the pair went through Turn 5.
Rasmussen’s car hit the outside wall exiting Turn 5, giving him a flat right rear tire. The No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet continued after repairs on pit road.
The race’s next full-course yellow would come out thanks to Alexander Rossi’s No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet hitting the wall exiting Turn 11. The wall contact destroyed the right rear corner of the car, and Rossi pulled the car off in the Turn 1 runoff.
Mayhem commenced on the restart when Jacob Abel, Josef Newgarden, and Devlin DeFrancesco got involved in a multi-car incident.
Abel made contact with Louis Foster after Foster moved inside of the No. 51 Dale Coyne Racing Honda. Newgarden’s left front tire collided with Abel’s stopped car, putting the rookie on top of the two-time IndyCar Series champion.
Meanwhile, Siegel hit the back of Marcus Armstrong’s car, requiring a new nose for the No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, while contact from a PREMA car caused DeFrancesco to spin.
O’Ward started his race on the green alternate tires and pitted after two laps on the softer tires. He then pitted for three new sets of the primary compound tires and managed to get the lead from VeeKay as he leapfrogged the Dutch racer in the final pit stop sequence.
Christopher DeHarde has covered IndyCar racing and the Road to Indy for various outlets since 2014. In addition to open wheel racing, DeHarde has also covered IMSA and various short track racing events around Indiana. Originally from New Orleans, DeHarde moved to the Indianapolis area in 2017 to further pursue a career as a motorsports writer.