Pato O’Ward – Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto – Photo by Joe Skibinski

By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio

Elbows out, Pato O’Ward and Arrow McLaren are recalibrating Alex Palou’s “inevitable” drive to the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series championship.

Pato O’Ward – Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto – (Photo by Travis Hinkle | IMS Photo)

O’Ward’s strategic victory in Sunday’s Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto _ Pato’s second INDYCAR win in eight days _ chopped 30 points off Palou’s massive 129-point advantage as the day began. For the record, Palou’s pre-race advantage was the largest under the current point system this deep into a season. Palou, the three-time/reigning series champion from Chip Ganassi Racing, still boasts a 99-point pad with four races remaining.

But a race win can be worth as much as 54 points, and Pato had already updated the math during his post-race presser at Exhibition Place.

“I already saw. It’s only like 99 (points). 128-to-99 _ it’s a good chunk,” said O’Ward, a 26-year-old native of Mexico with family ties to San Antonio, Texas. “His ‘good weekends’ are days like today (Palou finished 12^th). We need to make sure that we continue to have days like today, not just one but a few. I think we’re going to keep this conversation going until Nashville (season-ending race). That’s my goal.

Pato O’Ward – Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto – Photo by Joe Skibinski

“Obviously, we’re at a time in the championship where we’re going to have to get a little bit more into the conversation of getting our elbows out because that’s what I had to do today just to open the doors to having a chance to win this race. That’s the only way we’re even going to catch a whiff of making him sweat a little bit.”

SEE: Race Results

The win was the first for O’Ward on the Streets of Toronto and ninth overall in the series. O’Ward started 10th but jokingly felt luck was going to be with him after a bird dropped an unlikely present on the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet and a crew member during the morning practice.

“That’s going to be a good day today, and it was,” O’Ward said. “I’m stoked for everybody (on the team). I would have never expected to have gone this much better in Toronto because it’s been the most challenging circuit for us in the past. But I was feeling so good on the (Firestone Firehawk primary) tires all weekend really. We were just struggling to get the alternates to work in qualifying. Sadly, that’s the one you need to transfer. But I knew we had a great car under me to race with, and (the crew) nailed it on the strategy.”

Rinus VeeKay, Pato O’Ward and Kyffin Simpson – Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto – Photo by Chris Owens

Joining O’Ward on the podium were a pair of drivers scoring season-defining finishes. Rinus VeeKay of The Netherlands finished second in Dale Coyne Racing’s No. 18 askROI Honda, with Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyffin Simpson of the Cayman Islands placing third in the No. 8 Journie Rewards CGR Honda.

VeeKay celebrated his fifth career podium finish, but first since Barber Motorsports Park in 2022. Simpson, meanwhile, earned P3 for the first time in his two years in the series.

NTT P1 Award winner Colton Herta _ the defending event champion _ finished fourth in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda to lead a contingent of Andretti Global drivers. Sweden’s Marcus Ericsson (No. 28 Delaware Life Honda) and Kyle Kirkwood (No. 27 Silver Gold Bull Honda) finished fifth and sixth, respectively.

Colton Herta – Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto – Photo by Chris Owens

As predicted by pole-winner Herta and Palou on Saturday, this was a race of strategies. O’Ward was in the majority starting on a set of Firestone’s less-favorable alternate tires, and he was able to have them removed with a stop just ahead of a Lap 3 caution. Thus, he only had to use that set for the better part of two green-flag laps. And while that forced O’Ward into a three-stop strategy, he was able to run the primary compound the rest of the way.

“Strategy wouldn’t go without a team to perform on the pit stop and a driver that can actually pass some cars,” Arrow McLaren Team Principal Tony Kanaan said post-race. “For strategies to work, you cannot only depend on luck. We knew, we talk about a few strategies (Saturday) night. This was one of them. But everything had to be well-executed.

“When he pulled it off, I was still holding my breath. I’m not a very good spectator, to be fair. Fifteen laps to go, I could not stop pacing around. But yeah, it worked out pretty good.”

Alex Palou – Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto – Photo by Joe Skibinski

Palou qualified second, and he and CGR teammate Scott Dixon were among the few starting on primary rubber. Given an assortment and length of caution periods in the first half of the race, the strategy had a strong chance of working out. Ultimately, it did not, with both CGR drivers reduced to spending the final segment mid-pack. Dixon, the six-time series champion from New Zealand, finished 10th in the No. 9 PNC Bank CGR Honda.

“Well, I chose the strategy, so that’s what we did wrong today,” said Palou, a 28-year-old native of Spain. “I was pushing for that strategy. I thought it was going to give us the best opportunity to win. I wanted to be up-front, trying to avoid being trapped in traffic.

“Honestly, (days like this) happen. We knew it was going to be a risky strategy rather than starting on alternates. It was kind of working. We were able to open up a big gap after that first yellow, but it was not enough today. Not our day.”

Alex Palou – Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto – Photo by Joe Skibinski

Palou still has every reason to remain optimistic of hoisting a fourth Astor Cup as champion. Of the four races remaining on the schedule, he has won twice at each of the next two road-courses _ WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Northern California (2022 and 2024) and Portland (Ore.) International Raceway (2021 and 2023). O’Ward won last year’s race on The Milwaukee Mile in West Allis, Wis., which hosts the third of the season’s Final Four.

O’Ward delivered series victory No. 27 for Arrow McLaren, and first “live win” with CEO Zac Brown in attendance. “It’s always pressure when he shows up, chaos. Yeah, feels good,” said Kanaan, referring to his boss.

Pato O’Ward – Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto – (Photo by Travis Hinkle | IMS Photo)

“Zac is the superstar this weekend,” O’Ward added. “He’s never been at any of our wins. He’s been close, at the (Indy) 500. I’m glad and I’m super-happy that I can give him that first memory of his INDYCAR team, at least first win being there in the flesh.

“It’s a really cool place to do it at. Kind of wish I would stay tonight and party. It’s a nice city here. But I’m going to go home. It’s been a crazy four weeks. We’ve got another one coming up. Yeah, my dad’s the only one that’s here this weekend. I’m going home tonight to Texas to see my mom, my sister, then I have to head to Laguna to do media days on Wednesday early. Yeah, it’s busy. It’s busy days.”

Pato O’Ward – Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto – Photo by Joe Skibinski

O’Ward scored his third career win on a street-course in spite of his 10^th-place grid spot. “My engineer and I were talking (Saturday),” O’Ward said. I was like, ‘(Expletive) a top-10. We started 15th, ended fourth in Mid-Ohio. No, we can win, we can be on the podium.’ We did that today.

“We keep making our Sundays so much harder than what they have to be. Qualifying has been not our friend. But Sundays have been. I feel like the gist of this year for at least the No. 5 side, it feels like it’s always a recovery Sunday, always been a recovery Sunday. We keep fighting our way forward.

“Today it was a very similar post to what I had in Mid-Ohio. We got hosed in timing in the qualifying here. We’ve been struggling a bit on the alternate (tire). I knew I had such a strong car on the preferred (primary) tire for the race. I had a car that I could attack with. I had a car I could really put it where I needed to, at least just to get by people. We had to get really aggressive there sometimes. We had to get our elbows out a little bit if we want to keep this championship somewhat of a conversation.

Pato O’Ward – Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto – Photo by Chris Owens

“It’s always good to feel that way, and that gives you that little extra edge to make these days come to fruition. They did a great strategy. I made sure that it was going to be the winning one.”

That is exactly the mindset the popular Kanaan _ INDYCAR champion in 2004 and winner of the 2013 Indianapolis 500 _ has been preaching to Pato and his crew.

“Yeah, I think my biggest challenge Pato and I have is to make everybody believe that no matter what, especially in INDYCAR, every time you take the green flag, that is an opportunity,” said Kanaan, a native of Brazil. “I think we had a pretty good and intense meeting (Saturday) night. I said, ‘We got to believe it.’ Days like this, it makes a big difference in our people. I think you give them an extra boost of confidence that we can do it, we can take the next step. To me, that’s what sometimes I have a hard time vocalizing because I’ve been into very successful organizations, part of trying to build a really good one.

“We use days like this to say, ‘See, that’s how we do it.’ More important than the win and everything else, I think it’s what we’re trying to build here, to be able to not have a car winning seven races (Palou), having us challenging that.”

Pato O’Ward – Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto – Photo by Joe Skibinski

The combination of tire strategies and tight confines of downtown Toronto’s 1.786-mile/11-turn temporary circuit created plenty of action, with contact seemingly occurring to some degree at every corner. Arguably, it was the most exciting of the series’ four street races this season.

Often in the middle of the mayhem was Team Penske, which saw its uncharacteristically challenging season continue. It began when the left rear lug nut on native New Zealander Scott McLaughlin’s car flew off following a pit stop, pushing the No. 3 Gallagher Insurance Team Penske Chevrolet into the Turn 2 wall.

Josef Newgarden – Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto – Photo by Joe Skibinski

Next, two-time series champion Josef Newgarden and his No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet were collected in an incident that started with Dale Coyne Racing rookie Jacob Abel (No. 51 Abel Construction Honda) taking light contact from fellow first-year Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver Louis Foster of Great Britain (No. 45 Droplight Honda) in Turn 1.

The ensuing mess saw Abel’s car land on top of Newgarden’s. Later, two-time series champion Will Power of Australia’s No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet lost a side-by-side battle with O’Ward in Turn 3, hitting the left-side wall. Team/series-owner Roger Penske’s drivers finished a dismal 11th (Power), 23rd (Newgarden) and 26th (McLaughlin).

Christian Rasmussen – Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto – Photo by Joe Skibinski

Ed Carpenter Racing also soldiered through a difficult day, with both Christian Rasmussen of Denmark (No. 21 Splenda ECR Chevrolet) and Alexander Rossi (No. 20 Java House ECR Chevrolet) slapping the wall with right-rear tires. Rasmussen was side-by-side with Power at the time; Rossi appeared to veer to the right after bouncing over a bump.

The race ended under caution when the No. 60 SiriusXM Honda of Felix Rosenqvist wiggled and was struck from behind by Nolan Siegel’s No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. That ended Rosenqvist’s day, as he had twice taken front-wing damage due to contact with Power.

“Tough one,” said Rosenqvist, a 33-year-old native of Sweden. “Had some front wing damage from being sandwiched into the wall in Lap 1 and just kept adding damage to the car throughout the race. We did a pretty solid race for a while. But I had a bunch of understeer and it kept getting worse and worse. Couldn’t make it last to the end.”

David Malukas – Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto – Photo by Chris Owens

David Malukas scored a ninth-place result for Waller, Texas-based A.J. Foyt Racing in the No. 4 Clarience Technologies Chevrolet to move to 10^th in series points.

“Wow, talk about an action-packed race for us,” said Malukas, a 23-year-old native of Chicago. “Incredible amount of passing. The guys gave me a good car, and we worked our way through the field. I mean, started 15th, ended up with a P9 finish with all the chaos of those yellows and trying to figure out what the race strategy was. Overall, we’ll take another top-10 from the 15th starting position. Good job from the guys, and a good day for Chevy as well.”

Santino Ferrucci – Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto – Photo by Chris Owens

Foyt teammate and Dallas resident Santino Ferrucci did not compete following a grinding accident during the morning warm-up. Ferrucci and his No. 14 Sexton Properties/A.J. Foyt Racing Chevrolet were held out due to a severely damaged car _ and Santino’s bruised and swollen right hand. Ferrucci hit the Turn 7 wall at speed on the left side, sending the car sliding into the Turn 8 runoff area. All four corners of the No. 14 Chevy were damaged, with approximately three hours remaining to make repairs.

“Just an unfortunate incident this morning in final warm-up,” said Team President Larry Foyt, son of team-owner/INDYCAR icon A.J. Foyt Jr. “So, we made a tough decision because the damage is pretty extensive, and we just decided as a team to start getting ready for Laguna and not try to rush something on the track today. Santino banged up his hand a little bit, so I’d rather have him rest and get ready for Laguna. That’s our decision, but we’ll be back strong next week.”

Ferrucci was listed 27th in the final result and slipped from 10^th to 12th in the standings.

Practice for the Java House Grand Prix of Monterey at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca begins Friday at 5 p.m. (EDT) with broadcast coverage on FS2, FOX Sports app and the INDYCAR Radio Network. The 95-lap race _ No. 14 of the 17-race season _ is scheduled for Sunday at 3 p.m. on FOX Sports. A Spanish-language telecast also will be available on FOX Deportes.

Results of the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto NTT IndyCar Series event on the 1.786-mile/11-turn Streets of Toronto circuit, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):

1. (10) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 90, Running
   2. (9) Rinus VeeKay, Honda, 90, Running
   3. (13) Kyffin Simpson, Honda, 90, Running
   4. (1) Colton Herta, Honda, 90, Running
   5. (8) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 90, Running
   6. (6) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 90, Running
   7. (5) Graham Rahal, Honda, 90, Running
   8. (11) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 90, Running
   9. (15) David Malukas, Chevrolet, 90, Running
   10. (17) Scott Dixon, Honda, 90, Running
   11. (4) Will Power, Chevrolet, 90, Running
   12. (2) Alex Palou, Honda, 90, Running
   13. (19) Christian Lundgaard, Chevrolet, 90, Running
   14. (3) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 90, Running
   15. (21) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 90, Running
   16. (20) Robert Shwartzman, Chevrolet, 90, Running
   17. (25) Sting Ray Robb, Chevrolet, 89, Running
   18. (12) Nolan Siegel, Chevrolet, 87, Contact
   19. (16) Felix Rosenqvist, Honda, 86, Contact
   20. (22) Christian Rasmussen, Chevrolet, 82, Retired
   21. (7) Louis Foster, Honda, 67, Running
   22. (26) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 57, Retired
   23. (27) Jacob Abel, Honda, 36, Contact
   24. (18) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 36, Contact
   25. (24) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 29, Contact
   26. (14) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 2, Contact
   27. (23) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 0, Did Not Start

Race Statistics
Winner’s average speed: 88.972 mph
Time of Race: 01:48:23.9092
Margin of victory: Under caution
Cautions: 5 for 19 laps
Lead changes: 6 among 5 drivers

Lap Leaders
Herta, Colton 1 – 3
Palou, Alex 4 – 40
VeeKay, Rinus 41 – 56
O’Ward, Pato 57
Ericsson, Marcus 58
Herta, Colton 59 – 61
O’Ward, Pato 62 – 90

NTT IndyCar Series Point Standings _ 1, Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing, 536; 2, Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren, 437; 3, Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global, 363; 4, Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing, 362; 5, Christian Lundgaard, Arrow McLaren, 317; 6, Felix Rosenqvist, Meyer Shank Racing, 309; 7, Marcus Armstrong, Meyer Shank Racing, 283; 8, Colton Herta, Andretti Global, 278; 9, Will Power, Team Penske, 263; 10, David Malukas, A.J. Foyt Racing, 259;

11, Rinus VeeKay, Dale Coyne Racing, 252; 12, Santino Ferrucci, A.J. Foyt Racing, 240; 13, Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske, 239; 14, Kyffin Simpson, Chip Ganassi Racing, 226; 15, Christian Rasmussen, Ed Carpenter Racing, 217; 16, Josef Newgarden, Team Penske, 213; 17, Alexander Rossi, Ed Carpenter Racing, 199; 18, Conor Daly, Juncos Hollinger Racing, 199; 19, Marcus Ericsson, Andretti Global, 195; 20, Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 195;

21, Nolan Siegel, Arrow McLaren, 168; 22, Robert Shwartzman, PREMA Racing, 159; 23, Louis Foster, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 159; 24, Callum Ilott, PREMA Racing, 135; 25, Sting Ray Robb, Juncos Hollinger Racing, 133; 26, Devlin DeFrancesco, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 123; 27, Jacob Abel, Dale Coyne Racing, 95; 28, Takuma Sato, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 36; 29, Helio Castroneves, Meyer Shank Racing, 20; 30, Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing, 16;

31, Jack Harvey, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports, 12; 32, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports, 10; 33, Kyle Larson, Arrow McLaren with Henrick Motorsports, 6; 34, Marco Andretti, Andretti Herta with Marco & Curb-Agajanian, 5.

FOX SPORTS’ 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES BROADCAST COVERAGE SCHEDULE

Sunday, March 2 _ Streets of St. Petersburg, Fla. (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Sunday, March 23 _The Thermal Club, Thermal, Calif.  (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Sunday, April 13 _ Streets of Long Beach, Calif. (Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global)

Sunday, May 4 _ Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, Ala. (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Saturday, May 10 _ Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road-Course (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Sunday, May 25 _ Indianapolis Motor Speedway Oval (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Sunday, June 1 _ Streets of Detroit (Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global)

Sunday, June 15 _ World Wide Technology Raceway, Madison, Ill. (Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global)

Sunday, June 22 _ Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis. (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Sunday, July 6 _ Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington (Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Saturday, July 12 _ Iowa Speedway, Newton, Race 1 (Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren)

Sunday, July 13 _ Iowa Speedway, Newton, Race 2 (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Sunday, July 20 _ Streets of Toronto, Canada (Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren)

Sunday, July 27 _ WeatherTech Raceway, Laguna Seca, Monterey, Calif. (FOX, 3 p.m.)

Sunday, Aug. 10 _ Portland (Ore.) International Raceway (FOX, 3 p.m.)

Sunday, Aug. 24 _ The Milwaukee Mile, West Allis, Wis. (FOX, 2 p.m.)

Sunday, Aug. 31 _ Nashville Superspeedway, Lebanon, Tenn. (2:30 p.m.)

NOTE _ All times Eastern. Dates and times subject to change.