Marcus Ericsson – Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham – Photo by Joe Skibinski

By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio

Armed with a new contract and renewed self-confidence, Andretti Global’s Marcus Ericsson snapped a 63-race INDYCAR winless drought with a masterful drive to victory in the inaugural Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham.

Marcus Ericsson – Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham – Photo by Joe Skibinski

Ericsson charged through the field late in Sunday’s chaotic 90-lap/197.1-mile Canadian race to hunt down and pass longtime rival Romain Grosjean of Dale Coyne Racing.

SEE: Race Results

Ericsson scored his fifth career NTT IndyCar Series victory while denying Grosjean what would have been his first. A former Formula One regular, Grosjean finished second for the sixth time in his disjointed domestic open wheel career. Coincidentally, Grosjean’s last win of any kind was scored in a GP2 series race in Hungary in 2011. Ericsson finished fifth in that race.

Ericsson, driver of the No. 28 RVI Group Honda, delivered the victory 10 days after being confirmed to return to Andretti Global for a fourth season. Ericsson’s 63-race winless streak dated to his victory in the 2023 season-opener on the Streets of St. Petersburg, Fla.

Marcus Ericsson – Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham – Photo by James Black

“Time goes,” Ericsson said with a smile during his post-race presser. “That’s the thing in racing, you have to believe in yourself, right? I went eight years without a win when I went from F2, went in F1, then came to INDYCAR. It’s easy to give up and do something else.

“I always feel like mental strength and that ability to push myself, even when things doesn’t go your way, it’s been one of my biggest strengths as a driver. Even last year with the year we had, I don’t think there was any scenario where I would have won a race because I just wasn’t fast and I wasn’t happy with the way the car felt. It was no one’s fault. Things didn’t work out; we were in a bad spiral.”

Ericsson’s 2026 highlight to-date was winning pole for the inaugural Java House Grand Prix of Arlington street race in the North Texas city’s Entertainment District in March.

Marcus Ericsson – Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham – Photo by James Black

“Again, it comes from working hard, putting the work in,” said Ericsson, a 35-year-old native of Sweden. “There’s nothing like coming for free. You can’t after a season like last year sit around and think hopefully next year will be better. You have to put in hours with the team, with the personnel, with yourself. That’s where I really did that over the winter and that’s been paying off.

“So yeah, I knew I could do it. I just needed the right sort of, yeah, scenario around me really to get back into that space. I think now I’m driving better than I’ve ever been in INDYCAR. I had three years with Ganassi where I finished at the top of the championship and won races. I think the pace we’ve had this year every weekend, with every track, I think it’s better than that.”

Ericsson’s voice often cracked during the interview, which he blamed on screaming after taking the checkered flag. “It doesn’t come as much of a surprise. We’ve had such a good year,” said Ericsson, who led 21 laps. “We’ve been working every weekend, getting stronger and stronger, qualifying up front every weekend. We might not have got the results we deserved every weekend, but I really felt we deserved (this win).

Romain Grosjean, Marcus Ericsson and Will Power – Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham – Photo by Chris Owens

“We were the fastest car all day, I thought. Obviously, there were a lot of (cautions, six for 25 laps), so we had to stay out (longer on the final sequence). I wanted to show the pace and open a gap, so we gambled on staying out. I had the pace and we were lapping so quick (after exiting the pits on Lap 69) seventh. It was a lot of work to get through the leaders.”

That charge featured contact in the Turn 5 hairpin with Andretti Global teammate Will Power’s No. 26 TWG AI Honda for third place. Ericsson called the hard bump “unfortunate.” Power, who started 25^th and last, basically dismissed the incident.

Marcus Ericsson and Will Power – Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham – Photo by James Black

“I had no clues there. I just turned,” said Power, 45, a two-time series champion with Team Penske now in his first season with Andretti Global. “That was close that we didn’t ruin a good day for the team there.

“Actually, we had a really good car on restarts. Definitely made a lot of positions there. Then it was about making good strategy calls. At the end there you had to make a lot of passes to move yourself forward, which we were able to do. My tires were pretty done at the end. Just sort of holding on. But the others had to save fuel, so that helped get us up to third.

“Marcus was just very fast all day. I was going to let him go on the back straight, but he made his way there. Yeah, it was miscommunication ’cause the team came on and said, ‘Marcus is really quick, he’s coming.’ I said, ‘OK, tell him I’ll let him go on the back straight so I can stay close to Palou.’

Marcus Ericsson – Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham – Photo by James Black

“He didn’t get the message, or it wasn’t quick enough for him. Yeah, miscommunication. I didn’t even look in my mirror. I just turned. Obviously at that point I was upset because we lost such a gap. Just miscommunication. But we ended where we were going to end anyway, so it was fine.”

Ericsson said he was well-aware of motor racing’s golden rule _ do not eliminate a teammate.  “You never want that, but I had to get through,” Ericsson said. “I knew I could win this race.”

Similarly in 2021, Ericsson emerged as winner of the trouble-filled first race on Nashville’s streets that included his car getting airborne vertically. Winner of the 2022 Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge for Chip Ganassi Racing, Marcus now has four street course victories on his resume.

Romain Grosjean – Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham – Photo by James Black

Grosjean settled for second _ his best effort since finishing second on Barber Motorsports Park’s natural terrain road-course in 2023. Native Australian Power placed third with series points leader Alex Palou of Spain and Chip Ganassi Racing taking fourth and Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward fifth.

The typically taciturn Grosjean did not hold back when asked to describe his post-checkered emotions after leading 28-laps en route to his first top-five finish of 2026.

“I cried a little. I’m not going to lie,” said Grosjean, a 40-year-old resident of Switzerland in his second stint with DCR as driver of the No. 18 OnlyBulls Bitcoin Max Honda. “I did everything I could. I went to Formula One for 10 years. Formula One, if you don’t have the car, you don’t win a race. Yes, it’s a long time to have not won a race. It sucks. I don’t think I forgot how to win a race. I just think I didn’t get the chance to do that, so…we’ll try. We’ll keep racing. Maybe I should do a go-kart race, l have more chances. Or a cycling race.

Romain Grosjean – Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham – Photo by James Black

“But control what you can control. I think that comes from Andre Agassi, the book read. I don’t know how the strategy worked for the No. 28. I guess the short pit lane helped them, then the fact a lot of people had to save fuel and run out of space.

“I wanted to (keep Palou in second place) _ I knew (with that gap) it was safe. But then (Ericsson) came…unfortunately that (wasn’t our) day. Very happy with my team and my performance. Gives me hope for next week _ Freedom 250, another great one.”

Once in the lead, Ericsson rolled to a massive margin of victory of 7.5305-seconds.

“It seemed like we were in a wreck-fest on some of the restarts,” said Palou, 29. “It was very tough to get the tires up to temperature, that’s why we saw so many people braking and locking up and just weird overtakes. I’m just glad that we kept our nose clean on the No. 10 DHL Honda. Obviously, we had contact here and there. It was really fun. We got lucky on some moves and strategies, super-unlucky on some of the others so I think it evened-out and I’m super-happy to go home with P4. It was very, very fun.”

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

O’Ward rallied to a fifth-place finish in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet after starting 23rd in the 25-car field. “It’s been a really tough weekend, so it was really nice to end it out with a top-five finish,” said O’Ward, a 27-year-old native of Mexico with family ties to San Antonio, Texas. “It was crazy out there. It was like bumper cars on every single restart.

“We’re going to Washington next weekend, and I’m sure it’s going to also be crazy. Great layout this weekend; I really enjoyed driving the track. I’ve got to thank my crew for fine-tuning the car and doing so many changes session to session. I feel like we tried seven different setups this weekend and happily, we ended up with the best one.”

Santino Ferrucci – Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham – Photo by Joe Skibinski

Santino Ferrucci led the two-car effort from Waller, Texas-based A.J. Foyt Racing in 10^th.

“A very solid day for us at A.J. Foyt Racing,” said Ferrucci, a 28-year-old resident of Dallas and driver of the No. 14 Homes For Our Troops Chevrolet. “Strategy was really good. I wouldn’t say we were either unlucky or lucky. We just drove a really hard race, made a fuel number and we had good pace. Pit crew was fantastic all day. We didn’t really get any full-yellow stops, so I don’t know if we jumped anybody, but we definitely didn’t lose any ground. That’s for sure, which is awesome.

“You know, the momentum that the guys have had has been phenomenal. I think our team did a great job with the car all weekend from getting unlucky in qualifying, and yeah, I wish we had a little bit more there in the end to get a little deeper into the top-10. But we will walk away with a solid top-10 today. ”

Caio Collet – Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham – Photo by Joe Skibinskiealers Indy Markham

Rookie Caio Collet started and finished in 19th in Foyt Racing’s No. 4 Combitrans Amazonia Chevrolet following contact with reigning Indy 500 champion Felix Rosenqvist on Lap 1.

“I had some contact with the No. 60;  I just need to see it,” said Collet, a 24-year-old native of Brazil. “I think that was not enough space there, and we ended up breaking a tow link, so we had to stop to fix everything, and then we were just trying to pick up a couple of positions on people that had incidents or mechanical stuff. I think we managed to do that, but yeah, overall bit of a frustrating weekend. I felt that we had a lot of pace, especially from the beginning, to fight at the front, but we just couldn’t execute everything.”

Meanwhile, the race of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Louis Foster ended in dramatic fashion. The Brit started from pole position for the second time in his career _ the other was at Road America last year _ and built a lead of nearly three-seconds while leading the first 32 laps. But a caution spoiled that run as all of the other frontrunners had pitted a couple of laps earlier, shuffling Foster to 12th place.

Louis Foster – Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham – Photo by James Black

However, Foster came charging back. He had moved up eight positions and was stalking Ericsson for third place when they approached Turn 3 on Lap 43. Foster went to the inside, but clipped the left-side wall _ contact which shot him straight into the concrete barrier on the right. The impact was virtually head-on, a major shunt. Fortunately, he was not injured.

“We actually had a shot to win today, 100 percent,” said Foster, a 23-year-old native of Odiham, England, and driver of the No. 45 Desnuda Organic Tequila Honda. “And yeah, it’s a shame. I went for a move on Marcus and thought I left enough room to the wall. There is a reason why us drivers complain about these walls is because it does stuff like that.

“You need to have radius walls at these corners. I was halfway around the corner. I wasn’t turning anymore, and the wall sticks out and I hit it. I hadn’t been at that tight of an angle into that corner all weekend, so I wasn’t quite sure where the divots were on the wall, and I just misjudged it by millimeters. And the difference is on a radius wall, you rub it, and you carry on. On this wall, it completely takes off the front left. And I went head-on into the concrete wall so it was a pretty big hit. I’m just pissed off I made a mistake, to be honest.”

Kyle Kirkwood – Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham – Photo by Joe Skibinski

Similarly, that spot in the track claimed Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood, who was running third behind his two teammates. His impact was just as fierce.

Kirkwood’s 21st-place finish allowed Palou to pull even farther ahead in pursuit of his fourth consecutive championship and fifth in six years since joining CGR in 2021 _ despite starting outside the top-10 for the first time in 30 races, nearly two full seasons. With four races to go, Palou leads Kirkwood by a nearly insurmountable 133 points with Team Penske’s David Malukas third, 137 points in arrears. Malukas finished this race a lap down in 17th place.

Should he win a fifth championship Palou would stand alone in the INDYCAR record book behind A.J. Foyt Jr.’s seven titles and Scott Dixon’s six titles.

Alex Palou – Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham – Photo by James Black

Palou can mathematically win the title next weekend in Washington, D.C., site of the Freedom 250 Grand Prix street race. “We just need to win, right? That would be fun,” Palou said. “That would be a great place to win it. I will work for it, absolutely.”

Overall, Markham’s new 2.19-mile/12-turn street circuit seemed to offer the right balance of action and reaction, with a fair amount of race-turning calamity. The track produced 258 on-track passes with 242 of those for position _ the most on-record in the event, which dates to 1986 when INDYCAR made its debut on the Streets of Toronto. As expected, the Turn 5 hairpin was a hot spot, with several instances of cars coming together.

One of the most significant contacts in that corner featured rookie Dennis Hauger of Norway and Dale Coyne Racing bumping Ed Carpenter Racing’s Christian Rasmussen of Denmark and then O’Ward. That was Lap 20, and was part of Hauger’s fade through the field.

Last year’s INDY NXT by Firestone champion, Hauger started the race from the fifth position and was still there when his two-lap slide began. It started with Palou passing him, then Malukas. In an instant, Hauger was 20th. Later, Hauger clipped the rear tire of New Zealand native Dixon of Chip Ganassi Racing, who hit Rasmussen, drawing a caution.

Another instance of contact occurred in Turn 5, where Arrow McLaren’s Nolan Siegel charged too deep into the braking zone, striking the car of Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden. Siegel was penalized for avoidable contact.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Mick Schumacher of Germany drew the race’s first caution on Lap 15, when the series rookie absolutely pounded the Turn 4 wall in the No. 47 ENVE Honda.

“We weren’t even pushing hard,” said Schumacher, the 27-year-old son of seven-time Formula One World Driving Champion Michael Schumacher. “We had a really good car and I was just biding my time and got a bit closer to the wall than I wanted to. And that little touch ended up pointing the car into the turn the wrong way.

“I think one of the important parts of racing is to finish the race, and especially today, where we had such a good car, I think we could have scored some decent points. To end it in the wall is definitely not ideal.”

Despite the considerable carnage and his runnerup result, Grosjean gave the new circuit a thumbs-up. “Well, let me talk about the track,” Grosjean said. “Amazing, Markham. Thank you for having us. The pavement was great. The racetrack is great. The organization has been good. The track has been fun to drive. I got to say that I’m very impressed with this weekend generally. Smooth tarmac like this makes the racing so much nicer for us compared to some other places.

“Yeah, some of the restarts were a bit chaotic. I got lucky. I was never involved in any of those. I always find myself in the clear space. Yeah, I really like the weekend.”

To which Power added, “It’s cool. Very cool. Yeah, man, character. This track is epic. Crazy track, man, like in good crazy.”

The Markham event was the second of three new street races on the 2026 schedule. The inaugural Java House Grand Prix of Arlington weekend in North Texas played-out to rave reviews in March. As noted, the third new venue will host the Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C., on Sunday, Aug. 23. An extended pre-race show on FOX Sports will begin at 11:30 a.m. (EDT) with the race shortly after 1 p.m.

NTT IndyCar Series Point Standings _ 1, Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing, 542; 2, Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global, 409; 3, David Malukas, Team Penske, 405; 4, Christian Lundgaard, Arrow McLaren, 403; 5, Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren, 385; 6, Josef Newgarden, Team Penske, 352; 7, Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske, 345; 8, Felix Rosenqvist, Meyer Shank Racing, 344; 9, Marcus Ericsson, Andretti Global, 329; 10, Rinus VeeKay, Juncos Hollinger Racing, 295;

11, Will Power, Andretti Global, 292; 12, Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing, 264; 13, Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 258; 14, Kyffin Simpson, Chip Ganassi Racing, 252; 15, Marcus Armstrong, Meyer Shank Racing, 244; 16, Santino Ferrucci, A.J. Foyt Racing, 225; 17, Alexander Rossi, Ed Carpenter Racing, 218; 18, Romain Grosjean, Dale Coyne Racing, 209; 19, Louis Foster, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 200; 20, Nolan Siegel, Arrow McLaren, 195;

21, Dennis Hauger, Dale Coyne Racing, 189; 22, Christian Rasmussen, Ed Carpenter Racing, 164; 23, Caio Collet, A.J. Foyt Racing, 158; 24, Mick Schumacher, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 151; 25, Sting Ray Robb, Juncos Hollinger Racing, 150; 26, Derek Daly, Dryer & Reinbold Racing, 24; 27, Takuma Sato, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 20; 28, Jack Harvey, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, 8; 29, Jacob Abel, Abel Motorsports, 6; 30, Helio Castroneves, Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian, 5;

31, Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing, 5; 32, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Arrow McLaren, 5; 33, Katherine Legge, HMD Motorsports with A.J. Foyt Racing, 5.

FOX SPORTS’ 2026 NTT INDYCAR SERIES BROADCAST SCHEDULE/(RACE WINNER)

Note _ All times Eastern

Sunday, March 1 _ Streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Saturday, March 7 _ Phoenix Raceway, Avondale, Ariz., (Josef Newgarden, Team Penske)

Sunday, March 15 _ Streets of Arlington, Texas, (Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global)

Sunday, March 29 _ Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, Ala., (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Sunday, April 19 _ Streets of Long Beach, Calif., (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Saturday, May 9 _ Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road-Course, (Christian Lundgaard, Arrow McLaren)

Sunday, May 24 _ 110^th Indianapolis 500, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Oval, (Felix Rosenqvist, Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian)

Sunday, May 31 _ Streets of Downtown Detroit, (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Sunday, June 7 _ World Wide Technology Raceway, Madison, Ill., (Josef Newgarden, Team Penske)

Sunday, June 21 _ Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis., 2 p.m., (Christian Lundgaard, Arrow McLaren)

Sunday, July 5 _ Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, (Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren)

Monday, July 20 _ Nashville Superspeedway, Lebanon, Tenn., (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Sunday, Aug. 9 _ Portland (Ore.) International Raceway, (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Sunday, Aug. 16 _ Streets of Markham, Canada, (Marcus Ericsson, Andretti Global)

Sunday, Aug. 23 _ Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C., 1 p.m.

Saturday, Aug. 29 _ The Milwaukee Mile Race 1, West Allis, Wis., 2:30 p.m.

Sunday, Aug. 30 _ The Milwaukee Mile Race 2, West Allis, Wis., 1 p.m.

Sunday, Sept. 6 _ WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, Monterey, Calif., 2:30 p.m.

Note _ Dates and times subject to change.

2026 INDYCAR NXT BY FIRESTONE SCHEDULE/(RACE-WINNER)

Sunday, March 1 _ Streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., (Nikita Johnson, Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR)

Sunday, March 15 _ Streets of Arlington, Texas, (Max Taylor, Andretti Global)

Saturday, March 28 _ Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, Ala., (Nikita Johnson, Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR)

Sunday, March 29 _ Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, Ala., (Alessandro de Tullio, A.J. Foyt Racing)

Friday, May 8 _ Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road-Course Race 1, (Enzo Fittipaldi, HMD Motorsports)

Saturday, May 9 _ Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road-Course Race 2, (Tymek Kucharczyk, HMD Motorsports)

Sunday, May 31 _ Streets of Downtown Detroit, (Enzo Fittipaldi, HMD Motorsports)

Sunday, June 7 _ World Wide Technology Raceway, Madison, Ill., (Myles Rowe, Abel Motorsports)

Saturday, June 20 _ Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis., Race 1, (Lochie Hughes, Andretti Global)

Sunday, June 21 _ Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis., Race 2, (Matteo Nannini, Cape Motorsports powered by ECR)   

Saturday, July 4 _ Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, Ohio, Race 1, (Enzo Fittipaldi, HMD Motorsports)

Sunday, July 5 _ Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, Ohio, Race 2, (Enzo Fittipaldi, HMD Motorsports)

Sunday, July 19 _ Nashville Superspeedway, Lebanon, Tenn., (Matteo Nannini, Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR)

Sunday, Aug. 9 _ Portland (Ore.) International Raceway, (Alessandro de Tullio, A.J. Foyt Racing)

Sunday, Aug. 30 _ The Milwaukee Mile, West Allis, Wis.

Saturday, Sept. 5 _ Weather Tech Raceway Laguna Seca, Monterey, Calif., Race 1

Sunday, Sept. 6 _ Weather Tech Raceway Laguna Seca, Monterey, Calif., Race 2