IndyCar: Pato O’Ward Wins On Streets Of Toronto

Toronto, ON – Having the right strategy and catching cautions at the perfect time made the difference in the NTT INDYCAR Series’ Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto, as Pato O’Ward took the victory by 0.484-seconds over Rinus VeeKay, with Kyffin Simpson finishing third.

O’Ward, driving for Arrow McLaren, with Team Principal Zak Brown in attendance, won his second race in nine days after claiming the top step of the podium last weekend on the shortest oval in Iowa race one.

“I was feeling so good on the (black) primary tires all weekend,” revealed O’Ward, giving Chevy its second victory of the season. “We were struggling to get the alternates working in qualifying. I knew I had a great race car underneath me. The team gave me an awesome strategy and we nailed it today. Thank you to Chevy.

“I never expected to be this much better in Toronto because it has been the most difficult track for us in the past,” continued O’Ward, who led 30 of the 90 laps in the race. “A bird dropped a load on my car and I told my team that is a good sign. I had a great first pit stop and undercut everyone on the alternate tires. Then we just maintained.”

Drivers were aggressive on the 11-turn, 1.786-mile course as soon as the green flag waved. Even mid-field, the elbows were out. O’Ward, running fifth, had wheel-to-wheel contact with Will Power to take fourth-place on the Lap 42 restart.

“I knew that was going to be a racing incident,” explained O’Ward. “That’s the last thing that you want to have. I respect Will so much. We’ve been racing against each other a lot. The problem is that it’s such a fine line that you’re battling with. You don’t want to lose any positions. When you’re full opposite lock, we basically hit square. When you hit tire to tire, both of our (steering) wheels got out of our hands. That’s what happens when you’re racing in a tight place like this. The cars don’t really do everything perfectly. They will be moving, they’ll understeer. When you go to the outside, that’s a risk that you’re willing to take versus the guy that’s on the inside.”

Rinus VeeKay, driving for Dale Coyne, earned his best result of the season in second place. He gave credit to Canadian Michael Cannon (son of John Cannon) who is the team’s Technical Director.

“We had the feeling we could do this today but usually we are starting in the back,” described VeeKay, who led 16 laps. “It was an awesome day. It was important to qualify well and we qualified ninth. We saved a lot of fuel. Pato had a lot shorter fill. Second was the best we could do today but it’s a really good result for us. We missed out by about a half second. We used the two-stop strategy and have to thank Honda for the great fuel economy. Whatever happens, we make the right decision, thanks to Michael Cannon on my stand, who has brought so much with his experience that it allows you as a driver to do a lot more. It was a pleasure to drive this car.”

The highest-finishing Chip Ganassi Racing driver was Kyffin Simpson, earning his first podium, in third place. He started 13th and gained the most positions in the field.

“It was an incredible day and an emotional roller coaster,” stated Simpson. “We had a strategy that looked like we were in the worst position but it turned around. It was a race that came to us. I didn’t think we were the quickest car but we had pace. At Mid-Ohio, we could have realistically won that race so I was disappointed not to be on that podium. I have learned so much from my teammates, Scott (Dixon) and (Alex Palou).”

With half the field starting on the softer, green alternate tires, four drivers took to pit lane at the end of Lap 2 to change to the harder, primary tire, including O’Ward and Scott McLaughlin.

McLaughlin, driving for Team Penske, brought out the first caution on Lap 3, having hit the outside wall on the fastest part of the track, down Lake Shore Blvd, heading into Turn 3. As McLaughlin left his pit box prematurely, his left-rear tire changer fell forward, believing he had tightened the wheel nut. But it rolled after two corners and the tire followed.

Alex Rossi brought out the third caution on Lap 30 when he clipped the outside wall at Turn 11 and damaged his left-rear, leaving debris all over the track. On the ensuing Lap 37 restart, Palou, leading his teammate Dixon, were the only two cars who had not yet made their first pit stop, having started on the harder, primary black tires. But their strategy turned out not to be the best as they cycled to 16th and 18th, respectively, by pitting on Lap 41 under caution.

As drivers tried to pass slower cars on the Lap 37 restart, Jacob Abel had contact with the outside wall between Turns 1 and 2. As he bounced off the cement barrier, Josef Newgarden slid under his car. Caught behind were Devlin DeFrancesco, Nolan Siegel, and Callum Ilott, as others made it through. There were five total cautions for 20 laps.

“We chose our strategy,” explained Palou, who finished 12th. “It was the best option. The car was really fast. I tried to avoid incidents in traffic. I was able to open a big gap while leading after the first yellow but it was not enough today.”

Colton Herta started on pole for the second straight year but wasn’t able to defend his win, finishing fourth.

One driver was missing from the 27-car field. Santino Ferrucci, driving for AJ Foyt Racing, had a morning Warm-up incident that caused damage to both sides of his car, on all four corners. His team was not able to repair it, lacking both parts and sufficient time before the race start at 12:22 p.m.

The race ended under caution for the final two laps due to contact in Turn 10 between David Malukas and Felix Rosenqvist.

Toronto’s Devlin DeFrancesco started 26th and finished 22nd after being caught up in the Abel incident, when he was drilled from behind by Ilott. On Saturday, he lost precious track time due to a hybrid issue. Not having new tire runs in practice affected his qualifying results.

“The start seemed fine, as did the first stint,” said DeFrancesco, who ran as high as ninth among the differing strategies. “We got hurt a bit on that first restart, just not able to fire up the tires. Generally, the car was okay and in a pretty good window. After the second stop, we just got hit and there was a big check-up at Turn One. What can I say?

“It happens. Onto Laguna. We should be good there.”

O’Ward (437) gained 30 points on Palou (536), now 99 points behind, with four races remaining and 216 points possible. Coming up next weekend is the permanent road course in scenic Monterey, CA, at the WeatherTech Laguna Seca Raceway.