IndyCar News: Herta holds off Kirkwood for Andretti 1-2 in Toronto

Andretti Global driver Colton Herta led 81 of 85 laps from pole position to win the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto IndyCar race around Exhibition Place in Toronto over his teammate Kyle Kirkwood by less than a second.

For the weekend, Herta had the fastest lap in all three practices, won the NTT P1 Award and then he won the race, a feat that is mind-boggling if not unprecedented. It’s believed no driver in the sport’s history has so dominated an event weekend. Herta now has eight career wins.

“We’ve been knocking on the door of a win for so long. Forty-one starts without a win is a long time, and it’s been a disappointing time for us. Andretti is a team that demands perfection and results, so I’m feeling so happy about this win today after such a long time. The Gainbridge Honda was so fast and was great on red tires, black tires, restarts, long runs, saving fuel and really just whatever I needed it to do. Thanks to the team, it was an awesome day and I can’t wait to get back out to the next one.”

The race started off with a full course yellow on Lap 1 when Ed Carpenter Racing’s Christian Rasmussen  stopped on course.  AJ Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci received damage to his front wing and had to pit for repairs.

On Lap 4, the race went green and quickly went to yellow on Lap 5 when Juncos Hollinger’s Agustin Canapino made contact with the tire barrier in Turn 4, which ended his day.

On Lap 8, the race went green.  All cars completed their green flag pit stops by Lap 40.

Herta remained the leader until Lap 54, when he and his teammate, Kyle Kirkwood pitted, allowing Scott Dixon to take the lead for one lap and then Marcus Ericsson led for one lap.

Herta took the lead back on Lap 56, still holding off him teammate, Kirkwood.

A serious accident happened on Lap 73 when Pato O’Ward spun in Turn 1 and several cars hit him, which resulted in a red flag.

Pato O’Ward was running sixth when he spun his No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet halfway around. At that point, there wasn’t much damage to his car, but there soon was. Worse, he was facing traffic and could see oncoming traffic at speed.

Marcus Ericsson veered his No. 27 Delaware Life Honda into O’Ward’s car on the left side of the track, but that wasn’t the end of it. Pietro Fittipaldi was the fifth car in line after Ericsson’s contact, and he struck O’Ward’s car with enough force to lift his off the ground. Santino Ferrucci was trailing Fittipaldi, and his No. 14 AJ FOYT RACING/SEXTON PROPERTIES Chevrolet launched, hitting the fence with the bottom of the car before landing on the track upside down.

Rookie Nolan Siegel and his No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet followed Ferrucci into the crash site, and his car struck O’Ward’s as well. Rookie Toby Sowery then hit Siegel with his No. 51 Global Kartin League/Vuzix Honda of Dale Coyne Racing. Fortunately, no one was injured.

“I am so surprised that they did not call a yellow, as you are just calling for a massive shunt,” said O’Ward.

“There was a solid five seconds of waiting before telling everyone what was coming. I am glad that everybody that was involved in it is okay. I am sorry for the team. We were having a better race than what we have had all weekend. It’s just a shame for the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet crew.”

All drivers involved in the incident were seen and released by the INDYCAR Medical Unit.

When the race went green with 8 laps to go, Herta got the jump on teammate Kirkwood to lead the field into Turn1.

That was short-lived because on Lap 77 Will Power stuffed his Penske teammate Scott McLaughlin into the wall in Turn 5.

The race went green for the final time with 5 laps to go and Herta led Kirkwood, and Ganassi teammates Scott Dixon, Alex Palou and Marcus Armstrong,  which is how they finished the race.

Meyer Shank Racing’s David Malukas finished sixth with Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus VeeKay finishing seventh.

All these were Honda-powered cars finishing 1-2-3-4-5-6-7.

It was Herta’s first IndyCar win in more than 2 years and his eighth win of his NTT INDYCAR SERIES career.

Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou finished fourth and maintains a 49 points lead over Team Penske’s Will Power.   Scott Dixon moved up to third in points, 53 behind his teammate.

Colton Herta is now fourth in the points standing, 57 points behind Palou.

Colton Herta

The American commented on his long awaited win.

“It’s amazing. It’s disappointing when you have success in a series, then you don’t get it for a long time. So two years without a win is very tough on everybody: on the team, on me, on the guys. We all kind of demand the most out of ourselves and we demand the most out of each other.”

“For whatever reason, it just hasn’t gone our way. We’ve had speed. We’ve had plenty of podiums. We’ve had a lot of poles, top fives, but no wins. It feels great to finally get one back.”

“There’s a lot of tracks that we’ve had success at in the past coming up. Yeah, I have never put my head down and said the championship is over at any point just because you never know in INDYCAR.”

Kyle Kirkwood

“I played a little bit more defensive today, so I’m super happy with second place. This was the goal today. Colton is so deserving of the win after being strong all weekend.

“I think we had better pace on restarts and maybe end of stints, but ultimately, Andretti Global deserved this win. It was a group effort between Colton and I’s crews working together to fend off other people as well.

“So, everything was executed well and our cars have been solid all weekend long. I’m glad that we led all sessions and now we are able to lead the one that really counts. So, hats off to the No. 27 and No. 26 crews and Andretti Global.”

Race Result

Lucille Dust reporting live from Toronto, Canada