IndyCar

Herta ends winless run in Toronto race featuring huge O'Ward crash

by Jack Benyon
6 min read

A first win in more than two years for Colton Herta, a massive crash for Pato O’Ward, and a Penske driver crashing into his team-mate provided a thrilling Toronto IndyCar race that shook up the championship order massively with five races left to go in the season.

Behind Herta, Kyle Kirkwood bagged a first podium of the season to make it an Andretti 1-2 at a track where team-owner Michael Andretti has more wins than anyone.

Herta's victory ended a winless streak stretching back to his outstanding win in the wet on the Indianapolis road course in May 2022.

O’Ward’s crash and Scott McLaughlin being shunted off by Will Power means a huge boost in the championship for Alex Palou, who drove from 18th to fourth in the order.

O'Ward's enormous shunt

An enormous and terrifying crash ended what had been a brilliant comeback drive from O’Ward.

He spun on his own entering Turn 1 on lap 73 of 85 after a restart while running sixth, ahead of Palou at the time, and was facing the wrong way on the corner exit as a host of cars crashed into him.

Most just clipped his front wing, but Santino Ferrucci was sent over O’Ward’s car and along the catch-fencing before landing upside down. Ferrucci was able to get out of his car unassisted, and all drivers involved in the O'Ward shunt were seen and released from the medical centre.

Nolan Siegel went head-on into the nose of his McLaren team-mate's car - a hard hit that basically bump-started O’Ward’s engine before he shut it off again.

“I had rear locking, spun, and that’s pretty much the end of that,” said a dejected O’Ward.

“I am so surprised IndyCar didn’t call a yellow [earlier]; you’re just calling for a massive shunt, they had five seconds to to call a yellow and tell everybody that was coming.

“I’m glad everybody else that was in it is fine, sorry for the team, obviously we were having a better race than what we’ve had all weekend, it’s been miserable, so, yeah.”

Points before Toronto

1 Alex Palou 336
2 Will Power - 35
3 Pato O’Ward - 52
4 Scott Dixon -57
5 McLaughlin -66

Points after Toronto

1 Palou 411
2 Power - 49
3 Dixon - 53
4 Herta - 57
5 O’Ward -74

McLaren team principal Gavin Ward went even further, saying IndyCar "needs to take a deep dive into the delay" in showing a yellow flag.

"That incident started off with Pato having a spin, and not going to a full-course yellow until there's a car in the catch fence, and we've totally crashed two good race cars," he added. "It's just not good enough."

O'Ward now trails Palou by 74 points having been 52 behind entering the weekend.

Ferrucci had crept into the top 10 in points overall the weekend before in what has been a strong year for Foyt. But here he was hit into the wall at Turn 1 on lap one - coincidentally, by O’Ward, who was avoiding Christian Lundgaard on the outside of the corner - while the late crash ended a day that promised plenty.

Power shunts into McLaughlin

On the restart after that incident, McLaughlin, another championship contender, crashed at Turn 5 having been punted off by his Penske team-mate Power - who lost the rear entering the corner having made an optimistic dive down the inside.

McLaughlin got out of his car and waited for Power to come around, sarcastically applauding Power - still in the race in fourth at that point - as he drove past, although he was more diplomatic in his post-race interview.

It was a slam dunk penalty and Power got a drivethrough, finishing 12th. McLaughlin was classified 16th.

Herta back on top

After three poles and three podiums this year, Herta finally ended his win draught.

Andretti's move to slim from four cars to three has yielded consistency, but the team hasn't quite pulled everything together to capitalise for a win, until now.

Herta's made a fair share of mistakes too, crashing in the Indianapolis 500 and a Detroit race he'd started from pole, although ill-timed weather and a caution at Iowa, where he was on pole, have been among the factors holding him back too.

His emphatic donuts, which appeared to last forever, felt very fitting both for Toronto and for Herta as he celebrated ending his streak.

Palou’s joy and championship boost

Palou benefitted from O’Ward’s misfortune and the Penske crash to move up to fourth, having executed a very strong undercut at his second and final pitstop that leapt him past a load of cars which had proven too hard to overtake on track.

He started 18th on the grid, and was boosted three spots by those incidents for his rivals in the closing stages. A lead that was under 30 points at one point during that race has extended to 49 afterwards.

Without an obvious contender coming to the fore, Palou’s many rivals have tripped over each other or had issues in recent races and, other than a crash at Iowa, he’s kept his losses to a minimum.

Dixon delivers a comeback too

Scott Dixon went from 15th to third, only in opposite fashion to Palou. He executed an overcut in the first pitstops, and was breathtaking in the final stint - closing a gap of well over four seconds to around six tenths behind Kirkwood until the lap 68 caution.

He survived lap one contact with Agustin Canapino that could have ended the day differently.

Dixon was the highest-profile casualty of the IndyCar hybrid device’s debut three races ago when he had to stop before the Mid-Ohio race started. Without that, his 53-point deficit to Palou might look very different.

Elsewhere in the top 10, behind Dixon and Palou, their Ganassi team-mate Marcus Armstrong scored a top-five finish while Meyer Shank's David Malukas had the best result of his comeback so far, scoring a sixth while he continues to recover from a pre-season wrist injury that kept him out until June.

Last year’s Toronto winner Lundgaard survived lap one contact to finish seventh, ahead of Rinus VeeKay, Romain Grosjean and Graham Rahal, the last of whom had a rapid steering wheel change in a pitstop early on.

Pourchaire's return

Theo Pourchaire’s return to IndyCar - which started with his first taste of Toronto in qualifying as he took over from Alexander Rossi, who broke his thumb in practice - went largely under the radar.

He was on an unusual strategy, stopping under caution on lap six but then again on lap 20, which basically ensured he’d be condemned to a finish near the back.

He went off defending from Linus Lundqvist on lap 56, but the late cautions helped him move up to 14th - although it’s clear the incidents flatter his final result.

It’s not yet clear if Rossi will be fit for the Gateway round in mid-August, or whether Pouchaire would be considered to make an oval debut.

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