IndyCar’s only visit north of the border in Toronto produced an exciting race, and produced a new winner in the series.
Christian Lundgaard started from pole, but was not able to simply walk away from the field to claim his first win. He had to earn it by fighting back up to the front.
The field didn’t even make it through turn 1 before a wreck clogged up the entire track. It all started when Jack Harvey squeezed Ryan Hunter-Reay into Tom Blomqvist, who was pinned to the wall.
Seven cars were involved, and the safety car had to lead the field through a runoff area a few times in order to find a way past the carnage.
The race was resumed on lap 10, three cars short, and Lundgaard was able to hold the lead through the first pit stops.
Varying pit strategies played out, with half the field using their softer set of tires right away, and others opting to go long on the first stint and use the softs later on.
Scott McLaughlin led for a good portion of the middle of the race due to the strategy difference, but had to make a late stop to allow his fuel top last until the final lap.
That allowed Lundgaard to move back to the front with 20 laps left, after he muscled his way past the current points leader Alex Palou that is, and then pulled an 11-second gap on the rest of the field.
The 21-year-old earned his first win in his sophomore season, and gives RLL their first win since Takuma Sato won the Indy 500 in 2020. The win will also allow Lundgaard to shave his mustache, which he agreed to shave off once he grabbed a trophy of his own.
Palou hung onto second place, with his front wing hanging on by a thread in the final third of the race. The Spaniard widened his gap to the rest of the field with a tremendous recovery from 15th at the start.
Kirkwood had a rough day, including a penalty for avoidable contact. Photo: IndyCar
Colton Herta earned the third position, and grabbed his first podium of the year in the process.
Varying pit strategies allowed Scott McLaughlin to stay out long at the start of the race, and he lead a handful of laps himself.
But he and a few others had to pit late in the race to take a splash of fuel, dropping them disappointingly down the order.
Will Power and Marcus Ericsson had to come into the pits on the final lap even, with each forfeiting a top five result and moving them halfway down the order.
Romain Grosjean retired near the halfway point in the race due to the large bump in turn 10 knocking the steering wheel out of his hand.
He hit the concrete barriers hard, negating the results of his hard-fought battles earlier in the race.
Drivers will not have any time to rest, and will hit up the short oval at Iowa Speedway next weekend for a double-header event.
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