Colton Herta Sheds Albatross, Wins Toronto Grand Prix

• Andretti Global finishes 1-2 after locking up the front row at the Honda Indy Toronto.

• Santino Ferucci has been evaluated and is reported okay after ending up airborne.

• Colton Herta wins from the pole after failing to convert a win in his last six starts from the front.

After 41 races, Colton Herta is once again an IndyCar winner. Herta pulled off a perfect weekend, topping both practice sessions and capturing the pole in qualifying, setting him up as the heavy favorite as the winner of the Toronto Grand Prix.

Herta has been the favorite several times over the last two seasons he’s gone winless as bad luck seems to follow the Andretti Global driver. Leading into this weekend, Herta has failed to convert a pole into a win six times since his last victory.

"It’s been disappointing for us," Herta told IndyCar on NBC in response to his lack of victories. "We’re a team; Michael’s an owner who demands perfection and results. There are people that work for the team that demands that, and I’m so damn happy."

Herta's teammate Kyle Kirkwood was in sync with the driver all race and secured his first podium finish following Herta in second. The Andretti teammates started on the front row and successfully stayed in the lead as mayhem continued down the field.

Kirkwood was put into position to defend for his teammate on each restart, successfully keeping the field at bay as Herta pulled out to a secure lead. This was a task that Kirkwood was happy to complete knowing he would bring home a 1-2 for the team on a difficult road course.

"On a street course, you want to salvage a 1-2. Putting us at risk was not the move today," Kirkwood said post-race. "I played a little bit more defense; you probably noticed that on the restarts. [I'm] super happy with second place. This was the goal today. Colton obviously got the pole and was deserving of the win today."

With 13 laps remaining, a late yellow after Pato O'Ward ended up in the wall led to Pietro Fittipaldi and Santino Ferrcucci hitting the driver head-on, sending Ferrucci airborne and bringing out the red flag.

The final restart, with seven to go, was in response to Penske's Will Power locking up and hitting his teammate Scott MacLaughlin, taking the No. 3 out of the race and earning himself a drive-through penalty to set him back to 12th.

After Andretti, the winner of the race was Alex Palou, who stretched his championship lead by finishing fourth behind Scott Dixon, the only one of his closest four championship contenders not to be caught up in an accident or penalties.

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