Herta makes history with Toronto win capping dominant weekend

Game, set, match.

Colton Herta led every practice and warmup session at the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto, earned pole in qualifying, led the most laps, and survived a late red flag for a wild six-car crash to reach victory lane for the first time since May of 2022. His No. 26 Andretti Global Honda was simply untouchable across 85 laps of NTT IndyCar Series competition in Canada.

Herta was shadowed by Andretti teammate Kyle Kirkwood the entire way as the duo started and finished first and second on the bumpy street course.

“We’ve been knocking on the door of a win for so long,” Herta said. “Forty-one starts without a win is a long time and it’s been disappointing for us. Michael [Andretti’s] an owner that demands perfection and demands results. It feels so good. I’m so happy.”

Thanks to a caution in the closing laps after the red flag — when Team Penske’s Will Power hit teammate Scott McLaughlin and knocked him into the wall and out of the race — it was a dash to the finish line where Kirkwood trailed by 0.347s in the No. 27 Honda.

“Andretti Global deserves this win,” said Kirkwood, who told the team he would play wingman to the finish for Herta unless an easy passing opportunity presented itself. “In street courses like this, you want to salvage a 1-2, that’s for sure, and putting us at risk was just not the move today, so I played a little bit more defensive. Super happy with second place.”

Despite Andretti’s mastery of the event, there was plenty of movement behind Herta and Kirkwood as Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon charged from 15th at the start to third and the final podium spot with the No. 9 Chip Ganassi Honda. Championship leader Alex Palou was even better, climbing from 18th to fourth as the sponsor of the race locked out the top seven positions at the finish line with Marcus Armstrong giving Ganassi a 3-4-5, Meyer Shank Racing’s David Malukas earning his best yet for the team in sixth, and 2023 Toronto winner Christian Lundgaard claiming eighth in his No. 45 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda.

Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus VeeKay was the top Chevy representative in eighth.

Outside of the familiar early crashes in Turn 1 to open the race, the latest trip to race in Canada was relatively calm until the latter stages of the event when a caution on lap 68, a red on lap 73, and another caution on lap 77 shuffled the final standings.

The heavy toll from laps 68-77 meant just 15 of the 27 starters were able to cross under the checkered flag, and for the second time in a span of a week, an A.J. Foyt Racing car went flying and landed upside down. The pileup, which was triggered by a spinning Pato O’Ward in Turn 1 on a restart, saw Marcus Ericsson, Pietro Fittipaldi, Foyt’s Santino Ferrucci, and O’Ward’s teammate Nolan Siegel hit and destroy O’Ward’s No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevy. After crossing the track and hitting the opposite wall, Siegel was hit from behind by Toby Sowery.

All six of the drivers, including Ferrucci, who radioed his team while upside down to tell them he was fine, appeared to escape without significant injury.

Arrow McLaren’s Theo Pourchaire, who had a few scraps of his own while standing in for Alexander Rossi on short notice, was the team’s top finish on the day, motoring from 25th to 14th.

The 85-lap race fired off with a familiar scene as cars crashed in Turn 1 as Rasmussen’s 12th-place start lasted a single corner as his left-front suspension was bent after contact with Marcus Ericsson sent Rasmussen into the outside wall. Ferrucci was also hit, taking a shot from O’Ward, which broke his front wings against the inside wall. Rasmussen was done on the sport, but Ferrucci was able to make it to the pits and receive repairs, which left him last among the 26 drivers.

Polesitter Herta and teammate Kirkwood held first and second, McLaughlin improved to third and teammate Josef Newgarden moved from seventh to fifth.

The lap five restart saw no changes up front and the green lasted until Turn 4 when the battling Scott Dixon and Agustin Canapino made contact — Canapino turned left and hit Dixon’s right-rear wheel with his left-front — and Canapino ricocheted into the outside wall. Caution No. 2.

On the lap nine restart, the race had its first clean, green lap, and the order of Herta, Kirkwood, McLaughlin, Felix Rosenqvist, Newgarden, and Romain Grosjean comprised the top six.

Lap 10 saw Power take P7 from Malukas under braking at Turn 3 while Herta pushed out to 1.0s ahead of Kirkwood.

Championship leader Alex Palou was up to P15 from P18 on lap 11 and he had Toby Sowery behind him in P16. Newcomer Hunter McElrea was in P21 and Theo Pourchaire was P24.

Rosenqvist retook P3 from McLaughlin on lap 12. McLaughlin was the only top driver to start on Firestone alternate tires.

Lap 13 and Newgarden was by McLaughlin into Turn 3 to take P4.

On lap 16 Sting Ray Robb was in the pits having an issue tended to by the crew.

A lap later, Grosjean barged inside Power at Turn 3 to claim P6.

Lap 18 and the struggling McLaughlin pitted from P5 to take primary tires. Two laps later, Herta was 1.7s clear of Kirkwood and 2.5s ahead of Rosenqvist.

Come lap 26, Christian Lundgaard pitted from P11 and Palou came in from P12. Palou on alternates jumped Lundgaard on primaries out of the pits.

Power came in for alternates the following lap.
Herta was up 1.6s on Kirkwood, 2.8s on Rosenqvist and 3.7s on Newgarden on lap 28.

Lap 30 and Ericsson relieved Graham Rahal of P8 on entry to Turn 3. Lap 32 and Rahal pitted for alternates and a new steering wheel.

Newgarden finally came in for alternates along with Grosjean on lap 33. Rosenqvist was in for alternates two laps later. Newgarden in P7 passed him entering Turn 3.

Herta and Kirkwood ducked in for alternates on lap 36. Palou took P13 from Ericsson. Dixon inherited the lead as the last frontrunner to stay out. Dixon finally pitted for alternates on lap 37 as Herta resumed his home in P1. The No. 9 emerges in P6 after starting P15.

Lap 39 and Palou was up to P11 after passing Malukas. Herta had 1.2s over Kirkwood and a sizable 4.9s on Newgarden.

Ericsson took P11 from Palou on lap 46. Kirkwood was 1.1s back from Herta and Newgarden, 3.5s in arrears.

Newgarden was drawing down the gap to Herta on lap 47 — down to 2.3s. Kirkwood cut it to 0.8s while Herta appeared to be struggling with his alternates. Ericsson demoted Marcus Armstrong from P10.

Lap 51 and Palou made his final stop and took primaries. McLaughlin pitted from P5 at the end of the lap along with O’Ward, Malukas and Grosjean. Power came in for primaries two laps later. Newgarden pitted for the same at the end of the laps. He was sent out before the left-rear was tightened, but the crew stopped him, rolled the car back, secured the wheel nut, and released him again.

Herta and Kirkwood pit for primaries on lap 54. Herta beat his teammate out as Dixon led. Newgarden resumed in P10 as Power took P6 from Rosenqvist into Turn 3.

Lap 56 saw Dixon pit as Lundqvist and Pourchaire go off in Turn 3. Both resume, but Pourchaire needed to pit for a new front tire. Lap 57 — Dixon resumed in P3 as Rosenqvist and Ericsson went sailing into the Turn 3 runoff before continuing.

At lap 58, it was Herta, Kirkwood (-0.8s), Dixon (-4.3s), McLaughlin (-6.6s), Power (-7.8s), O’Ward (-9.0s), Palou (-9.4s) and in P8, Newgarden (-13.3s).

Rosenqvist’s luck officially ran out as his car was retired on lap 65. Dixon closed to within 0.6s of Kirkwood on lap 66 before a caution came out after Kyffin Simpson crashed in Turn 8 in a near repeat of Rossi’s crash from Friday. Simpson appeared to be unhurt as he climbed from the car. The running order was Herta, Kirkwood, Dixon, McLaughlin, Power, O’Ward, Palou, Newgarden, Malukas, Armstrong, Ericsson, and Lundgaard in P12.

Herta got a healthy jump on everyone on the lap 72 restart. A huge crash followed on lap 73. O’Ward spun on his own in Turn 1, Pietro Fittipaldi hit O’Ward’s nose and went for a brief flight. As Ferrucci came through, he launched over O’Ward and Ericsson and went flying, flipped and landed upside down. Thankfully he was OK. Ericsson hit O’Ward hard and both plowed into the left-side wall. The red flag flew.

Nolan Siegel also made contact with O’Ward’s car, but both moved and Siegel shoots into the right-side wall and is lightly hit from behind by Toby Sowery. Ericsson attempted to take his battered car back to the pits but the tethered front wing slid under the front tires, making it impossible to steer, and he stopped the car at Turn 3.

With O’Ward’s exit, Palou improved to P6, Newgarden went to P7, and so on.

Lap 73 and the field rolls from pit lane with no visible issues as the red becomes a yellow. They went back to green at lap 76. P4 McLaughlin was forced into the Turn 5 wall. Caution. Newgarden gets by Malukas for P6 but has a flat tire after being hit from behind by Malukas in the stack up of cars reacting to the McLaughlin crash. Power was responsible for the hit on his teammate that ended McLaughlin’s day.

McLaughlin waited at the corner and gave Power a mocking round of applause as he passed under yellow.

Lap 80 and the restart had Herta, Kirkwood, Dixon, Power, and Palou in tow. The Andretti duo had another big lead. Power was given a drive-through for the hit on McLaughlin. He’d drop from P4 to P12.

Herta had 0.4s on Kirkwood at lap 82, 1.0s on Dixon, and new P4 man Palou 1.4s behind. Newgarden tried to take P8 from Lundgaard on lap 83, locked up into Turn 3 and resumed in P11.

Lap 85 and Herta led Kirkwood, Dixon, Palou, Armstrong, Malukas, and Lundgaard for a Honda P1-7. Rinus VeeKay was the first Chevy-powered runner in P8.

RESULTS

Story originally appeared on Racer