IndyCar Toronto: Herta ends win drought in drama-filled, red-flagged race

Andretti Global’s Colton Herta ended his drought and took a long-awaited victory on the Streets of Toronto.

After starting on pole, Herta managed to lead 81 of 85 laps after a weekend that saw him lead every session en route to beating team-mate Kyle Kirkwood by 0.3469s around the 11-turn, 1.786-mile temporary street circuit.

The win was Herta’s first since May 2022 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, 41 races ago.

After a miserable qualifying, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon stormed from 15th to finish third, ahead of team-mates Alex Palou and Marcus Armstrong in fourth and fifth.

Meyer Shank Racing’s David Malukas was sixth, with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Christian Lundgaard seventh. Rinus VeeKay (Ed Carpenter Racing), Romain Grosjean (Juncos Hollinger Racing), Graham Rahal (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing) finished eighth through 10th.

Colton Herta, Andretti Global w/ Curb-Agajanian Honda, Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global Honda (Photo by: Josh Tons / Motorsport Images)

The Race

Herta led the field to the green flag, which immediately followed with chaos in the middle of the pack behind.

Andretti Global’s Marcus Ericsson got into Ed Carpenter Racing rookie Christian Rasmussen, sending him hard into the outside wall. In reaction behind, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Christian Lundgaard moved right and made contact with Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward, who then accordioned with a side contact into the No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet of Santino Ferrucci and sent him hard into the inside wall.

While Rasmussen’s day ended early with left-front suspension damage, Ferrucci was able to carry on after a front wing change.

A restart on lap four led to another quick halt after a side-by-side battle between Scott Dixon and Agustin Canapino. Contact between the two resulted in Canapino’s No. 78 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet being sent hard into the Turn 4 wall, putting an early end to his day. While the incident was under steward’s review, no action was taken.

Herta once again led the field to the restart on lap eight, holding a sizable advantage quickly over team-mate Kirkwood.

McLaughlin’s run as the only frontrunner to start on used softer alternate tires – compared to others on the harder primary tires – led to a drop from third to fifth from lap 11-12, with Rosenqvist and Newgarden speeding by.

The struggle for McLaughlin came to an end on lap 17 after diving to pit lane and switched to the preferred primaries.  

Palou, who drove from 18th to 12th, pitted on lap 25, switching to alternates while Lundgaard, who he followed in, opted for a switch to primaries. Power pitted from sixth the following lap, swapping off primaries to alternates.

Colton Herta, Andretti Global w/ Curb-Agajanian Honda (Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images)

Herta’s lead grew to 1.7109s by lap 28, with Kirkwood holding firm in second and Rosenqvist running 2.921s off the lead in third.

Graham Rahal pitted from ninth and swapped from primaries to alternates, but also for a new steering wheel, which didn’t provide a fix to his dash issues.

Newgarden and Grosjean pitted from fourth and fifth, respectively, on lap 32, with both swapping to alternates from primaries.

The trio of Herta, Kirkwood and Rosenqvist pitted on lap 33, with all three going for alternates. However, Rosenqvist found himself attacked by Newgarden shortly after leaving the pits, running on cold tires and unable to hold the position as the latter moved into third on cycle.

Dixon, who inherited the lead temporarily, was able to extend his fuel-mileage until lap 37 before pitting to move off the primary compound.

Herta mentioned feeling a vibration over the radio, with it reflecting on track as his lead over Kirkwood dwindled down to 1.3389s by lap 45 and dropped to 1.0493s just three laps later.

Palou dove to pit lane on lap 50 and kickstarted the run of pit stops, moving back to primaries. The likes of McLaughlin, O’Ward and Grosjean pitted the following lap, with McLaughlin moving to a set of fresh alternates; O’Ward and Grosjean went to primaries.

Trouble came for Newgarden when he pitted on lap 53 as the team failed to get the wheel attached on the right-rear, dropping him from third and down to 10th.

Herta, Kirkwood and Rosenqvist took to the pits on lap 54, with all three going back to primaries. The lead went to Dixon once more before pitting on lap 55 and also going to the primaries.

While the battle for the lead heated up in the couple of laps after pitting, Rosenqvist attempted a late dive on Ericsson, who was just out of the pits, into Turn 3, leaving the former going off course and whipping around to return, while Ericsson’s move was delayed with near-contact with the tire barrier. 

When the dust settled on the running order, it was Herta leading Kirkwood with Dixon rising to third and only 2.8s off the leader. The lead for Herta shrunk to 0.9541s over Kirkwood by lap 65, while Dixon cited having a vibration over the radio.

The caution came out on lap 68 after Chip Ganassi Racing rookie Kyffin Simpson pounded the tire barrier in Turn 8, clattering the left-front of his No. 4 Honda.

A restart on lap 71 saw Herta get a good launch from Kirkwood, who built up a small cushion over Dixon.

Patricio O'Ward, Arrow McLaren Chevrolet (Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images)

A massive multi-car crash with 13 to go led to a red flag, which was ignited after O’Ward spun in Turn 1 and Ericsson crashed into the outside wall in avoidance of him. Pietro Fittipaldi and Ferrucci, battling for position ended up running into O’Ward, with Ferrucci launching off his nose, sending him tilted and riding the catchfence before rolling upside down and coming to a stop on his lid.

Ferrucci reported that he was unhurt over the radio, with the spotter apologizing and noting he was blind to that part of the track from the hotel vantage point several other spotters were located. Meanwhile, Arrow McLaren rookie Nolan Siegel was directly behind Fittipaldi and Ferrucci, and was part of a triple-hit on the front of O’Ward’s car. Dale Coyne Racing rookie Toby Sowery was also involved, rear ending Siegel.

The race restarted after a 20-minute red flag, with Herta leading the field to green with nine laps to go. However, the caution once again returned moments later after McLaughlin was hip-checked by Power in Turn 5, sending the former into the wall and destroying his right-front. At the same time, Newgarden was hit with a right-rear puncture and was forced to pit.  

McLaughlin waited until Power came back around under the caution laps and clapped his hands in disapproval by his team-mate causing the early retirement. Power was given a drive-thru penalty by Race Control as a result.

The restart returned with five laps to go as Herta was once again uncontested by Kirkwood.

Herta continued to keep Kirkwood at bay and coasted to his first victory since May 2022.

Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info

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Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Driver	#		Laps	Time	Interval	Mph	Pits	Points	Retirement
1	C. Herta Andretti Global with Curb-Agajanian	26		85	1:39'28.4293		101.792
2	K. Kirkwood Andretti Global	27		85	+0.3469 1:39'28.7762	0.3469	102.012
3	S. Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing	9		85	+0.9680 1:39'29.3973	0.6211	102.366
4	A. Palou Chip Ganassi Racing	10		85	+1.6911 1:39'30.1204	0.7231	102.119
5	M. Armstrong Chip Ganassi Racing	11		85	+2.7719 1:39'31.2012	1.0808	101.767
6	D. Malukas Meyer Shank Racing	66		85	+3.0853 1:39'31.5146	0.3134	102.017
7	C. Lundgaard Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	45		85	+3.8925 1:39'32.3218	0.8072	101.976
8	R. van Kalmthout Ed Carpenter Racing	21		85	+4.6346 1:39'33.0639	0.7421	102.301
9	R. Grosjean Juncos Hollinger Racing	77		85	+5.6537 1:39'34.0830	1.0191	100.407
10	G. Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	15		85	+6.1456 1:39'34.5749	0.4919	101.126
11	J. Newgarden Team Penske	2		85	+10.4924 1:39'38.9217	4.3468	101.495
12	W. Power Team Penske	12		85	+11.5555 1:39'39.9848	1.0631	104.279
13	L. Lundqvist Chip Ganassi Racing	8		84	+1 Lap 1:39'35.1306	1 Lap	101.954
14	A. Rossi Arrow McLaren	7		84	+1 Lap 1:39'35.5503	0.4197	101.825
15	T. Sowery Dale Coyne Racing	51		84	+1 Lap 1:39'35.9040	0.3537	101.978
16	S. McLaughlin Team Penske	3		76	+9 Laps 1:28'10.8618	8 Laps	71.550			Accident
17	P. O'Ward Arrow McLaren	5		72	+13 Laps 1:21'44.4725	4 Laps	97.786			Accident
18	M. Ericsson Andretti Global	28		72	+13 Laps 1:21'46.8808	2.4083	97.078			Accident
19	P. Fittipaldi Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	30		72	+13 Laps 1:21'49.6394	2.7586	95.613			Accident
20	S. Ferrucci A.J. Foyt Enterprises	14		72	+13 Laps 1:21'50.1026	0.4632	95.518			Accident
21	N. Siegel Arrow McLaren	6		72	+13 Laps 1:21'50.7316	0.6290	95.142			Accident
22	K. Simpson Chip Ganassi Racing	4		66	+19 Laps 1:14'02.5914	6 Laps	103.886			Accident
23	F. Rosenqvist Meyer Shank Racing	60		63	+22 Laps 1:10'40.7835	3 Laps	103.101			Mechanical
24	H. McElrea Dale Coyne Racing	18		57	+28 Laps 1:04'49.1748	6 Laps	92.443			Accident
25	R. Robb A.J. Foyt Enterprises	41		13	+72 Laps 17'46.8887	44 Laps	101.754			Mechanical
26	A. Canapino Juncos Hollinger Racing	78		4	+81 Laps 6'13.8674	9 Laps	76.624			Accident
27	C. Rasmussen Ed Carpenter Racing	20		0	+85 Laps 1.2612	4 Laps	66.790			Accident
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