The IndyCar Afterburn: Toronto 2025

Today’s theme music: “Moment of Weakness” by Bif Naked

If you love championship open-wheel racing, but don’t want any chance of FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem showing up and making it all about himself, this was a perfect weekend for you. On the other side of the Pacific, Super Formula came back from its midseason break with a doubleheader at Fuji Speedway, while IndyCar took street racing north of the border for the always-exciting Indy Toronto.

This pistol-shaped street circuit has produced all sorts of results over the years, and this time around, it was a shining example of the chess on wheels we all love to see. The cautions threw curveballs, the strategies left us in suspense as they unfolded, and once the picture became clear, some very deserving drivers took home their first trophies of the season. So pitter patter, let’s get at ‘er with the ups, downs, and all-arounds from the GTA and see what it all means as the end of the season approaches.

O’Ward finds an Irish blessing

Historically speaking, Toronto wasn’t one of Pato O’Ward’s best tracks, and a P10 qualifying didn’t look like it’d set him up for a huge improvement. However, the Irish ancestor who gave Pato his last name also provided bountiful blessings in the first half of the race, as the #5 pitted right before multiple cautions and got an advantageous position out of it each time. As the yellows cleared up for a green second half, Pato’s effective lead turned into the actual lead, and once he inherited it for the second time on lap 62, his papaya arrow shot off into the distance and straight to the end, where one last yellow clinched the victory a couple laps ahead of schedule.

With his second win in as many weeks, Pato now has a vice grip on the vice-championship—but, of course, that’s not the prize he wants. If he can keep fighting like this and getting the bounces he needs, his title fight with Àlex Palou just might go the distance.

VeeKay vindicated

All year long, Rinus VeeKay has been one of the stars of the midfield, regularly putting the Dale Coyne #18 in places that would’ve been unthinkable just a year prior. This time, though, the Dutchman made all that look like child’s play, as he cycled to the front with great strategy and racecraft to lead 16 laps entirely on merit and breathe down the necks of his fellow contenders for the win. Had Pato O’Ward not gotten a phenomenal final stop from his own pit crew, allowing the Mexican to jump VeeKay off pit road, we could have wound up with DCR’s first win since Sébastian Bourdais won at St. Pete in 2018. Though that didn’t pan out, this was still the team’s first podium since David Malukas, as well as their first outside an oval since Romain Grosjean grabbed three road course podiums back in 2021. It’s a well-deserved reward for the team, and especially for VeeKay himself, who’ll no doubt remain the Coynemaster’s point man for a good while longer if he keeps delivering like this.

Simpson breaks through for bronze

Early on, it looked like Álex Palou and Scott Dixon would deliver strong results for Chip Ganassi Racing as usual. The former led the most laps of the day, dominating the early going and potentially running away with it had it not been for all the yellows, while the latter lurked close behind. But when the two realized that their hard-soft-hard strategy was falling apart faster than that green tire, it was “Island Boy” Kyffin Simpson who instead stepped up to the plate. With a more favorable tire regimen and a calm, composed drive, the Caymanian proved his increasing affinity for street racing by scoring his first IndyCar podium. It was also the biggest climb of the day, as Simpson gained 10 spots on his way here, and it should do something to ward off the pay driver allegations for the time being.

Andrettis fall just short of the ceremony

With Andretti Global’s recent dominance at this track, everything looked like it would go their way coming in, and to a certain extent, it actually did. Colton Herta defended his local qualifying crown to become just the second driver this year with multiple pole positions, Marcus Ericsson finally had a strong drive, and even Kyle Kirkwood, who botched his qualifying and got punted in pit row by Marcus Armstrong, managed to dig himself out of every hole he fell into. Ultimately, though the trio had to settle for best of the rest status, as they finished 4-5-6 after the latest of yellows stopped Herta from chasing down Simpson for the last spot on the podium. Still, it let them run effective defense for Honda as the manufacturer guns for its own glory, and the trio will all have some signs of encouragement to work with going into Laguna Seca.

Ilott helps Prema take another step

Callum Ilott didn’t get much TV time this week, but he certainly made good on what he got. The Brit qualified in the top 12, kept his nose out of all the trouble going on around him, and managed to come home 8th. That’s good for his first top-ten in IndyCar since posting a very angry 5th in his final drive for Juncos Hollinger at the end of 2023. It’s also the best finish in Prema history, breaking the record Robert Shwartzman set the week prior. Again, we need to emphasize that this is a brand-new team from Italy with the misfortune of coming in right as the charter system kicked in and put them at an inherent financial disadvantage. The fact they’ve made this much progress already is a great sign, and there’s no telling what they might do once they reach a truly level playing field with the other teams.

Malukas salvages his situation

David Malukas was once again a threat for the podium this week, and he ran 3rd late in the race, but when he needed a splash and dash, disaster struck. The team fumbled around with his tires and cost him precious seconds before letting him loose towards the back of the field. Undeterred, Lil Dave proceeded to carve up the field with what time he had left, making phenomenal passes with his fresher tires and clawing his way back to a 9th place finish, six spots above where he started. If, as speculated, Malukas took this spot at A.J. Foyt for its direct line to the next available Penske seat, then drives like this will go a long way in showing that he should be the one to move up whenever one of their cars is free.

The Sicko’s Guide to DNFs: one drop, eight stop

Before we get to the DNFs, we have a truly embarrassing DNS. During morning warmups, Santino Ferrucci managed to wreck all four corners of his car coming out of turn 8, and the damage was too severe to repair. That meant only 26 drivers on the starting grid for the second race in a row, and it also meant a welcome reprieve from the broadcast booth picking him as their driver to watch every single week.

As for the race proper, we once again go to Team Penske to start off. Scott McLaughlin followed the same strategy as Pato O’Ward, starting on alternates and then pitting early under green to get on hard tires. That should have set the Kiwi up to fight for the win, but one of his new rear tires wasn’t fully secured. As we all know, insecure tires like to run away, and when McLaughlin couldn’t control the back of his car, he hit the wall, popped off that loose wheel, and suffered a frustrating 26th of 26 result for the second time in as many weeks.

A little while later, a different Penske driver would actually get the better of one of these moments. Will Power and ECR’s Christian Rasmussen went side-by-side into turn 5, and in a bit of a repeat of last year, Power put his fellow combatant in the wall. Power would come out unscathed, but got his comeuppance when Pato O’Ward elbowed the Australian offline, turning what could have been a run at the podium into a P11 finish. Rasmussen, meanwhile, limped around off the lead lap all day, and ultimately retired the car to scrape into the top 20. That still put the young Dane ahead of Louis Foster, who was the last car running, but lost almost two dozen laps to time spent getting repairs on pit row.

For a more immediate race-ender, we go to Ed Carpenter’s other driver, Alexander Rossi. The Californian was looking like he might go top-10 once again, but on what would’ve been a harmless scrape against the wall anywhere else on track, he found the exact spot capable of blowing up his rear tire and wrecking the car. That cemented a completely ruined day for ECR and brought out yet another caution in the process.

When we tried to restart from that, we instead got the biggest pileup of the race, as Jacob Abel managed to bin it in turn 1 and land right on top of Josef Newgarden, who had nowhere to go and wound up taking yet another cartoon anvil in what’s been a stunningly snakebitten season. Those two were out immediately, but hometown driver Devlin DeFrancesco also suffered severe damage in the aftershocks, and he drove away with a wobbling car that just barely got back out on track again before its ultimate retirement.

In the closing laps, it looked like Christian Lundgaard might find himself on this list, as he desperately flung himself around corners and at other drivers like he was trying to crash and erase teammate O’Ward’s lead. However, he avoided that ending, as the racing gods instead had something out of Final Destination planned. Nolan Siegel had already survived a spot of contact from Abel and Newgarden’s wreck, while Felix Rosenqvist got his front wing run over twice by Will Power and had to manage that all day. Their fates collided disastrously on lap 88, as Rosenqvist lost the car and left Siegel nowhere to go. The young McLaren driver went directly into the Swede, spinning the #60, and that locked the result in on the spot. 

Championship Collage: final four set as the rookies tangle

We started the day with seven drivers mathematically alive in the National Championship hunt, and we ended it with four. Christian Lundgaard and both Meyer Shank drivers are officially out of the running, leaving only the year’s four race-winners to battle it out. Álex Palou maintains the lead, of course, but Pato O’Ward is just barely within 100 points, while Kyle Kirkwood holds a one-point edge on Scott Dixon for 3rd.

For a closer fight, we turn to the Rookie of the Year battle, where Louis Foster’s extensive repair time in the pits allowed Robert Shwartzman to tie things up at 159 points apiece. With Shwartzman holding the tiebreaker thanks to his P9 in Iowa, that puts the Russian back in the lead. Keep an eye on these two next week, because they won’t stay even on points for long.

In the Manufacturers’ Cup, Chevrolet take their second win in three races, but they won’t gain as much ground as they’d like, since Honda swept spots 2 through 7 and left Detroit’s second scorer Callum Ilott in 8th. To make matters worse, the bonuses from the Indy 500 have finally arrived, magnifying Honda’s advantage. The LA wings lead this by 205 points, and with the elimination number creeping up week by week, Chevy will soon officially have to kiss this trophy goodbye.

Finally, in our official unofficial Nations’ Cup, the heated battle for 3rd took another twist as Mexico once again snatched the position back from New Zealand. Up ahead, the United States once ahead cut into Spain’s lead, but the way that dance has been going, me mentioning it probably guarantees Spain will open that gap right back up again.

Future Flames: a grade-A day in Monterey

Next weekend, we’ll finish the July gauntlet by kicking off a mini-West Coast swing at my personal favorite track on the calendar. That’s right, it’s time for the winding turns and massive elevation changes of Laguna Seca, where we’ll run the Grand Prix of Monterey. Last year, I had the honor of covering this race in person for The Roar, and while it doesn’t look like I’ll be able to line up anything similar this year, I can’t recommend attending a race there enough.

If you’re tired of seeing Álex Palou spraying champagne, this probably won’t be your respite. Not only does the Spaniard hold the local crown, he’s finished on the podium every single time he’s run this circuit. That’s a type of driver-track rapport we normally only see on Josef Newgarden’s favorite ovals. However, the Californians of the field might have something to say about all this. SoCal star Colton Herta came very close to his third win at this track last year, while Nevada City native Alexander Rossi snagged his most recent podium here and would love to outdo himself with a win. And we can’t forget the pride of Nuevo León, Pato O’Ward, who now has a shot to win a race on all three types of tracks for a second straight year and could take another massive bite out of Palou’s championship apple.