The IndyCar arrived warm in Toronto, a classic but unprecedented scenario since the start of the pandemic. Between the chaos of the Andretti drivers at Mid-Ohio and the bombshell unleashed by Alex Palou, McLaren and Ganassi in midweek, it could go either way. And in such turbulent times, the championship embraced the stability that a Scott Dixon victory always giveswho with this victory tied with Mario Andretti as the second most successful driver in USA single-seaters.
Although Alex Palou claimed to be focused, on Saturday he insisted that Toronto be a crooked appointment for the Spanish. After an error in free practice that he sent his car to the wall, in qualifying he had engine problems again, which left him in 22nd position on grill. Pole went to an unstoppable Colton Herta, ahead of Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden, Alexander Rossi, the surprising David Malukas and Scott McLaughlin. Championship leader Marcus Ericsson narrowly missed out on the Fast Six cut, being eighth behind Callum Ilott, who once again stood out one lap behind Juncos.
The start was clean in the lead, with Herta keeping the lead, while behind a very aggressive Palou gained five positions. Collateral victim of the Spaniard, by overtaking two cars at the same time, was Takuma Sato, who ran out of space in parallel with Palou and O’Ward, and tore a wheel, forcing the appearance of the safety car. Shortly after the restart, Palou decided to be the first to stop to get rid of the white rubber and ride without too much traffic, which would allow him to stay around the ‘top ten’ when everyone stopped.
Of course, the most notable undercut of the race was carried out by another Ganassi: despite the fact that Colton Herta seemed to be in one of those great days, Scott Dixon and the Ganassi wall stole his wallet at the first stop. It wasn’t for the lead as a number of drivers opted to lengthen their time in the pits a lot (Rahal, VeeKay, O’Ward), but it was the maneuver that decided the race. In addition, some slow cars, although still on the lap, allowed Dixon and Herta to get away from the pack.
Of course, any urban ends up causing yellow flags and Toronto was never immune to them. This time the carousel was started by Felix Rosenqvist and Alexander Rossi, who kissed the wall in a maneuver for which the Swede was not sanctioned. At that moment, everyone took the opportunity to stop, trusting that more yellow cards would prevent any further passage through the pitlane, as it did. However, Herta was never in a position to worry Dixon about the victory and even had to control Felix Rosenqvist in the closing stages.
Palou for his part, once hovering around the ‘top ten’, continued to enjoy the melee, leaving spectacular overtaking like Ilott or Pagenaud, but once he reached Marcus Ericsson he received a reminder that the result was good for the championship : He was 6th behind the leader and thus took advantage of a fateful day for Penske: Newgarden 10th and Power 15th.
In this way Ericsson widens the gap at the head of the championship, with 35 points over Power, 37 over Palou and 44 over Newgarden and Dixon. This week IndyCar travels to Iowa for a double date on the oval.
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