O’Ward stays alive, Team Penske stars struggle
Indycar’s Toronto Street race threw up an old-school race of attrition and early strategy calls as Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward took another visit to Victory Lane, giving some pulse to an unlikely title challenge.
O’Ward won’t be giving up his title dream just yet after slashing Alex Palou’s Astor Cup lead by 30 points with only four races remaining after Toronto, despite the Chip Ganassi driver leading a race-high 37 laps on a false long run.
The Mexican-born driver is still 99 points in arrears despite the leading Spaniard having a rare finish outside the top ten, the latter of which saw an opportunity go missing as he seeks to equal a record of ten wins in a season, now needing three of the last four to achieve that feat.
It was an outing dictated by early calls from the leaders to switch to the harder Primary tyres, with the Primary option dominating the race, as the front runners were afforded space to race after plenty of chaos defined the backfield from the start.
For O’Ward, it was his second win in three outings as consistency has kept him elevated over three-race winner Kyle Kirkwood.
Behind O’Ward were a couple of season break-through podiums, with Dale Coyne Racing’s Rinus VeeKay just +0.484 back for a first podium since 2022, whilst the promising young Caymanian CGR driver Kyffin Simpson took a career first as the race ended under caution with poleman Colton Herta behind him.
As proven in the past, Toronto is a race where you’re in with a chance from anywhere in the field, with O’Ward having started in tenth, VeeKay from ninth, and Simpson from fourteenth.
“Oh, man, I can’t say I saw this win coming,” O’Ward said.
“But I was feeling so good on the primary tires all weekend. We were just struggling to get the alternates to work in qualifying. Sadly, that’s the one you need to transfer.
“But I knew we had a great car under me to race with, and (the crew) nailed it on the strategy.”
It was another tough day at the office for Penske’s “Thirsty Three”, with Aussie Will Power finding the wall for 11th, Kiwi Scott McLaughlin (26th) losing a wheel nut and subsequently his tyre after a pit stop on Lap 2, and Josef Newgarden (23rd) getting caught up in a melee with Jacob Abel’s Honda ending up on top of him.
“Two races in a row out pretty early for the Gallagher Chevy, so sorry to them,” McLaughlin said.
“But, I felt like something sort of broke or something on the left rear. We had just done a pit stop. I love my guys, so I’m not going to drop them in the… yes, my (wheel) nut came off.
“But, anyway. Just frustrating. We are in this together. It’s hard. It’s hard right now.”
“Yeah, we were in a good position there with our strategy, running with the guys that finished on the podium,” Power said.
“To be in that position after how our race started and having to come in for a tire going down was pretty remarkable.
“It was a rough race, for sure, and the contact I had on the backstretch was unnecessary, I thought. What a year. It will turn around. This Verizon Chevy team is still working very hard.”
Photo by Travis Hinkle | IMS Photo
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