Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren score strategic win in Indy Toronto

On Sunday, fierce wheel-to-wheel action sent shockwaves through the finishing order

Pato O'Ward left Saturday’s NTT IndyCar Series qualifying questioning how he could make up for lost pace on the Toronto frontrunners.

Just minutes into Sunday’s race, his No. 5 Arrow McLaren team found an answer.

With McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown in attendance, O’Ward used timely pit stops and supplied the necessary speed when it counted to claim Sunday’s Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto. The result was the Mexican star’s second win on the year, coming in successive weeks after he claimed the opening leg of the Iowa Speedway doubleheader.

Patricio O'ward, Arrow McLaren

Photo by: Penske Entertainment

Any hopes of sweeping that Iowa weekend were undone by an untimely yellow after a pit stop in the closing stretch. But seven days later, O’Ward timed his pit road trips just right.

“I can’t say I saw this one coming today,” O’Ward admitted. “But I was feeling so good on the prime tire all weekend. We were just struggling a bit to get the alternate to work in qualifying. … But I knew I had a great car under me to race with and the guys nailed it on the strategy.”

As the race unfolded

O’Ward was one of four drivers to pit in the opening laps of the race, getting off the rapidly-degrading alternate tires and switching onto primaries for the remainder of the race. Moments later, one of those drivers that stopped — Scott McLaughlin — lost a wheel and crashed out of the race, bringing out a caution.

That placed O’Ward on the winning strategy, and another caution for Alexander Rossi just after he stopped a second time on lap 29 put him in prime position. He marched forward over the ensuing third stint to slot second in the tire tracks of Rinus VeeKay, who was on a two-stop strategy. When Veekay made his last stop at the end of lap 57, O”Ward stayed out an extra lap on an overcut and emerged with the lead.

From there, it was smooth sailing. The 26-year-old cruised off to a comfortable win, albeit one that came under caution as Nolan Siegel and Felix Rosenqvist crashed with three laps remaining.

The rest of the podium went the way of the two drivers on a two-stop strategy. Veekay followed in second, scoring his best result of the year for Dale Coyne Racing. Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyffin Simpson followed in third to secure his first IndyCar podium.

Other notable incidents

Marcus Armstrong, Meyer Shank Racing

Photo by: Penske Entertainment

Polesitter Colton Herta settled for fourth at race’s end, his day undone by the varying strategies. Andretti Global teammates Marcus Ericsson and Kyle Kirkwood followed in fifth and sixth. Kirkwood had hoped to contend for a third-consecutive street circuit win, but spend the bulk of Sunday’s race on a recovery drive after he was spun from behind on pit road by Marcus Armstrong during his second stop.
Graham Rahal, Callum Ilott, David Malukas and Scott Dixon wrapped up the top-10. Dixon, Malukas and championship frontrunner Alex Palou had started the race on primaries, planning an alternative strategy.

But the myriad cautions doomed the effort. Palou settled for 12th at race’s end, a rare strategy blemish on a near-perfect season.

Photos from Toronto - Race

1 - 2
Cla	Driver	#	Laps	Time	Interval	Mph	Pits	Points	Retirement
1	P. O'Ward Arrow McLaren	5	90	1:48'23.9092		88.972		51
2	R. van Kalmthout Dale Coyne Racing	18	90	+0.4843 1:48'24.3935	0.4843	88.965		41
3	K. Simpson Chip Ganassi Racing	8	90	+1.5343 1:48'25.4435	1.0500	88.951		35
4	C. Herta Andretti Global	26	90	+2.1607 1:48'26.0699	0.6264	88.942		34
5	M. Ericsson Andretti Global	28	90	+3.7515 1:48'27.6607	1.5908	88.920		31
6	K. Kirkwood Andretti Global	27	90	+4.9472 1:48'28.8564	1.1957	88.904		28
7	G. Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	15	90	+5.5657 1:48'29.4749	0.6185	88.896		26
8	C. Ilott Prema Racing	90	90	+6.5438 1:48'30.4530	0.9781	88.882		24
9	D. Malukas A.J. Foyt Enterprises	4	90	+7.6451 1:48'31.5543	1.1013	88.867		22
10	S. Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing	9	90	+8.6954 1:48'32.6046	1.0503	88.853		20
11	W. Power Team Penske	12	90	+14.0964 1:48'38.0056	5.4010	88.779		19
12	A. Palou Chip Ganassi Racing	10	90	+14.9701 1:48'38.8793	0.8737	88.767		21
13	C. Lundgaard Arrow McLaren	7	90	+17.3640 1:48'41.2732	2.3939	88.735		17
14	M. Armstrong Meyer Shank Racing	66	90	+43.9148 1:49'07.8240	26.5508	88.375		16
15	C. Daly Juncos Hollinger Racing	76	90	+45.4310 1:49'09.3402	1.5162	88.355		15
16	R. Shwartzman Prema Racing	83	90	+46.0249 1:49'09.9341	0.5939	88.347		14
17	R. Robb Sting Juncos Hollinger Racing	77	89	+1 Lap 1:48'25.1038	1 Lap	87.967		13
18	N. Siegel Arrow McLaren	6	87	+3 Laps 1:46'57.9917	2 Laps	87.157		12	Accident
19	F. Rosenqvist Meyer Shank Racing	60	86	+4 Laps 1:44'05.3512	1 Lap	88.537		11	Accident
20	C. Rasmussen Ed Carpenter Racing	21	82	+8 Laps 1:44'06.0936	4 Laps	84.409		10	Retirement
21	L. Foster Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	45	67	+23 Laps 1:48'32.3490	15 Laps	66.149		9
22	D. DeFrancesco Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	30	57	+33 Laps 1:42'57.2357	10 Laps	59.329		8	Retirement
23	J. Abel Dale Coyne Racing	51	36	+54 Laps 46'11.2237	21 Laps	83.525		7	Accident
24	J. Newgarden Team Penske	2	36	+54 Laps 46'12.1543	0.9306	83.497		6	Accident
25	A. Rossi Ed Carpenter Racing	20	29	+61 Laps 34'49.8264	7 Laps	89.222		5	Accident
26	S. McLaughlin Team Penske	3	2	+88 Laps 2'34.0500	27 Laps	83.474		5	Accident
27	S. Ferrucci A.J. Foyt Enterprises	14	0					3
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