indycar race review: calamity in canada
To say that the 2024 edition of Indycar’s annual visit to Toronto had a lot of drama would be an understatement. Andretti Global’s Colton Herta and Kyle Kirkwood had long-overdue dominant performances at the sharp end of the field, all three Team Penske drivers found disaster in the closing laps of the race, a last-minute seat swap at Arrow McLaren gave us a bizarre is-this-even-real-life moment where three professional race car drivers acted out a Spider-Man meme, and we bore witness to one of the wildest crashes in recent memory.
Andretti’s Got Talent
Two of Andretti Global’s three race cars were the absolute class of the field with Colton Herta owning the top of the time sheets for the entire weekend, Kyle Kirkwood joining him with a front-row lockout in qualifying, and both cars executing inch-perfect races to finish where they started.
For a team that’s struggled with results on race day this year it has to be said that Andretti’s 2024 campaign may at first glance look underwhelming, but the numbers show an organization that has been sneakily consistent at grabbing points when they can. The fact that one really good weekend put Colton Herta right back into the title fight speaks volumes to how far the team has improved at making the most of bad race weekends.
After the pole and win at Toronto, Colton Herta sits fourth in the championship standings – just 57 points back from leader Alex Palou. If Herta and the No. 28 crew can combine this momentum with the never-say-die attitude they’ve demonstrated up to this point they may yet break the 11-year stranglehold that Ganassi and Penske have had on the Astor Cup.
Godspeed Spider-Man
The wheels of fate were put in motion during the first practice session of the weekend when Alexander Rossi misjudged the penultimate corner and drove the No. 7 Arrow McLaren into the outside wall at speed. Rossi unfortunately broke his thumb in the collision and would not be able to participate in the remainder of the race weekend.
To fill Rossi’s seat Arrow McLaren once again called on the services of Frenchman Theo Pourchaire, who managed an absolutely heroic feat by arriving at the circuit in Ontario, Canada from his home in France just 62 minutes before the start of qualifying.
Of the four drivers who have been in (or were meant to be in) McLaren’s No. 6 car this season, three of them were participating in the race weekend in Toronto (David Malukas, Nolan Siegel, and the aforementioned Pourchaire) and luckily Arrow McLaren’s notoriously savvy social media admin was absolutely not going to miss an opportunity to give us the gift of three Gen Z race car drivers recreating what no doubt belongs on the Mount Rushmore of memes.
Dale Coyne’s Home for Wayward Racecar Drivers
Dale Coyne Racing has to be nearing the record for most drivers engaged by a team in a single season. Between the Nos. 51 and 18, Jack Harvey, Colin Braun, Nolan Siegel, Katherine Legge, Luca Ghiotto, Tristen Vautier, Conor Daly, Toby Sowery, and most recently Hunter McElrea have all taken turns behind the wheel of a DCR Honda in 2024.
While the team is definitely suffering from a lack of consistency, as a fan it’s been genuinely fun to see so many new and returning faces this year. With no drivers officially confirmed for the remaining five rounds of the 2024 season we may be in for more surprises before the year is out.
A Bad Day for Penske
No team on the grid has had the kind of roller coaster season that Team Penske has. Sure there are teams with worse luck and better performances, but none of them have gone from domination to disaster week-to-week like the trio of Newgarden, Power, and McLaughlin.
Power and Newgarden were nowhere in qualifying while McLaughlin managed to salvage a Fast Six appearance for just the third time this season. Things appeared to be turning around for the team during the race with all three cars solidly in the top 10 – until it all unraveled.
With just nine laps to go Power made a move up the inside of McLaughlin and sent the No. 3 car into the wall, destroying the right-side suspension and ending McLaughlin’s race. Just two corners earlier, Newgarden tangled with David Malukas and nearly collected McLaughlin’s car while puncturing a tire in the process. Power was duly handed a drive-through penalty for avoidable contact, ending his chance at a good result.
By the time it was all said and done Power and Newgarden finished the race 11th and 12th as the last two cars on the lead lap and Penske’s mediocre day was mercifully over.
The Big One
Of the multitude of incidents that caught drivers out during the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto, the most spectacular came on lap 73 when the race was red flagged after a multi-car crash.
Everything kicked off when the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet of Pato O’Ward spun and ended up facing the wrong way against the wall. Due to the tight nature of the Toronto street circuit, O’Ward’s car was still squarely in the racing line of a fairly blind corner.
Several cars came through at speed and tagged O’Ward, but things got downright scary when the No. 14 AJ Foyt entry of Santino Ferrucci went full Rocket League off the nose of the stricken McLaren and ricocheted off a catch fence before making a rather unceremonious return to the racing surface upside down.
Miraculously all drivers involved escaped any serious injury, owing in large part to how stout the Dallara DW12’s recent safety enhancements and aeroscreen have become. However, emphasis also needs to be placed on the first real test that an Indycar has had against the relatively-new FIA spec catch fencing used on temporary street circuits.
In 2013 – the second year of competition for the current Dallara chassis – a similar accident at the Houston street circuit saw Dario Franchitti’s car thrown into the catch fence after making wheel-to-wheel contact with another driver. That fence grabbed Franchitti’s car and sucked it in, spinning and shredding everything surrounding the tub to shrapnel – injuring not only Franchitti but several spectators. In stark contrast, Santino Ferrucci’s car bounced off the fence in Toronto completely intact and as soon as the car was righted Ferrucci himself hopped out unscathed. Motor racing can never be too safe and every time we’re reminded of how far safety efforts have come it should be recognized and commended.
The next chapter in Indycar’s tumultuous 2024 season will be written in St. Louis at World Wide Technology Raceway, which given the oval-heavy run to close the championship season is likely to give a preview for who might claim this year’s Astor Cup.