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First ever race start for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES on the streets of
a town just North of Toronto, Markham, Ontario, Canada. Qualifications were impacted by many on track incidences where walls bit cars (as Foster would later say, "like Crocodile teeth") leaving RLL Racing's No. 45 Louis Foster to lead the 25 contenders to the Start/Finish Line for the Green Flag. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks Oil Painting of FOX Broadcast TV program (2026) |
Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Mark'em, err, Markham Came Off With Excitement & Hitches
The NTT INDYCAR SERIES race, long a fixture at Exhibition Place in Toronto,
shifted to a newly constructed temporary street circuit in downtown Markham,
Ontario, for the 2026 season. Organizers pointed to the logistical pressures
of Toronto’s FIFA World Cup hosting duties at BMO Field, ongoing
development, aging infrastructure, and limited expansion options at the old
lakeshore site. Those realities made continued one-year deals there
impractical. Promoters instead secured a five-year commitment with Markham
covering 2026 through 2030, drawn by better highway and GO Station access,
proximity to much of the existing fan base across the Greater Toronto Area,
and room for a fresh 12-turn, 2.19-mile layout.
The inaugural Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham unfolded August 14–16 with both excitement and unmistakable ... hitches.
Start-up difficulties on the
brand-new circuit complicated opening day. Track construction, especially
tire barriers and related safety elements, lagged. The Friday practice
session, first set for mid-afternoon, was postponed later into the evening
and then cancelled outright. All series activity shifted to Saturday, where
two practices and qualifying were compressed into one extended program once
officials cleared the circuit. Anyone familiar with the highest levels of
motorsports competition recognized how that squeeze, on an entirely new
street venue, amplified challenges for teams and drivers alike.
It was not a gentle introduction for several first-year series drivers. AJ
Foyt Racing’s Caio Collet made contact with Felix Rosenqvist of Meyer Shank
Racing with Curb-Agajanian on the opening lap, while Rahal Letterman Lanigan
Racing’s Mick Schumacher brought out the first caution on Lap 15 after
pounding the Turn 4 wall.
The new circuit delivered the expected mix of action and reaction, producing
258 on-track passes, 242 of them for position—the highest total in an event
dating to 1986. Turn 5’s hairpin proved a particular hotspot. Arrow
McLaren’s Nolan Siegel dove too deep into the braking zone and struck Team
Penske’s Josef Newgarden, drawing a penalty for avoidable contact. Dale
Coyne Racing rookie Dennis Hauger, the previous year’s INDY NXT by Firestone
champion, started fifth and was still there when a two-lap slide began: Alex
Palou passed him, then David Malukas, and soon he sat 20th. Later Hauger
clipped the rear tire of Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon, who in turn hit
Ed Carpenter Racing’s Christian Rasmussen, triggering a caution. Hauger’s
Lap 20 contact with Rasmussen and then Pato O’Ward formed part of that fade
through the field.
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| Will Power, Kyle Kirkwood, and Marcus Ericsson pose for a Power Selfie as this team is beginning to gel after a fairly rough start to the 2026 season. Image Credit: Andretti Global via FB/META (2026) |
That same section claimed Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood, running third behind his two teammates, in a fierce impact that left him 21st. Moments earlier, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Louis Foster had suffered a sudden end to his afternoon. Starting from the pole for only the second time in his career - the previous occasion at Road America the year before - Foster built a lead of nearly three seconds while leading the first 32 laps. A caution shuffled him to 12th after the other frontrunners had pitted a couple of laps earlier. Undeterred, he charged back, gaining eight positions and stalking Marcus Ericsson for third when they reached Turn 3 on Lap 43. Foster went to the inside, clipped the left-side wall, and was shot straight into the concrete barrier on the right in a virtually head-on shunt. Fortunately he escaped injury.
Kirkwood’s result allowed series points leader Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi
Racing to stretch his advantage still further in pursuit of a fourth
consecutive championship and fifth in six seasons, despite starting outside
the top 10 for the first time in 30 races. With four rounds remaining, Palou
now leads Kirkwood by a nearly insurmountable 133 points, with Team Penske’s
David Malukas third, 137 points back after finishing a lap down in 17th.
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| Biggest Mover Award - Fully Earned - Image Credit: Andretti Global (2026) |
Romain Grosjean settled for second ... his best result since Barber Motorsports Park in 2023, while Will Power took third - starting P24 of 25 cars on the grid, Palou fourth and Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward fifth. Grosjean, who led 28 laps and recorded his first top-five of 2026, later reflected that the team had done everything possible. He had hoped to keep Palou at bay with a safe gap, only for Ericsson to arrive and turn the day against them. Several other drivers could say the same.
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| Ontario INDY unveiled its all-new Herend Canada Official Ontario Honda Dealers Indy trophy at Markham trophies. Image Credit: Ontario INDY via FB/META (2026) |
Ericsson’s victory arrived 10 days after confirmation of his return to Andretti Global for a fourth season and ended a 63-race drought dating to his 2023 season-opening win in St. Petersburg. It marked his fifth career NTT INDYCAR SERIES triumph and denied Grosjean a first, leaving the latter one step short of the top of the podium for the sixth time.
Coincidentally, Grosjean’s last win of any kind had come in a GP2 race in
Hungary in 2011, a race in which Ericsson finished fifth. Ericsson, the 2022
Indianapolis 500 winner, now owns four street-course victories; he had
previously emerged from a trouble-filled 2021 Nashville street race in
similar fashion, even after his car went airborne.
In the post-race interview his voice cracked, which he attributed to
screaming after the checkered flag. He described a bold and aggressive drive
over the challenging street-course laps, insisting the car had been the
fastest all day. Multiple cautions forced a longer final stint, yet the
gamble of staying out paid off.
Emerging seventh after the Lap 69 stop, Ericsson used the car’s pace to
slice through the leaders. That charge included contact in the Turn 5
hairpin with Andretti Global teammate Will Power while fighting for third.
Ericsson called the hard bump unfortunate but necessary; Power indicated he
understood. Ericsson later noted that one never wants such contact, yet he
knew the race was there to be won.
Mark'em, or Markham ... you make the call.
... notes from
The EDJE
NEXT RACE >>> Freedom 250 Grand Prix in Washington DC
FREEDOM 250 Grand Prix - Theme
The last race to officially take place on Pennsylvania Avenue was a Horse Race in the sweltering summer of 1801. This was the idea of President Thomas Jefferson.
Fast-forward 225 years to January 30, 2026. President Donald Trump, flanked by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and racing impresario Roger Penske, signed an executive order launching the Freedom 250 Grand Prix - an IndyCar street race set for August 23, 2026, as the centerpiece of America250 celebrations marking a quarter-millennium of independence.
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#Grosjean, #StreetCircuit, #IndyMarkham, #NTTIndyCar, #HondaIndy,
#MarcusEricsson, #AlexPalou, #WillPower, #PatoOWard, #NewTrack,
#IndyCar2026
