The 12th round of the 2024 NTT IndyCar Series season is the regular trip North of the Border to Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario. This will be the 38th Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto. Only Long Beach is a longer running street race in IndyCar history. This will be the fifth race in a 15-day span for IndyCar. A 26-day break begins once this weekend is over with the next race weekend taking place at Gateway Motorsports Park on August 16-17. With only six races remaining, there are 324 points available from now until the end of the season. After the Iowa weekend, only 26 drivers are mathematically alive for the championship.
Coverage
Time: Coverage begins at 1:00 p.m. ET on Sunday July 21 with green flag scheduled for 1:30 p.m. ET.
Channel: Peacock
Announcers: Kevin Lee, Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe will be in the booth. Dillon Welch and Charlie Kimball will work pit lane.
Channel: Peacock
Announcers: Kevin Lee, Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe will be in the booth. Dillon Welch and Charlie Kimball will work pit lane.
IndyCar Weekend Schedule
Friday:
First Practice: 3:00 p.m. ET (75 minutes)
Saturday:
Second Practice: 10:30 a.m. ET (60 minutes)
Qualifying: 2:45 p.m. ET
Sunday:
Warm-up: 10:00 a.m. ET (30 minutes)
Race: 1:30 p.m. ET (85 laps)
Qualifying: 2:45 p.m. ET
Sunday:
Warm-up: 10:00 a.m. ET (30 minutes)
Race: 1:30 p.m. ET (85 laps)
* - All sessions will be available live on Peacock
Final Street Race
It might be the middle of July, but we are already at the final street course race of the season. After Toronto, five races will remain in the 2024 IndyCar season, four on ovals and the road course in Portland. This will be the last chance for a number of drivers to take advantage of their street skills and hopefully improve their position in the championship before the final quarter of the season begins.
Through the first three street course races, Scott Dixon has been the clear leader on the road. With two victories, Dixon has scored 132 points over St. Petersburg, Long Beach and Detroit. He is the only driver to score more than 100 points over the first three street races. Dixon has won at least two street races in two of the last three seasons. He will have a shot to win three street course races in a single season for the first time since 2013 when he swept the Toronto doubleheader and then won the first race at Houston. That is the only time Dixon has won three street races in a season.
Patricio O'Ward and Colton Herta are tied on 90 street pints this season. O'Ward holds the advantage with the credit of victory at St. Petersburg though he finished second on the road. Herta is classified with podium finishes in the first two street course races, but his best street race was Detroit. He started on pole position and led the first 33 laps, but he was shuffled back after a number of cautions forced him to make a pit stop under caution when many had already stopped. Herta added insult to injury when went into the tires attempting to pass Álex Palou and Tristan Vautier. This left the American to finish one-lap down.
Will Power has been no worse than sixth in all three street races this season, and this gives Power 87 points from the street races. Power is a three-time winner at Toronto tied for the third-most victories in the history of the race. However, he has failed to finish in the top ten in the last five Toronto races, and Power has an average finish of 17.2 over that span.
Álex Palou holds the championship lead and he can thank 82 points from the first three street races for helping him hold the top spot in points with six races remaining. In the most recent street race in Detroit, Palou had his top ten streak end at 23 races when he finished 16th. He was classified in the top five of the first two street races this year.
Kyle Kirkwood sits on 80 street points this year as Kirkwood has finished tenth, seventh and fourth in the first three street races. He won two street races last year with victories at Long Beach and Nashville. In four Road to Indy starts at Toronto, he won three times.
Mathematically, Alexander Rossi and Felix Rosenqvist each have a chance of finishing level with Scott Dixon for most street course points, but that would require Dixon not starting this race with either Rossi or Rosenqvist winning Toronto with the maximum 54 points. The Amercian and Swede each have scored 78 points in the street races. Rossi has not won a street race since Long Beach 2019. Rosenqvist's best street course result is third, which came at Toronto in 2022 and at Detroit in 2023.
There is an interesting drop-off in street course points. Marcus Ericsson has scored the ninth-most points in street races this season with 77, but there is a 29-point drop off to Marcus Armstrong in tenth. Ericsson was second in Detroit and fifth at Long Beach. Armstrong was third in Detroit and finished outside the top ten in the other two street races.
If Dixon starts the Toronto race, only the top four drivers could end the season with the most street course points.
Who Will Be The First To Three Victories?
IndyCar enters Toronto with an interesting distribution of the race victories. Five drivers have won exactly two races through the first 11 events. There is a chance IndyCar could head into its Olympic break with six drivers each having two victories.
Championship leader Álex Palou has won twice, at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis in May and at Laguna Seca in June. Palou also won the exhibition race held at The Thermal Club in Southern California in March. The Catalan driver has been the first to three victories in two of the last three seasons. In each of those seasons, Palou went on to win the championship. His third victory came in race #14 in 2021 and in race #8 in 2023.
Will Power is fresh off his second victory of the season in the second Iowa race. this has Power up to second in the championship, but he is 35 points behind Palou. Both of Power's victories have come in the last five races. He won at Road America in June. Power has not won three races in a season since 2018, the year Power won the Indianapolis 500. The Australian has been the first to three victories in a season three times, but he has not done it since 2012.
Patricio O'Ward scored his second victory of the season at Mid-Ohio, though it was his first on the road after he was awarded the St. Petersburg over a month after the race took place only Josef Newgarden was disqualified. O'Ward has never had three victories in a season. If he wins at Toronto, it would be the first time he has won multiple street races in a season.
Scott Dixon was the first to two victories this season after he won at Long Beach and Detroit. Despite this, Dixon is fourth in the championship, only five points behind O'Ward in third, but 57 points off his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Palou in first. Despite Dixon's record, he has only won three races or more in four of the last ten seasons. Last year, all three of his victories came in the final four races. Five times has Dixon been the first to three victories in a season. He won the championship in four of those five seasons.
Scott McLaughlin won at Iowa last week, taking the first race of the doubleheader. McLaughlin had previously won at Barber Motorsports Park in April. McLaughlin won three races in the 2022 season. If he were to win this weekend, McLaughlin will have won on all three track disciplines this season, having won on a road course, oval and street course. Power is the only other driver that could match that accomplishment this weekend.
While these five go for three, Josef Newgarden looks to make it a sextet on two victories before the break. Newgarden has technically taken the checkered flag first in two races this season, but with the St. Petersburg victory struck from the record book after Team Penske's push-to-pass violation, his only official victory this season was the Indianapolis 500 in May. Newgarden has not won on a street course since Long Beach in April 2022. That is also his most recent podium finish on a street course.
The first to three victories has won the IndyCar championship in four of the last five seasons, and in seven of the last nine seasons.
For 21 other drivers, they hope to get on the scoreboard before the break and pick up their first victory this season. In the last two seasons, the driver that won Toronto was picking up his first victory of the season. Prior to that, only twice in the previous 16 Toronto races had the race winner been picking up a first victory that season.
Featuring the Frenchmen
Toronto marks the final race before IndyCar takes its Olympics break. This summer's Olympics are being held in Paris, France, the third time the capital city has hosted the Summer Olympics, and the first time in 100 years. Paris joins London as the only cities to host three Summer Olympic Games.
IndyCar has a history with Frenchmen in the series, and there is only one entered this weekend. Romain Grosjean is the lone Frenchman competing, but there have been two other French competitors this season. Théo Pourchaire made five starts with Arrow McLaren with his best finish being tenth at Detroit. Tristan Vautier made his first IndyCar appearance since 2017 when Vautier drove for Dale Coyne Racing at Detroit. Vautier was 18th in the Motor City.
Grosjean sits 14th in the championship through the first 11 races with one top five finish and four top ten finishes, three of which have come in the last five races. In 58 career starts, Grosjean has yet to win an IndyCar race, but he has six podium finishes, five of which have been runner-up results. Eighteen drivers have taken 59 starts or more to get their first career victory in IndyCar. The last most recent driver to have their first career victory come in his 59th start or later was Ed Carpenter at Kentucky in 2011. It was Carpenter's 126th start, the second-most before a first career victory behind only Michel Jourdain, Jr.'s 129 starts.
Grosjean has made only two Toronto starts. He was 16th in 2022 and retired from last year's race after hitting the barrier, leaving him classified in 22nd. Grosjean has finished outside the top twenty in two of three street course races this season. He had a gearbox problem at St. Petersburg and he was spun at Detroit, dragging a damaged car to the finish three laps did. He did finish eighth at Long Beach in April.
If Grosjean were to win, he would become the seventh French winner in IndyCar history, and it would be the 60th French victory. Sébastien Bourdais is responsible for over half of those victories. Bourdais won 37 times, placing him seventh all-time in victories. Simon Pagenaud has 15 career victories, tied for 30th all-time with Alex Zanardi and Juan Pablo Montoya.
Three of the remaining four French winners all won over a century ago, and those three were all Indianapolis 500 winners. Gaston Chevrolet won four times in his career, including the 1920 Indianapolis 500. Jules Goux and René Thomas won the 1913 and 1914 Indianapolis 500s respectively, and those were the only IndyCar victories for each of those drivers. The remaining past French winner was Nelson Philippe, whose only victory was the 2006 Surfers Paradise race.
Toronto has been a place for French success. Bourdais won twice at Exhibition Place in 2004 and 2014. Pagenaud won the 2019 race. The only countries with more Toronto IndyCar victories are the United States, the United Kingdom and New Zealand. France is tied with Australia with three Toronto victories. Ten different nationalities have won at Toronto in its first 37 editions.
Overlooked Facts
We have completed 11 races this season, and there are a few facts that have gotten overlooked this season that should be properly acknowledged before we get into the Toronto weekend.
For starters, Álex Palou has nine top five finishes this season. The only other driver that has finished in the top five in at least half the races is Scott Dixon, who has six top five finishes.
While Palou is alone and has some daylight between him and second in top five finishes, Palou has company when it comes to top ten finishes. Palou is tied for most top ten finishes with Kyle Kirkwood. Each driver has nine top ten finishes. Entering this season, Kirkwood had eight career top ten finishes.
Despite Kirkwood's top ten finish record, he has only been the best finishing Andretti Global driver in three races. Colton Herta has led the way seven times for the Andretti Global organization. Herta has also been the top Andretti starter seven times while Kirkwood has been the top qualifier four times. Marcus Ericsson has yet to be the top Andretti starter.
Scott Dixon might have two victories and sit fourth in the championship, but he is also tied for the seventh-best average starting position with a 9.5454. Dixon is level with Alexander Rossi. Rossi has been the best Arrow McLaren starter in five of 11 races. Dixon has been the best Chip Ganassi Racing starter in zero races this season. However, Marcus Armstrong has been the best Ganassi starter in two races and Linus Lundqvist has been the best Ganassi starter once, his pole position at Road America.
Santino Ferrucci enters Toronto tenth in the championship. Ferrucci has seven top ten finishes through 11 races. That is more top ten finishes than Scott McLaughlin, Josef Newgarden, Marcus Ericsson, Christian Lundgaard and Graham Rahal. Ferrucci's average finish this season is 12th, the ninth-best in IndyCar, better than Newgarden and Lundgaard, who are tied on 13.273, and Ericsson at 13.909.
Ferrucci could become the first A.J. Foyt Racing driver to have eight top ten finishes in a single-season since Kenny Bräck in 1998.
Another thing that should be noted is Ferrucci has been carrying A.J. Foyt Racing this season. He has been the best Foyt finisher in nine races and he has been the best Foyt starter in all 11 races.
It has been a quirky season for Josef Newgarden. Newgarden won the Indianapolis 500, but he has finished outside the top fifteen in six of 11 races this season. However, Newgarden is tied for the sixth-most top five finishes this season with four. He is one of seven drivers with at least three podium finishes this season. He is also entering Toronto with the most fastest laps this season, as he has scored fastest lap in three consecutive races. It is the first time a driver has scored three consecutive fastest laps since 2007 when Sébastien Bourdais had a run of six consecutive races with fastest lap.
Through 11 races, there have been enough races to separate the field. As long as Álex Palou shows up this weekend and starts the Toronto race, he can head into the Olympic break no worse than second in the championship. There are 26 points between Colton Herta in sixth and Kyle Kirkwood in seventh. There are a further 27 points between Kirkwood in seventh and Newgarden in ninth with Alexander Rossi sandwiched between them, nine points below Kirkwood and 18 points above Newgarden.
However, there is one tight part of the championship. Romain Grosjean, Rinus VeeKay and Graham Rahal are 14th, 15th and 16th in the championship respectively. All three drivers have 177 points. Even better is these drivers finished the second Iowa race in tenth, ninth and eighth respectively.
Something else you likely have not noticed but would likely not be surprised to find out is through 11 races, only once has there been consecutive races where all the same drivers started. That would be Barber Motorsports Park and the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. All 27 drivers from Barber were at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. Luca Ghiotto started both races in the #51 Dale Coyne Racing Honda, and Théo Pourchaire was in the #6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet for both races. After the other nine races, there has been at least one change.
From St. Petersburg to Long Beach, Nolan Siegel and Pourchaire joined the grid replacing Colin Braun and Callum Ilott respectively.
Luca Ghiotto made his IndyCar debut at Barber in place of Siegel.
At the Indianapolis 500, you had a number of one-off entries, but you also had Ilott returning and tagging out Pourchaire, and Katherine Legge running the #51 Honda.
Then Pourchaire was back in Detroit, and he wasn't the only new Frenchman as Tristan Vautier returned to IndyCar for the first time since 2017 to drive for Dale Coyne Racing. There was also Hélio Castroneves taking over for Tom Blomqvist at Meyer Shank Racing
Then Vautier was out, Ghiotto was back in for Road America, while Agustín Canapino was taken out of the #78 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet for Siegel.
Canapino would be back for Laguna Seca with David Malukas joining Meyer Shank Racing and taking over for Castroneves.
Ghiotto stepped out of the #51 Honda for Toby Sowery at Mid-Ohio.
Sowery was out for Legge returning at Iowa.
But Jack Harvey had back and neck issues that forced him out mid-weekend and allowed Conor Daly to slide into the #18 Dale Coyne Racing entry for the second Iowa.
This weekend, Daly is out of the #18 Honda, and Hunter McElrea will make his IndyCar debut. McElrea will become the sixth driver to make their IndyCar debut with Dale Coyne Racing this weekend. Sowery will be back in the #51 Honda in place of Legge.
Road to Indy
The lower two rungs of the Road to Indy are joining IndyCar at Exhibition Place, and it is a pivotal weekend for both USF Pro 2000 and U.S. F2000 as this is each series' penultimate weekend before each concludes in Portland next month.
In USF Pro 2000, there are seven drivers alive for the championship entering this weekend's doubleheader.
Lochie Hughes holds a 26-point lead over Nikita Johnson after Johnson swept the Mid-Ohio races two weeks ago. Hughes has won three races while Johnson has six victories. Jace Denmark was second in both Mid-Ohio races and Denmark is 32 points off Hughes. Denmark remains looking for his first victory of the season, but he has seven podium finishes from 14 races.
Christian Brooks is 62 points off Hughes for the championship lead, but with Brooks now racing the #39 HMD Motorsports entry in Indy Lights in place of Nolan Siegel, Brooks has ended his USF Pro 2000 season. Glenn van Berlo takes over Brooks' #19 Pabst Racing entry at Toronto.
Any driver hoping to have a shot at the title in Portland will need to be within 66 points after Toronto. Liam Sceats is on 211 points, 93 points behind Hughes. Danny Dyszelski is 115 points back and Simon Sikes is 124 back.
The first USF Pro 2000 race is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. ET on Saturday July 20. The second race will be Sunday July 21 at 8:55 a.m. ET. Each race is scheduled for 25 laps.
There are five races left in U.S. F2000 as after the Toronto doubleheader will be a triple-header in Portland. With 165 points left on the table, ten drivers are still mathematically alive for the championship.
Max Garcia holds a 42-point lead over Max Taylor. Taylor has won three of the last four races. Garcia has not won in the last six races and he has only one podium finish in that stretch. Sam Corry is 45 points back in third. Evagoras Papasavvas picked up his first victory of the season at Mid-Ohio, but Papasavvas remains 56 points off the championship lead in fourth.
Joey Brienza is fifth, 100 points off the championship lead. To remain championship-eligible heading into Portland, a driver will need to be within 99 points of the championship lead. Elliot Cox is 115 points back in sixth. Nicolas Giafonne and Hudson Schwartz are tied on 164 points, 140 points behind Garcia. Michael Costello has two runner-up finishes in the last four events, and Costello is 158 points back. Ayrton Houk is the final driver mathematically alive, 160 points behind Garcia, but Houk is not entered this weekend.
U.S. F2000's first 20-lap race will be at 12:40 p.m. ET on Saturday July 20, and the second will be at 8:00 a.m. ET on Sunday July 21.
Fast Facts
This will be the sixth IndyCar race to take place on July 21 and the first since 2001 when Buddy Lazier won at Nashville. That was the inaugural race held at Nashville Superspeedway.
There has been one previous Toronto race held on July 21. That was in 1991, which Michael Andretti won. Andretti went on to win the championship that year.
The other three races held on July 21 were won by Unsers. Al Unser swept the Indy 200 doubleheader held on the Indianapolis Raceway Park road course in 1968. Bobby Unser won the Michigan 200 on this day in 1974.
Chevrolet has the most Toronto victories with 13, but Honda has won the last two years. Honda has not won three consecutive Toronto races since engine competition returned in 2012. Honda has 12 Toronto victories.
Chip Ganassi Racing has the most Toronto victories with eight. Newman-Haas Racing is second with seven victories. Team Penske has five Toronto victories.
Last year, Christian Lundgaard became the third driver to pick up a first career victory at Toronto. Adrián Fernández and Justin Wilson were the first two drivers to do it.
No rookie has ever won at Toronto.
The average starting position for a Toronto winner is 3.7027 with a median of third.
Eighteen Toronto races have been won from the front row, including four consecutive Toronto races. Twenty-eight Toronto races have been won from inside the top five.
Three Toronto races have been won from outside the top ten (Michael Andretti from 13th in 2001, Mike Conway from 11th in 2014 race two and Josef Newgarden from 11th in 2015).
The average number of lead changes in a Toronto race is 4.305 with a median of four.
Last year's race had seven lead changes. It was the ninth time a Toronto race had at least seven lead changes. Four of the last six Toronto races have had at least seven lead changes.
Five times has a Toronto winner led every lap (Michael Andretti 1991-92, Dario Franchitti 1999, Cristiano da Matta 2002 and Paul Tracy 2003).
The average number of cautions in a Toronto race is 3.5277 with a median of three. The average number of caution laps is 14.277 with a median of 12.5.
There has never been a caution-free race at Toronto.
The last Toronto race to have only one caution was in 1992.
The last Toronto race to have only one caution was in 1992.
Only one of the last 11 Toronto races has had more than four caution periods. That one race was the second race of the 2014 doubleheader, a race that was shortened due to the Saturday race being postponed to Sunday, and then ended early due to a time limit due to the race taking place in wet conditions.
Predictions
Kyle Kirkwood heads into the Olympics break as the most recent IndyCar winner, as he takes victory in Toronto. Álex Palou's championship lead will be a little greater than it was prior to the trip to Canada. There will be at least one caution for an incident in the final set of corners. Josef Newgarden has a good day but not a great day. At least one comment will be made on the broadcast about this weekend being a 180º change from last year for Christian Lundgaard. Alexander Rossi will not run out of gas. Sting Ray Robb will not fly through the air. Someone will be complaining about the total passing figures when this race is over. Sleeper: Felix Rosenqvist.
