Louis Foster took pole position for the inaugural Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Markham with a lap at 73.2383 seconds in the final round of qualifying. It is Foster’s second career pole position. He started first for last year’s Road America race. Foster has not started in the top five this season. His previous best grid position was sixth for the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. Foster has gone five consecutive races without a top ten finish. His most recent top ten finish was seventh at Detroit, Foster's first top ten finish on a street course. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s most recent victory came in 2023 at Toronto with Christian Lundgaard. Lundgaard started on pole position, the second of his career, and it was his first career victory. It has been 12 years and 27 days since a British driver won in IndyCar. That was Mike Conway at Toronto.
Funny enough, Christian Lundgaard takes second on the grid after qualifying 0.3969 seconds off Foster. This is only the fourth time Lundgaard has started inside the top five this season. He had started 24th and 25th in the last two races. This is his seventh front row start of his career. He has finished in the top five every time he has started on the front row. With his ninth place finish at Portland, Lundgaard has 41 top ten finishes in 82 career starts.
Despite clipping the barrier in the final round of qualifying, Scott McLaughlin starts third, running 0.4421 seconds slower than Foster in qualifying. McLaughlin has finished in the top ten in the 14th race of the season in five consecutive seasons. The only time he did not finish in the top ten in the 14th race of the season was 2020, when he made his IndyCar debut at St. Petersburg.
Marcus Ericsson was exactly 0.6000 seconds off Foster, and Ericsson takes fourth on the grid. This is the fifth consecutive top ten start for Ericsson. With three top ten finishes in four street course races this season, Ericsson has 92 points from street course races, the seventh-most. That is actually two points fewer than he had last season over the four street races.
Dennis Hauger made the final round of qualifying for the first time since the St. Petersburg season opener, and Hauger will start fifth at Markham. This is his second consecutive top ten start. He started ninth last week at Portland, his only other top ten start besides St. Petersburg. Hauger has finished in the top fifteen in three of four street course races this season.
Rinus VeeKay starts sixth, his fourth consecutive race starting in the top ten, and the third time in four races VeeKay starts in the top six. While VeeKay has alternated fourth-place finishes over the last five races, the Dutchman has not had consecutive top ten finishes since a three-race stretch last season over Gateway, Road America and Mid-Ohio. He has never had consecutive top five finishes in his IndyCar career.
David Malukas missed out on the final round of qualifying by 0.0770 seconds, and it places Malukas seventh. This will be the 75th start of Malukas' IndyCar career. Ten drivers have taken at least 75 starts to score their first career victory. The most recent driver to have their first career victory come after their 75th start was Ed Carpenter at Kentucky in 2011. It was Carpenter's 113th start.
Scott Dixon moves up to eighth starting position due to grid penalties for others, and Dixon was only 0.0901 seconds from the final round. This is Dixon’s sixth top ten start of the season. He has finished outside the top ten the last two times he started in the top ten. Markham is the 14th race of the season. Dixon has finished in the top five in the 14th race of the season in seven of the last eight years with two victories and six podium finishes.
Graham Rahal is starting sixth for the inaugural Markham race, his second consecutive top ten start. An accident at Portland cost Rahal a potential top ten finish. In his other four races starting in the top ten, Rahal has finished in the top ten. Rahal has five consecutive top ten finishes at Toronto. He had only four top ten finishes in his first 13 Toronto starts.
Mick Schumacher has his second top ten start of the season, and Schumacher rounds out an all-Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing row five. Schumacher hadn’t started in the top fifteen since starting fourth at Phoenix in March. After having only three lead lap finishes in the first nine races, Schumacher has finished on the lead lap in four consecutive races.
Álex Palou caused a red flag in the second round of qualifying, and Palou will start 11th after that penalty. Palou is attempting to win three consecutive races for the third time in his career. Palou is responsible for the last two three-race winning streaks, last doing it in 2025 over Barber Motorsports Park, the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and the Indianapolis 500. Fifty-eight times in IndyCar history has there been a three-race winning streak.
Kyffin Simpson overcame an accident in the opening practice session to start 12th. Simpson was 0.0434 seconds from advancing from the first qualifying group. Simpson has finished in the top ten in the lsat two races, and he has three top ten finishes in the last four races. He is going for three consecutive top ten finishes for the first time in his career.
Romain Grosjean was 0.1420 seconds off making it out of group two in the first qualifying round. Grosjean slots into 13th on the grid. The Frenchman has finished 20th or worse in three of four street races this season. He was eighth at St. Petersburg, Grosjean’s best finish this season. It has been six years and 30 days since the most recent IndyCar race with a French winner. That was Simon Pagenaud in the first race of the 2020 Iowa doubleheader.
Alexander Rossi takes a six-spot grid penalty for an unapproved engine change, and Rossi drops from eighth to 14th. Rossi has finished outside the top fifteen in three consecutive races and in eight of 13 races this season. His best street course finish was ninth at Arlington. Rossi has finished worse than his starting position in the last three races and in seven of 13 races this season.
Kyle Kirkwood missed the second round of qualifying for only the third time this season on a road or street course, and Kirkwood will take 15th starting position. Kirkwood has a chance to match his longest top ten finish streak. He has six consecutive top ten finishes entering Markham. His only other seven-race top ten finish streak began last season at Nashville and stretched over the first six races of this season.
Sting Ray Robb has his best starting position of the season for a road or street course race in 16th. It is the second-best starting position of Robb’s career. His best came earlier this season at Phoenix when Robb started 12th. After opening the season with five consecutive results outside the top twenty, Robb has finished inside the top twenty in five of the last eight races.
Felix Rosenqvist starts 17th for the second time in three races. For only the third time in his IndyCar career, Rosenqvist has consecutive top five finishes. He has finished fifth and second over the last two races. His other consecutive top five finishes were second and fifth at Portland and Laguna Seca to close the 2019 season, and last year he was fifth at Thermal Club and fourth at Long Beach.
Nolan Siegel will be on the outside of row nine. This is the fourth time in five street races Siegel is starting outside the top fifteen. In four street course races this season, Siegel's best finish was 12th at Long Beach, and his average finish on street courses is 17.75. Siegel did finish 18th last week at Portland. He was also 18th at Toronto last season.
Patricio O'Ward is a spot behind his Arrow McLaren teammate Siegel in 19th. This is O’Ward’s third consecutive start outside the top ten. O'Ward has finished in the top five in all four street course races this season, one of three drivers to have perfect attendance in the top five this season on street courses. O'Ward has six consecutive top ten finishes on street courses dating back to last season.
Santino Ferrucci rounds out the top twenty, his sixth time this season starting 20th or worse. Ferrucci has unable to start last year's race at Toronto after an accident in the morning warm-up, leaving the team unable to repair the car in time. After finishing 11th in 2019 at Toronto, he was 17th in 2023 and 20th in 2024.
Christian Rasmussen drops to 21st on the grid after a six-spot grid penalty for an unapproved engine change. In 12 career street course starts, Rasmussen's average finish is 22.1667. At Long Beach, he matched his career best street course finish with a 15th-place result. He was also 15th at St. Petersburg in 2025.
Caio Collet brought out a red flag when he ran out of fuel in the first qualifying group in round one. Collet had a mechanical issue that nearly prevented him from making the track for qualifying, and he also hit the barrier in the final practice session. Collet has finished on the lead lap in all four street course races this season. His best street course finish was 12th at Arlington.
Will Power caused a red flag in the second qualifying group in round one, and Power will start 23rd. Power's third-place finish at Portland was his 33rd career third-place finish, tied for third all-time with Mario Andretti. Power is one behind Scott Dixon for second-most third-place finishes. Tony Kanaan holds the record with 41 third-place finishes in his career.
Josef Newgarden brought out a red flag of his own in the second qualifying group in round one, and Newgarden will start 24th, his worst grid position of the season. In 75 career street course starts, Newgarden has 23 top five finishes, 30.667% of his street course starts. However, he has not had a top five finish on a street course since he was third at the 2025 St. Petersburg season opener.
With three engine failures in the last four races, Marcus Armstrong is in the midst of the worst slump of his IndyCar career, and to make it worse he starts last after a six-spot grid penalty for an unapproved engine change. It is the third time in four races Armstrong has started 20th or worse. Four races without a top ten result is his longest drought.
Fox's coverage of the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Markham begins at noon E.T. with green flag scheduled for 12:22 p.m. The race is scheduled for 90 laps.
