Race report

IndyCar Toronto

IndyCar Toronto: Herta ends win drought in drama-filled, red-flagged race

Herta leads dominant Andretti 1-2 en route to breaking a two-year win drought in a race that featured a massive multi-car crash that saw Ferrucci get airborne and ride the catchfence

Joey Barnes

Edited: Jul 22, 2024, 12:14 PM

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Winner Colton Herta, Andretti Global w/ Curb-Agajanian Honda celebration

Photo by: Josh Tons / Motorsport Images

Andretti Global’s Colton Herta ended his drought and took a long-awaited victory on the Streets of Toronto.

After starting on pole, Herta managed to lead 81 of 85 laps after a weekend that saw him lead every session en route to beating team-mate Kyle Kirkwood by 0.3469s around the 11-turn, 1.786-mile temporary street circuit.

The win was Herta’s first since May 2022 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, 41 races ago.

After a miserable qualifying, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon stormed from 15th to finish third, ahead of team-mates Alex Palou and Marcus Armstrong in fourth and fifth.

Meyer Shank Racing’s David Malukas was sixth, with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Christian Lundgaard seventh. Rinus VeeKay (Ed Carpenter Racing), Romain Grosjean (Juncos Hollinger Racing), Graham Rahal (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing) finished eighth through 10th.

Colton Herta, Andretti Global w/ Curb-Agajanian Honda, Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global Honda

Photo by: Josh Tons / Motorsport Images

The Race

Herta led the field to the green flag, which immediately followed with chaos in the middle of the pack behind.

Andretti Global’s Marcus Ericsson got into Ed Carpenter Racing rookie Christian Rasmussen, sending him hard into the outside wall. In reaction behind, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Christian Lundgaard moved right and made contact with Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward, who then accordioned with a side contact into the No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet of Santino Ferrucci and sent him hard into the inside wall.

While Rasmussen’s day ended early with left-front suspension damage, Ferrucci was able to carry on after a front wing change.

A restart on lap four led to another quick halt after a side-by-side battle between Scott Dixon and Agustin Canapino. Contact between the two resulted in Canapino’s No. 78 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet being sent hard into the Turn 4 wall, putting an early end to his day. While the incident was under steward’s review, no action was taken.

Herta once again led the field to the restart on lap eight, holding a sizable advantage quickly over team-mate Kirkwood.

McLaughlin’s run as the only frontrunner to start on used softer alternate tires – compared to others on the harder primary tires – led to a drop from third to fifth from lap 11-12, with Rosenqvist and Newgarden speeding by.

The struggle for McLaughlin came to an end on lap 17 after diving to pit lane and switched to the preferred primaries.

Palou, who drove from 18th to 12th, pitted on lap 25, switching to alternates while Lundgaard, who he followed in, opted for a switch to primaries. Power pitted from sixth the following lap, swapping off primaries to alternates.

Colton Herta, Andretti Global w/ Curb-Agajanian Honda

Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images

Herta’s lead grew to 1.7109s by lap 28, with Kirkwood holding firm in second and Rosenqvist running 2.921s off the lead in third.

Graham Rahal pitted from ninth and swapped from primaries to alternates, but also for a new steering wheel, which didn’t provide a fix to his dash issues.

Newgarden and Grosjean pitted from fourth and fifth, respectively, on lap 32, with both swapping to alternates from primaries.

The trio of Herta, Kirkwood and Rosenqvist pitted on lap 33, with all three going for alternates. However, Rosenqvist found himself attacked by Newgarden shortly after leaving the pits, running on cold tires and unable to hold the position as the latter moved into third on cycle.

Dixon, who inherited the lead temporarily, was able to extend his fuel-mileage until lap 37 before pitting to move off the primary compound.

Herta mentioned feeling a vibration over the radio, with it reflecting on track as his lead over Kirkwood dwindled down to 1.3389s by lap 45 and dropped to 1.0493s just three laps later.

Palou dove to pit lane on lap 50 and kickstarted the run of pit stops, moving back to primaries. The likes of McLaughlin, O’Ward and Grosjean pitted the following lap, with McLaughlin moving to a set of fresh alternates; O’Ward and Grosjean went to primaries.

Trouble came for Newgarden when he pitted on lap 53 as the team failed to get the wheel attached on the right-rear, dropping him from third and down to 10th.

Herta, Kirkwood and Rosenqvist took to the pits on lap 54, with all three going back to primaries. The lead went to Dixon once more before pitting on lap 55 and also going to the primaries.

While the battle for the lead heated up in the couple of laps after pitting, Rosenqvist attempted a late dive on Ericsson, who was just out of the pits, into Turn 3, leaving the former going off course and whipping around to return, while Ericsson’s move was delayed with near-contact with the tire barrier.

When the dust settled on the running order, it was Herta leading Kirkwood with Dixon rising to third and only 2.8s off the leader. The lead for Herta shrunk to 0.9541s over Kirkwood by lap 65, while Dixon cited having a vibration over the radio.

The caution came out on lap 68 after Chip Ganassi Racing rookie Kyffin Simpson pounded the tire barrier in Turn 8, clattering the left-front of his No. 4 Honda.

A restart on lap 71 saw Herta get a good launch from Kirkwood, who built up a small cushion over Dixon.

Patricio O'Ward, Arrow McLaren Chevrolet

Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images

A massive multi-car crash with 13 to go led to a red flag, which was ignited after O’Ward spun in Turn 1 and Ericsson crashed into the outside wall in avoidance of him. Pietro Fittipaldi and Ferrucci, battling for position ended up running into O’Ward, with Ferrucci launching off his nose, sending him tilted and riding the catchfence before rolling upside down and coming to a stop on his lid.

Ferrucci reported that he was unhurt over the radio, with the spotter apologizing and noting he was blind to that part of the track from the hotel vantage point several other spotters were located. Meanwhile, Arrow McLaren rookie Nolan Siegel was directly behind Fittipaldi and Ferrucci, and was part of a triple-hit on the front of O’Ward’s car. Dale Coyne Racing rookie Toby Sowery was also involved, rear ending Siegel.

The race restarted after a 20-minute red flag, with Herta leading the field to green with nine laps to go. However, the caution once again returned moments later after McLaughlin was hip-checked by Power in Turn 5, sending the former into the wall and destroying his right-front. At the same time, Newgarden was hit with a right-rear puncture and was forced to pit.

McLaughlin waited until Power came back around under the caution laps and clapped his hands in disapproval by his team-mate causing the early retirement. Power was given a drive-thru penalty by Race Control as a result.

The restart returned with five laps to go as Herta was once again uncontested by Kirkwood.

Herta continued to keep Kirkwood at bay and coasted to his first victory since May 2022.

Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info

Main Information Additional Data

Cla Driver # Laps Time Interval Mph Pits Points Retirement 1 United States C. Herta Andretti Global with Curb-Agajanian 26 85

1:39'28.4293

101.792 2 United States K. Kirkwood Andretti Global 27 85

+0.3469

1:39'28.7762

0.3469 102.012 3 New Zealand S. Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing 9 85

+0.9680

1:39'29.3973

0.6211 102.366 4 Spain A. Palou Chip Ganassi Racing 10 85

+1.6911

1:39'30.1204

0.7231 102.119 5 New Zealand M. Armstrong Chip Ganassi Racing 11 85

+2.7719

1:39'31.2012

1.0808 101.767 6 United States D. Malukas Meyer Shank Racing 66 85

+3.0853

1:39'31.5146

0.3134 102.017 7 Denmark C. Lundgaard Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 45 85

+3.8925

1:39'32.3218

0.8072 101.976 8 Netherlands R. van Kalmthout Ed Carpenter Racing 21 85

+4.6346

1:39'33.0639

0.7421 102.301 9 France R. Grosjean Juncos Hollinger Racing 77 85

+5.6537

1:39'34.0830

1.0191 100.407 10 United States G. Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 15 85

+6.1456

1:39'34.5749

0.4919 101.126 11 United States J. Newgarden Team Penske 2 85

+10.4924

1:39'38.9217

4.3468 101.495 12 Australia W. Power Team Penske 12 85

+11.5555

1:39'39.9848

1.0631 104.279 13 Sweden L. Lundqvist Chip Ganassi Racing 8 84

+1 Lap

1:39'35.1306

1 Lap 101.954 14 United States A. Rossi Arrow McLaren 7 84

+1 Lap

1:39'35.5503

0.4197 101.825 15 United Kingdom T. Sowery Dale Coyne Racing 51 84

+1 Lap

1:39'35.9040

0.3537 101.978 16 New Zealand S. McLaughlin Team Penske 3 76

+9 Laps

1:28'10.8618

8 Laps 71.550 Accident 17 Mexico P. O'Ward Arrow McLaren 5 72

+13 Laps

1:21'44.4725

4 Laps 97.786 Accident 18 Sweden M. Ericsson Andretti Global 28 72

+13 Laps

1:21'46.8808

2.4083 97.078 Accident 19 Brazil P. Fittipaldi Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 30 72

+13 Laps

1:21'49.6394

2.7586 95.613 Accident 20 United States S. Ferrucci A.J. Foyt Enterprises 14 72

+13 Laps

1:21'50.1026

0.4632 95.518 Accident 21

N. Siegel Arrow McLaren

6 72

+13 Laps

1:21'50.7316

0.6290 95.142 Accident 22 United States K. Simpson Chip Ganassi Racing 4 66

+19 Laps

1:14'02.5914

6 Laps 103.886 Accident 23 Sweden F. Rosenqvist Meyer Shank Racing 60 63

+22 Laps

1:10'40.7835

3 Laps 103.101 Mechanical 24

H. McElrea Dale Coyne Racing

18 57

+28 Laps

1:04'49.1748

6 Laps 92.443 Accident 25

R. Robb A.J. Foyt Enterprises

41 13

+72 Laps

17'46.8887

44 Laps 101.754 Mechanical 26 Argentina A. Canapino Juncos Hollinger Racing 78 4

+81 Laps

6'13.8674

9 Laps 76.624 Accident 27

C. Rasmussen Ed Carpenter Racing

20 0

+85 Laps

1.2612

4 Laps 66.790 Accident View full results

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