2024 Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto

Race Notes

• The 2024 Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto was 85 laps on the 1.786-mile Streets of Toronto temporary circuit totaling 151.81 miles. The race would have become a two-hour timed race if there were wet conditions. The pit road speed was 40 mph and the pit window was approximately 25–32 laps under green-flag conditions. Pole sitter Colton Herta gridded drivers' right and the green flag to start the race was shown the third time by the start-finish line.
• All cars but those of Scott McLaughlin, Marcus Armstrong, Pato O'Ward, Christian Lundgaard, Nolan Siegel, Toby Sowery and Linus Lundqvist started the race on primary black Firestone Firehawk tires. All cars were required to use one new set of alternate green tires and one set of primary black tires in the race, unless rain tires were used due to weather.
• At 1:20 p.m. EDT, 10 minutes prior to the scheduled green-flag time, the ambient temperature in Toronto was 77 degrees with 61% relative humidity and cloudy skies. The track temperature was 100 degrees according to Firestone engineers.
• At 1:23 p.m., members of the legendary Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip, the race's grand marshals, gave the command, "Drivers, start your engines." All 27 cars started and rolled on the grid.
• On Lap 1, Herta led the field past the start-finish line into Turn 1. Behind, there was a multi-car incident in Turn 1 that brought the first of the race's five cautions. The No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet of Christian Rasmussen was stopped on track while the No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet of Santino Ferrucci sustained damage on course.
• Herta led the field back to green at the end of Lap 4, however yellow-flag conditions returned on Lap 5 when the No. 78 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet of Agustin Canapino made contact with the barrier in Turn 4. Leaders at the time of the caution were Herta, Kyle Kirkwood, McLaughlin, Felix Rosenqvist and Josef Newgarden. Canapino was later seen and released from the INDYCAR Medical Unit.
• Racing resumed at the end of Lap 8 with green-flag running continuing through the first round of pit stops. Herta pitted from the lead on Lap 35 and regained the position on Lap 38 following Scott Dixon's Lap 37 stop. On Lap 40 with the first round of stops complete, Herta led Kirkwood by 1.2330 seconds.
• The second round of pit stops also occurred under green-flag conditions with Herta pitting for the second time on Lap 54. Following the pit stop cycle, Herta reclaimed the lead on Lap 56.
• Lap 68 saw the race's third full-course caution flag fly when the No. 4 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda of Kyffin Simpson made contact with the barrier in Turn 8. Leaders at the start of the third caution were Herta, Kirkwood, Dixon, McLaughlin and Will Power.
• Herta led the field back to green at the end of Lap 71 but full-speed running was again short lived, with the race's fourth caution emerging on Lap 73 for a multi-car incident in Turn 1 involving the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet of O'Ward, the No. 28 Andretti Global Honda of Marcus Ericsson, the No. 14 Chevrolet of Ferrucci, the No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet of Siegel and the No. 51 Dale Coyne Racing Honda of Sowery. The incident began when O'Ward spun, collecting Ericsson and subsequently being hit by other cars. Ferrucci's car went airborne and landed upside down. All drivers involved were later seen and released from the INDYCAR Medical Unit.
• Due to required track cleanup, INDYCAR declared a red flag during the fourth caution which lasted for 19 minutes and 41 seconds.
• The race resumed with Herta leading the field out of Turn 11 on Lap 76, but the fifth and final caution flag flew on Lap 77 when the No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet of Scott McLaughlin made contact with the Turn 5 wall after being pushed off line by teammate Will Power. Power was later penalized for avoidable contact and served a drive-through penalty.
• The final restart came at the end of Lap 80 with Herta chased by Kirkwood in second and Dixon in third. The order remained the same over the final laps, with Herta leading Kirkwood by 0.4835 of a second at the white flag.
• Herta took the checkered flag 0.3469 of a second ahead of Kirkwood to earn his first win of 2024 and the eighth win of his NTT IndyCar Series career. Herta's last win was at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in May 2022, 40 starts ago. The two wins are 799 days apart.
• Kirkwood finished a season-best second. The result marked Andretti Global's first 1-2 finish since Kirkwood and Romain Grosjean at Long Beach in April 2023.
• Dixon finished third, his 141st career podium finish. The result tied him with Mario Andretti for first on the all-time podium finishes list.
• Points after the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto:
  1. Palou 411
  2. Power 362 (-49)
  3. Dixon 358 (-53)
  4. Herta 354 (-57)
  5. O'Ward 340 (-71)
  6. McLaughlin 328 (-83)
  7. Kirkwood 314 (-97)
  8. Newgarden 266 (-145)
  9. Rossi 265 (-146)
  10. Ferrucci 231 (-180)
      

Session Notes

• Warm-up for the 2024 Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto began on time at 10 a.m. EDT. The session was 30 minutes in duration.
• The session slowed for one red flag near the halfway point when the No. 51 Dale Coyne Racing Honda of Toby Sowery spun and made very light contact with the barrier in Turn 9. Sowery was penalized five minutes of practice time for the incident.
• At the conclusion of warm-up, the No. 26 Andretti Global Honda of Colton Herta was fastest with a 1:00.0783. With this result, Herta maintained a sweep of the weekend having been fastest in Practice 1 and Practice 2 as well as earning the NTT P1 Award.
  

Qualifying Notes

• Qualifying for the NTT P1 Award consists of three segments. In the first round, each group receives 10 minutes of track time with the clock starting when the first car hits the alternate start-finish line. The fastest six cars from each group advance to Round 2 while the remaining cars are assigned positions 13 to 27. Group 1 drivers occupy the odd-numbered positions from 13 to 25 while Group 2 drivers occupy the even-numbered positions from 14 to 26 and 27 based on their fastest lap times. During Round 2, the 12 advancing cars receive 10 minutes of track time with the fastest six cars advancing to the Firestone Fast Six while the remaining cars are ranked in positions seven through 12 based on their fastest laps. During the Firestone Fast Six, the six cars receive six minutes of guaranteed green-flag time. At the end of session, cars are ranked one through six based on their fastest laps.
• Two minutes into Group 1 qualifying, the No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda of Hunter McElrea made contact with the tire barrier in Turn 8 which brought out a red flag. McElrea was penalized his two fastest laps and was not able to advance to Round 2. The session resumed with approximately nine minutes remaining.
• Group 2 saw a group of cars converge in Turn 5, causing the final results of the session to be under review. The No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda of Alex Palou was penalized for qualifying interference, losing its two fastest laps and the ability to advance.
• In Round 2, the No. 66 Meyer Shank Racing Honda of David Malukas was penalized its fastest lap up to the point of the penalty for causing a local yellow that affected another competitor. The penalty did not prevent Malukas from advancing to Round 3.
• Felix Rosenqvist, Kyle Kirkwood, Romain Grosjean, Colton Herta, Scott McLaughlin and Malukas advanced to the Firestone Fast Six.
• At the conclusion of Round 3, Colton Herta's 0:59.5431 earned the Andretti Global driver his 14th career NTT P1 Award. The effort marked Herta's third pole of 2024. He was last on pole at Iowa Speedway.
  

Session Notes

• Practice 2 for the 2024 Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto began on time at 10:30 a.m. EDT. The session was 45 minutes of green-flag time or 60 minutes of total time, whichever came first.
• Two changes were communicated prior to the start of the session:
  • INDYCAR announced that hybrid deploy and regen were made active on pit lane throughout the remainder of the event. Previously, the system was deactivated on pit lane.
  • Following Alexander Rossi's crash during Practice 1 which resulted in an injured thumb, Arrow McLaren revealed Theo Pourchaire as the fill-in driver of the No. 7 Chevrolet for the Toronto event. Due to Pourchaire traveling from Europe, the car did not participate in Practice 2.
• The session remained green throughout its 45-minute run time.
• At the conclusion of Practice 2, the No. 26 Andretti Global Honda of Colton Herta was fastest with a 1:00.5763.
  

Session Notes

• Practice 1 for the 2024 Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto was broken up into two segments:
  • In the first segment, all cars received 45 minutes of track time.
  • In the second segment, cars were split into two groups with 10 minutes of track time each. The clock stopped for the first red flag in each of the two groups. Rookies were able to participate in both groups.
• The session began on time at 3 p.m. EDT and the initial segment for all cars ran for its full 45-minute duration without any incidents. Two spins and potential stalls were averted with hybrid-powered reverse used in both instances.
• At 3:52 p.m., Group 1 cars took to the track. There were no red flags during the 10-minute session.
• Group 2 got underway at 4:04 p.m. and was interrupted by two red flags:
  • At 4:09 p.m., the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet of Alexander Rossi made contact with the barrier in Turn 9. The clock stopped with 6:47 remaining and the red flag lasted for six minutes.
  • At 4:18 p.m., the No. 8 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda of Linus Lundqvist made contact with the tire barrier in Turn 8. With limited time remaining, the session did not resume.
• At the conclusion of the full 75-minute session, the No. 26 Andretti Global Honda of Colton Herta was fastest overall with a 1:01.0399. The time was set during Group 1 and is reflected in both Group 1 and combined results.