The winners and losers of IndyCar's 2025 Indy Toronto

Yahoo

7 days ago

For the only time this year, the NTT IndyCar Series ventured north of the U.S. border for a race around Toronto, the final street circuit event of the 2025 season.
Some used the opportunity to return to the states with hard-earned gains. Others were left eager to return home from The Six after a difficult race at a challenging circuit. And for one driver, the weekend was over before the green flag ever flew.
Here are the winners and losers from the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto.
Winner: Pato O'Ward times it right
Patricio O'ward, Arrow McLaren, Zak Brown
Few series in all of motorsport are more prone to major race shakeups when cautions fly than IndyCar. One timely yellow can be the difference between competing for the win and getting trapped in the midfield.Sometimes they work out in your favor. Other times you're less fortunate. But rarely do those fates swing so significantly in the span of seven days.
O'Ward was one of a few Chevrolet drivers caught out by the timing of a late caution last Sunday at Iowa Speedway, leaving them to take the wave around and fall out of contention for the last stint. But in Toronto, the Mexican driver caught every timely yellow and rode them to an unexpected win from 10th. So it goes in IndyCar.
Loser: The shoe goes on the other foot for Palou, Ganassi
Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing
On the opposite end of the spectrum was Alex Palou. One week after he snagged a victory at the expense of David Malukas and Josef Newgarden, Palou found himself on the wrong strategy in Toronto. A decision to start on primaries and push the first stint long paid costly for himself, Scott Dixon and Malukas.
Palou led a race-high 37 laps, but wound up 12th at race's end. Malukas and Dixon cycled out ahead of him to salvage ninth and 10th. They were all disappointing results. And at least on Palou's side, he had no one to blame but himself.
'I chose the strategy, so there's what we did wrong today,' Palou said. 'I was pushing for that strategy. I thought it was going to give us the best opportunity to win.'
Not this time.
Winner: Everyone that didn't get caught up in carnage
Will Power, Team Penske
If your favorite driver made it to the checkered flag on Sunday and did so without a trip to the wall or broken wing along the way, they probably netted out alright.
Only 16 drivers finished Sunday's race on the lad lap. Seven were lost to after crashes, with three others multiple laps down after contact ruined their runs. It was an attrition-filled race, particularly in the opening half.
Related:
See how crashes and on-track incidents defined the 2025 Toronto Indy
Of those that made it to the end, many still endured contact along the way. Kyle Kirkwood was spun on pit road and rallied to sixth. Marcus Armstrong endured a penalty for causing the contact and quietly slotted 14th. Will Power ended up against the outside wall at one point, but came home a respectable 11th. Just reaching the finish was enough for a salvageable result.
Loser: Santino Ferrucci falls out in the warmup
Santino Ferrucci, A. J. Foyt Enterprises
It's been a good summer stretch for Santino Ferrucci. The Connecticut native has four top-fives, five finishes of eighth or better and had risen up into the top 10 in the series standings entering Toronto. But IndyCar's law of averages tends to catch up with everyone at some point.
It was Ferrucci's turn on Sunday. The 27-year-old was rolling through turn 7 in the final minutes of the morning warmup session when his car snapped loose, sending him into the wall hard at corner exit before sliding into the tire barrier and runoff in turn 8.
That proved to be a day-ender for Ferrucci's AJ Foyt Racing team. There wasn't enough time to repair his No. 14 Chevrolet, sending the controversial star out hours before the green flag.
Winner: Two-stop strategy bears fruit for Veekay, Simpson
Rinus Veekay, Dale Coyne Racing
If you don't qualify at the front of an IndyCar field, it can be difficult to rise into contention. But with eventual race's like Sunday's comes opportunity for those willing to be different.
Enter Rinus VeeKay and Kyffin Simpson. After qualifying ninth and 13th, the pair took advantage of the early cautions and stretched their alternates for 13 (Veekay) and 16 (Simpson) laps. That put the duo on a two-stop strategy, which they executed to perfection to score a pair of unexpected podiums in second and third. Creativity rewarded.
Loser: Team Penske's turmoil continues in Toronto
Josef Newgarden, Team Penske
This week in Team Penske trauma, we saw a new twist on the organization's seemingly endless string of crashes, mistakes and general poor luck. Scott McLaughlin had pitted to get off the quickly-degrading alternate tires at the end of lap 2 and was getting his first primary set up to temp when he lost a wheel, sending him out of the race in 26th.
Josef Newgarden avoid incidents during the opening stint, but wound up crashed when a slowed Jacob Abel made contact with Louis Foster and checked up into - and then on top off - his No. 2 Chevrolet on a lap 37 restart. That ended his day in 24th.
Will Power, Team Penske
Will Power continued on, surviving an early run-in with Christian Rasmussen. But he got the worst of a mid-race battle with winner O'Ward and wound up having to back up off the wall before rallying to a serviceable result.
Loser: Ed Carpenter Racing's very bad, no good weekend
Alexander Rossi, Ed Carpenter Racing
The good news is that Ed Carpenter Racing announced Tuesday that it's building a new headquarters in Westfield, Indiana.
The bad news? Pretty much everything else that played out for the team this week.
ECR's promising duo had a weekend to forget in Toronto. Christian Rasmussen qualified 22nd and fell out of contention with a broken front wing after contact with Will Power early on. Alexander Rossi started behind him in 24th and fell out after 29 laps when he hit a jut in the outside wall and destroyed his car's right-rear.
Winner: Another good day for Prema Racing
Callum Ilott, Prema Racing
IndyCar's promising newcomer is making a habit of this at this rate. On another challenging weekend, Callum Ilott and the No. 90 team made the Fast 12, qualified 11th - even with poor timing keeping Ilott from completing a full lap at pace - and then put together a complete race to finish a respectable eighth.Robert Shwartzman was less fortunate, ending up mid-pack in 16th on a similar primary tire strategy to Palou and co. But in the end Prema saw both cars survive, finish on the lead lap and end the weekend better than they started.
This season's all about growth for a rookie team. Results like this are exactly what it needs.
Loser: The pace car runs out of juice
Street circuit races are known for their attrition - but it doesn't usually include the pace car.Shortly after Rossi's race-ending shunt in the race's opening half, race officials had to change pace cars after the field-leader pulled off to the side with a sudden loss of power.
Embarrassing? Sure. But the impact was thankfully minimal. And it could always have been worse (see above)…
Read Also:
See how crashes and on-track incidents defined the 2025 Toronto Indy
Pato O'Ward, Arrow McLaren score strategic win in Indy Toronto
Kyffin Simpson rides two-stop strategy to breakthrough first IndyCar podium
Ed Carpenter Racing announces new Westfield headquarters, set to open in 2027
To read more Motorsport.com articles visit our website.