logo
ENFRع
#

Latest news with #ColtonHerta

Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto: Pato O'Ward wins first Canadian title
Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto: Pato O'Ward wins first Canadian title

Global News

time2 days ago

  • Automotive
  • Global News

Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto: Pato O'Ward wins first Canadian title

Mexico's Pato O'Ward has always enjoyed the sights and sounds of Toronto, it's just the IndyCar Series race around Exhibition Place he didn't like, struggling year after year on the street course. O'Ward finally won the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto on Sunday – the seven-year veteran's first victory in Canada. A pep talk from Arrow McLaren team principal Tony Kanaan to the crew the night before, some solid strategy, and a little bit of luck made the win happen. 'It's a big day. It's a very big day,' said O'Ward at the post-race news conference. 'It feels pretty special in a place that has arguably been one of the biggest headaches every single year that we come here.' Pole sitter Colton Herta of the United States leads the field into Turn 1 at the start of the 2025 Honda Indy Toronto in Toronto, on Sunday, July 20, 2025. The Canadian Press/Frank Gunn Story continues below advertisement Like most of the drivers in the 11-turn, 2.874-kilometre race, O'Ward started on a set of less-favourable alternate Firestone Firehawk tires. He had them switched out in his first pit stop just ahead of a Lap 3 caution. That meant O'Ward only had to use the less-favourable set for the better part of two green-flag laps. Although that strategy forced him into a three-stop race, he was able to run the primary compound the rest of the way. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy 'It's a really good feeling that we didn't just nail the strategy and get lucky, but we also had to earn our win today,' said O'Ward. 'It wasn't given to us. We had the car to be able to do that.' Kanaan, the IndyCar Series champion in 2004 and the winner of the 2013 Indianapolis 500, said he was sick of the narrative that O'Ward and Arrow McLaren struggle in Toronto. 'It hasn't been historically a good weekend for us here, which I didn't want to hear that coming in here,' said Kanaan. 'I was never that type of person. 'As a team, we got together last night and I said, 'Let's change that.' (…) I don't want to believe that's why we won, but…' View image in full screen Pole sitter Colton Herta of the United States leads the field into turn 1 at the start of the 2025 Honda Indy Toronto in Toronto, on Sunday, July 20, 2025. The Canadian Press/Frank Gunn. Rinus VeeKay of the Netherlands finished second and Kyffin Simpson of the United States placed third. Defending champion Colton Herta, who started in pole position on Sunday, was closing in on Simpson with a handful of laps to go when a caution solidified the podium. Story continues below advertisement 'Definitely the final part, looking forward, really trying to close the gap to Pato, it was really hard to close,' said VeeKay. 'I think the track didn't really allow many overtakes. 'All three of us were kind of hovering around the same pace, closing in, making the gap bigger at times. It wasn't very exciting at the end, but it was a lot of work in the car.' While VeeKay felt there weren't a lot of opportunities to overtake at the front of the pack, there were actually many passes in the 90-lap race around Toronto's downtown fairgrounds. There were 226 on-track passes (the most in the event since 2014) and 201 passes for position (the most since 2019). 1:47 Indy Toronto events kicks off in the city Spain's Alex Palou, the overall standings leader, finished 12th on Sunday, losing significant ground to O'Ward in the points list. O'Ward entered the weekend trailing Palou by 129 points, but has cut that to 99 points with four races left in the season. Story continues below advertisement 'We need to make sure that we continue to have days like today, not just one but a few,' said O'Ward. 'Obviously, we're at a time in the championship where we're going to have to get a little bit more into the conversation of getting our elbows out because that's what I had to do today just to open the doors to having a chance to win this race. 'That's the only way we're even going to catch a whiff of making him sweat a little bit.' Toronto's Devlin DeFrancesco, the only Canadian on the grid, finished 22nd, completing 57 laps. His day was derailed when he had to take a lengthy pit stop to have his car repaired after taking some damage in an accident in the 37th lap.

Pato O'Ward takes Toronto race for 9th career IndyCar victory
Pato O'Ward takes Toronto race for 9th career IndyCar victory

CBC

time2 days ago

  • Automotive
  • CBC

Pato O'Ward takes Toronto race for 9th career IndyCar victory

Pato O'Ward has won the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto. It's the seven-year IndyCar Series veteran's first win on the course around Toronto's Exhibition Place, and his ninth IndyCar victory. Rinus Veekay finished second and Kyffin Simpson placed third. Colton Herta was the defending champion at Toronto and held pole position for today's race but finished fourth. Toronto's Devlin DeFrancesco, the only Canadian on the grid, had his race derailed after his car was lightly damaged in an accident in the 37th lap but he managed to finish the race eight laps back of O'Ward. This year the race was expanded to 90 laps around the 11-turn, 2.874-kilometre street course at Toronto's fairgrounds.

Mexico's O'Ward wins Toronto Indy to gain in title chase
Mexico's O'Ward wins Toronto Indy to gain in title chase

Yahoo

time2 days ago

  • Automotive
  • Yahoo

Mexico's O'Ward wins Toronto Indy to gain in title chase

Mexico's Pato O'Ward took the lead off a pit stop exchange with 27 laps remaining and captured Sunday's Indy Toronto to gain ground in the season points title chase. The 26-year-old from Monterrey crossed the finish line under caution after 90 laps over an 11-turn, 2.874-km (1.786-mile) temporary street course at Toronto's Exhibition Place. "I can't say I saw this one coming but I was feeling so good," O'Ward said. "I knew I had a great car under me to race with and the guys nailed it on the strategy." O'Ward took his ninth career IndyCar victory and second of the season after winning at Iowa last weekend. "I'm stoked for everybody," O'Ward said. "I would never have expected to have gotten this much better in Toronto because it has been the most challenging track for us in the past." Dutchman Rinus VeeKay was second with Kyffin Simpson of the Cayman Islands third, gaining 10 spots from the start for his first IndyCar podium, and US pole-sitter and defending champion Colton Herta fourth. Spain's Alex Palou, the Indianapolis 500 winner seeking his fourth season crown in five campaigns, finished 12th and saw his season points lead cut from 129 to 99 over O'Ward -- 536-437 with four races remaining in the season. Herta jumped into the lead at the start but after New Zealander Scott MacLaughlin's car lost the left rear wheel to bring out caution flags, Palou took over the lead. Palou stayed out while most cars pitted under caution on lap 34 after American Alexander Rossi brushed the wall, then was aided by a four-car crash moments later that allowed him to stretch fuel mileage. Palou pitted on lap 42 under caution, leaving VeeKay in the lead and Palou 14th when full-speed racing resumed on lap 43. VeeKay pitted on lap 58 but second-place O'Ward refueled on the next lap then returned to the course just ahead of the Dutchman. O'Ward took over the lead once rivals refueled and kept it to the finish. The next IndyCar race is next Sunday at Laguna Seca raceway in Monterey, California, with three final events next month at Portland, Milwaukee and Nashville. js/iwd

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store