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Motorsport

Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren score strategic win in Indy Toronto

McLaren Arrow McLaren Pato OWard Patricio OWard Toronto IndyCar Rinus VeeKay NTT IndyCar Series (Organization) Alexander Rossi Alex Palou

Pato O'Ward left Saturday’s NTT IndyCar Series qualifying questioning how he could make up for lost pace on the Toronto frontrunners.

Just minutes into Sunday’s race, his No. 5 Arrow McLaren team found an answer.

With McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown in attendance, O’Ward used timely pit stops and supplied the necessary speed when it counted to claim Sunday’s Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto. The result was the Mexican star’s second win on the year, coming in successive weeks after he claimed the opening leg of the Iowa Speedway doubleheader.

Patricio O'ward, Arrow McLaren (Photo by: Penske Entertainment)

Any hopes of sweeping that Iowa weekend were undone by an untimely yellow after a pit stop in the closing stretch. But seven days later, O’Ward timed his pit road trips just right.

“I can’t say I saw this one coming today,” O’Ward admitted. “But I was feeling so good on the prime tire all weekend. We were just struggling a bit to get the alternate to work in qualifying. … But I knew I had a great car under me to race with and the guys nailed it on the strategy.”

As the race unfolded

CHAOS battling for a top-10 finish! 😳 pic.twitter.com/yadkPh6GI8
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) July 20, 2025

O’Ward was one of four drivers to pit in the opening laps of the race, getting off the rapidly-degrading alternate tires and switching onto primaries for the remainder of the race. Moments later, one of those drivers that stopped — Scott McLaughlin — lost a wheel and crashed out of the race, bringing out a caution.

That placed O’Ward on the winning strategy, and another caution for Alexander Rossi just after he stopped a second time on lap 29 put him in prime position. He marched forward over the ensuing third stint to slot second in the tire tracks of Rinus VeeKay, who was on a two-stop strategy. When Veekay made his last stop at the end of lap 57, O”Ward stayed out an extra lap on an overcut and emerged with the lead.

From there, it was smooth sailing. The 26-year-old cruised off to a comfortable win, albeit one that came under caution as Nolan Siegel and Felix Rosenqvist crashed with three laps remaining.

The rest of the podium went the way of the two drivers on a two-stop strategy. Veekay followed in second, scoring his best result of the year for Dale Coyne Racing. Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyffin Simpson followed in third to secure his first IndyCar podium.

Other notable incidents

Marcus Armstrong, Meyer Shank Racing (Photo by: Penske Entertainment)

Polesitter Colton Herta settled for fourth at race’s end, his day undone by the varying strategies. Andretti Global teammates Marcus Ericsson and Kyle Kirkwood followed in fifth and sixth. Kirkwood had hoped to contend for a third-consecutive street circuit win, but spend the bulk of Sunday’s race on a recovery drive after he was spun from behind on pit road by Marcus Armstrong during his second stop.
Graham Rahal, Callum Ilott, David Malukas and Scott Dixon wrapped up the top-10. Dixon, Malukas and championship frontrunner Alex Palou had started the race on primaries, planning an alternative strategy.

But the myriad cautions doomed the effort. Palou settled for 12th at race’s end, a rare strategy blemish on a near-perfect season.

As has been the theme of the summer stretch, cautions and strategy defined Sunday’s race. The first yellow flew after just two laps, when Scott McLaughlin pitted for primary tires only to loose a wheel on his out lap.

A second caution followed on lap 21, when Christian Rasmussen got the worst of contact with Will Power and crashed out of the race. Additional yellows flew for Alexander Rossi and when Jacob Abel wound up atop Josef Newgarden’s No. 2 Chevrolet after a restart stack-up, leaving the bulk of the race’s opening half to run under caution.

An untimely caution in the second half could have shaken things up again. But by the time the final yellow flew coming to two to go, the race had been decided.

The IndyCar field will return to action on July 27 for the Java House Grand Prix of Monterey at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Just four races remain in the 2025 IndyCar season.

Photos from Toronto - Race

1 - 2
Cla	Driver	#	Laps	Time	Interval	Mph	Pits	Points	Retirement
1	P. O'Ward Arrow McLaren	5	90	1:48'23.9092		61.049
2	R. van Kalmthout Dale Coyne Racing	18	90	+0.4843 1:48'24.3935	0.4843	61.115
3	K. Simpson Chip Ganassi Racing	8	90	+1.5343 1:48'25.4435	1.0500	61.537
4	C. Herta Andretti Global	26	90	+2.1607 1:48'26.0699	0.6264	62.154
5	M. Ericsson Andretti Global	28	90	+3.7515 1:48'27.6607	1.5908	72.000
6	K. Kirkwood Andretti Global	27	90	+4.9472 1:48'28.8564	1.1957	74.032
7	G. Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	15	90	+5.5657 1:48'29.4749	0.6185	74.023
8	C. Ilott Prema Racing	90	90	+6.5438 1:48'30.4530	0.9781	74.126
9	D. Malukas A.J. Foyt Enterprises	4	90	+7.6451 1:48'31.5543	1.1013	79.257
10	S. Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing	9	90	+8.6954 1:48'32.6046	1.0503	87.430
11	W. Power Team Penske	12	90	+14.0964 1:48'38.0056	5.4010	84.025
12	A. Palou Chip Ganassi Racing	10	90	+14.9701 1:48'38.8793	0.8737	85.557
13	C. Lundgaard Arrow McLaren	7	90	+17.3640 1:48'41.2732	2.3939	88.739
14	M. Armstrong Meyer Shank Racing	66	90	+43.9148 1:49'07.8240	26.5508	75.426
15	C. Daly Juncos Hollinger Racing	76	90	+45.4310 1:49'09.3402	1.5162	74.800
16	R. Shwartzman Prema Racing	83	90	+46.0249 1:49'09.9341	0.5939	75.169
17	R. Robb Sting Juncos Hollinger Racing	77	89	+1 Lap 1:48'25.1038	1 Lap	61.290
18	N. Siegel Arrow McLaren	6	87	+3 Laps 1:46'57.9917	2 Laps	37.288
19	F. Rosenqvist Meyer Shank Racing	60	86	+4 Laps 1:44'05.3512	1 Lap	93.501
20	C. Rasmussen Ed Carpenter Racing	21	82	+8 Laps 1:44'06.0936	4 Laps	98.936
21	L. Foster Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	45	67	+23 Laps 1:48'32.3490	15 Laps	86.660
22	D. DeFrancesco Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	30	57	+33 Laps 1:42'57.2357	10 Laps	99.576
23	J. Abel Dale Coyne Racing	51	36	+54 Laps 46'11.2237	21 Laps	71.302			Accident
24	J. Newgarden Team Penske	2	36	+54 Laps 46'12.1543	0.9306	73.879			Accident
25	A. Rossi Ed Carpenter Racing	20	29	+61 Laps 34'49.8264	7 Laps	101.223			Accident
26	S. McLaughlin Team Penske	3	2	+88 Laps 2'34.0500	27 Laps	76.488			Accident
27	S. Ferrucci A.J. Foyt Enterprises	14	0
View full results