Well, the inaugural Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham had just about anything and everything for an IndyCar race weekend.
What started off as a non-existent embarrassment track construction filtering over into the scheduled three days of on-track action and cancelling Friday’s activities, turned into the most manic race of the 2026 season on Sunday.
Marcus Ericsson put together perhaps the strongest drive of his career with a thrilling charge en route to victory. Despite relinquishing the lead on Lap 69 of 90 and falling to seventh, the Swede was forced to rely on raw pace without the aid of a caution to claw back through the field and reclaiming the lead with five laps to go and besting runner-up Romain Grosjean by 7.5305s on the 2.19-mile, 12-turn temporary street circuit.
There were 258 total passes, including 242 for position. The race also featured seven lead changes among five different drivers. Additionally, there were six cautions that made up 25 laps in the contest.
Here are the winners and losers from the 14th round of the season.
Winner: Marcus Ericsson
Ericsson delivered a masterclass to score his first victory with Andretti Global, ending a 63-race winless streak that dated back to the opening race of the 2023 season. Starting fourth, the 35-year-old leaned on strategy to cycle to the top spot. However, the run of cautions and decision to stay out roughly two thirds of the way through appeared to put him in a compromising situation by making his final pit stop under green. Prior to the stop, he pulled off qualifying-type laps to build a gap and then, after pitting, was on a fresh set of softer alternates and rose from seventh over the final 20 laps to take the win.
Loser: Green Savoree Promotions
Green Savoree Racing Promotions (GSP) suffered an organizational setback when construction delays and incomplete tire barriers on the new street circuit forced IndyCar to cancel all scheduled Friday practice sessions. The oversight compressed the entire track action into a single chaotic Saturday schedule and drew public criticism from IndyCar president J. Douglas Boles, who voiced disappointment over the promoter's inability to complete the track assembly on time.
Additionally, there were complaints of concessions running out of food and drinks, including the water station, along with limited restrooms. GSP, which is widely viewed in the IndyCar paddock as a promoter that is frugal with events, took a major hit to its already questionable reputation after this weekend.
Winner: Romain Grosjean
Grosjean delivered an impressive performance by putting Dale Coyne Racing—the smallest team on the IndyCar grid—at the very front of the field. The Swiss-born Frenchman controlled the pace for 28 laps and was within five laps of an improbable victory before being forced to conserve fuel late in the stint. While losing the lead late was heartbreaking, executing a drive that brought a small single-car effort so close to a dominant win makes his weekend a massive overall triumph. It was Grosjean’s sixth runner-up result in North America’s premier open-wheel championship, and first podium since 2023 (Barber).
Loser: Louis Foster
Louis Foster went from the ultimate high to a crushing disappointment in the span of 24 hours. On Saturday, the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver drove with “a bit of rage” to claim his second career pole, putting himself in prime position to contend for a breakthrough victory. However, his race unraveled early on Sunday as his charge on a restart ended on Lap 43 when he dove to the inside of Ericsson in Turn 3 while fighting for third and clipped the inside wall, sending him head-on into the outside barriers in a vicious crash. He left the day 22nd in the final classification after leading 32 laps.
Winner: Will Power
Will Power mounted one of the most heroic drives of the season, overcoming a disastrous start to his weekend after heavy contact with a tire barrier during Saturday’s practice, along with an engine change after qualifying, forced him to start dead last on the grid. Unfazed by the narrow confines of the street circuit, the two-time IndyCar Series champion carved his way through the field with clinical precision. Power’s relentless charging through traffic earned him a third-place finish, capping off a remarkable recovery and securing his fourth podium of the season - three of which have come over the last five rounds.
Loser: Kyle Kirkwood
Kyle Kirkwood saw his championship aspirations take a devastating hit during a disastrous Sunday outing. Entering the weekend as reigning and four-time IndyCar champion Alex Palou’s main title challenger, Kirkwood struggled in qualifying, was left starting 22nd, and despite strong pace, found the wall in a similar crash to Foster’s on Lap 54. The incident left him finishing in 21st place while his Andretti teammates celebrated on the podium, and it also widened his deficit to Palou to 133 points with four rounds remaining.
Winner: Alex Palou
Palou reinforced his relentless championship consistency by turning a tricky weekend into another strong result. After a qualifying incident left him lining up 11th, the championship leader drove a relatively clean race while avoiding the surrounding mayhem. At one point, it appeared his #10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda was going to run down Grosjean late in the running and he would drive off with the lead, but the push resulted in burning up his tires that led to a drop down to fourth after Ericsson and Power made their way through. Regardless, the top five expanded his title lead over his primary championship rivals, who all endured nightmare afternoons.
Loser: David Malukas
David Malukas saw a promising drive go up in smoke after making a costly error in the closing stages of the race. The Team Penske driver had navigated through the mid-race chaos and was running comfortably inside the top six before making contact with the wall late in the running. The incident forced an unscheduled pit stop for repairs, dropping him to a 17th-place finish, and dealing a harsh blow to his mathematical title chances.
