“Now featuring a build your own track feature.”
Welcome back to Dre’s Race Review and IndyCar is not leaving the menu for the next month so better get used to it. Welcome to Part 2 of what I call “The Gauntlet”, the quintuple header to drag us to Week 1 of the NFL Regular season, and the Laguna Seca IndyCar finale, if Alex Palou somehow hasn’t wrapped it up by then.
Round 14 of the Championship brings us to a new venue, Markham in Canada. With Toronto Stadium having to go under refurb around the World Cup, IndyCar tied down a 5-year deal with Markham to run a street race on their streets. After Arlington’s largely positive debut, what could possibly go wrong?
OH NO, IT ALL WENT WRONG
Thanks, Chowder.
So it turns out on Thursday that most of the series actually started paying attention to track walks and infrastructure, the word got out pretty quickly that Markham was unfinished. Barriers not quite in place, not enough tyres to form the extra protection, and the track awaiting the final sign-off from the FIA official from the independent officiating panel. It was so rough in fact, that we had to cancel all of Friday’s running to ensure the track was properly prepared.
And there’s no getting around it, regardless of how the race turned out, it’s an embarrassing chain of events for the series. Yes, the tickets for Friday were “free” (with a charitable donation), but they’re still there to expect action, not an unfinished track. Yes, the promoters are largely responsible for leaving everything to the very last minute, but IndyCar also needs to take a degree of accountability for not having the oversight to get this over the line and turning it into a two-day weekend, which no-one’s really here for. Doug Boles is one of the most respected people in Motorsport, and we like him here at M101 HQ, but this is an unfair statement:
“IndyCar is incredibly disappointed that our promoter was not able to complete the track build on time, despite significant support from our team on site.”
And this isn’t just another track, this is your Canadian market, one you’ve had for 40 years. In a realm where people want the series to expand further into international waters, this is a valuable race and it started out in horrendous fashion. And I’ve not even mentioned the little things like poor security, and a big screen that wasn’t up until Sunday. Ungood.
So, the Actual Race?
We got a two-day weekend as a result of Friday’s cancellation, with two practices and then a qualifying session, and with it, Louis Foster with a stunning pole position, nearly half a second faster than anyone else could manage in a tricky weekend for tyres. Remember – as its a street track, so two mandatory Alternate tyre stints required, so not everyone went for broke in Round 3. The big shocks? Kyle Kirkwood hosed via a Will Power red flag and a P9 result in the opening round, and Alex Palou making a rare mistake and crashing in Round 2 to start from P11. Throw in six different drivers taking engine penalties and we have arguably the most topsy-turvy grid of 2026 so far.
We started the race just after the horseshoe to avoid maximum potential fuckery on the opening lap, and it actually worked. At least for a little while. Louis Foster kept control of the lead and actually started gapping Christian Lundgaard towards the end of the first period of calm, at point the gap was nearly three seconds. To gap Lundgaard, one of the best road/street track drivers in the field is a mighty impressive task.
Also, strategically, this led to some interesting potential bottlenecks. The general consensus going in was you’ll run out of fuel before you run out of tyres (Newly repaved track). A three-stopper will comfortably get you home, but you could potentially stretch it to a two-stop race if there was enough caution at the right time. Hence it was no surprise we saw guys bail for the pits as early as Lap 7 to try and use clean air to make time up for later.
The first flashpoint was on Lap 15 of 90 when Mick Schumacher went too deep into Turn 4 and clattered into the outside wall. I love Mick but he’s getting harder to defend in this series, even more so with rumours strong he’s getting the MSR seat for 2027. Hmmm. This is where we got the first major split in strategies, with a large chunk of the field coming in for what they thought was locking in a 3-stopper, while others pushing for two like Alex Palou stayed out wanting the track position.
Sadly, this is when the shitshow starts. Between Laps 15 and 61, we’d face 6 cautions and 25 laps of yellow as the restarts bred more carnage through the field. For me, there was two big reasons for it:
1 – The Horseshoe Of Poor Judgement. The Turn 5 hairpin was always going to be a room splitter. It was good in a sense that you could legitimately pass around the inside and outside of it given the large run off on the outside of the apex (Think Outpost 7 from Wipeout Pulse, if you’re a proper gaming nerd like me). The drawback was, it was very easy to clip a car and cause a spin because at the apex you’re at full lock and at 25mph, the new slowest corner in IndyCar. We saw multiple pileups there in the USF Pro and 2000 races earlier on the card, and it’d come up here too.
2 – Offline was a bitch. There were two consistent passing zones if you were brave enough. Turn 3 and the first of the double left-hander sequence was safe enough to take a lunge, and Turn 6 down the hill, trail-braking into the slow right-hander. The problem was, if you did the right thing and gave space, you’d be picking up all the marbles on your tyres, and at best, you’d be losing two-three seconds for a lap or more trying to survive the loss of grip. Dennis Hauger lost 15 places in a restart because he was being bullied continuously online, or taking defensive lines to counter. Or worse, you’re in the wall. Remember that, it becomes important later.
We got to Lap 31 before the second caution, with Marcus Armstrong spinning out at the Horseshoe. Right on the window for some of the leaders to come in under yellow, like race leader Foster, Scott Dixon, Kyle Kirkwood, and some of the three-stoppers came in to take their second stop here. To make matters trickier, Armstrong ignored the safety team’s instructions and left from his stalled position as the train was coming around. He’s very lucky in my opinion that he wasn’t parked for that stupidity, instead getting a 10-second stop and go penalty. It took an extra lap to re-arrange the field as Veekay stalled at the horseshoe and McLaughlin lost a place as a result of the stack up.
Siegel and Grosjean now led the field away, needing to set fast laps and build a gap in case another caution dropped… which it did rather quickly. On Lap 36, Dennis Hauger leaves his front wing in no-man’s land, spins out Scott Dixon, and then collects Christian Rasmussen with nowhere to go. Rasmussen out, Dixon with a broken wishbone and 6 laps down after it was fixed.
Grosjean took the lead after passing Siegel at the Horseshoe, while behind, we had chaos as the fresher rubbered cars started making gains through the midfield, spearheaded by Foster’s brilliant outside Horseshoe pass on Alex Palou. The Spaniard was pushed off the racing line enough to the point where he was down five places on his restart spot until… Louis Foster makes a mistake trying to pass Marcus Ericsson, clips the inside wall at three and smashes into the outside concrete wall. Foster was largely fine thankfully, but was seen coming out of medical with an iced up wrist. But the favourite, falls early doors.
We got going again and Alex Rossi takes a puncture after light contact with Alex Palou at the Horseshoe, ruining his day, before another shock – Kyle Kirkwood, IndyCar’s King of the Streets, crashes off his own mistake, a carbon copy of Foster’s double hit at Turn 3. One of the few contenders left, falls. And funnily enough, the lap before, Grosjean made what he hoped would be his final stop. It would be a ballsy move to go 37 laps to the flag, so he’d need more caution to get there.
And caution he’d get – Immediately after the restart, Nolan Siegel would spin out Josef Newgarden at the Horseshoe and bring out the 6th and final caution of the race. Siegel would be dinged for avoidable contact, Newgarden was able to get going again.
This left the race in an interesting position, and ultimately made the ending so brilliant. Marcus Ericsson took the pain of running long in the middle of the race, a 39 lap hard tyre stint, meaning he had sticker reads for a 21 lap dash for the line. Will Power came in on Lap 60, meaning a stint with some save on sticker reds to the flag with 30 to go. Alex Palou put on his signature harder tyre, and had to go 35 to the flag because his strategist Barry Wanser pulled him in under green because he thought a debris caution was coming. And Pato O’Ward was the fastest of the 3-stoppers and had open air to work with late on.
It all led to maybe the most thrilling final 29 laps of the season. We had total strategic convergence. Ericsson put out a 15-second lead in clear to mitigate that final stop and drop behind Power in seventh. Palou had enough pace to clear the Penske’s of Malukas and McLaughlin to be net second and be within striking distance of a fuel saving Grosjean. But Palou was saving too, and actually nearly lost it at Turn 6, costing him time. Behind him, Ericsson had to play bully ball and barge past Power at the Horseshoe to pass him. His fresh tyres, and lack of a need to save, gave him all the pace he needed to clear Grosjean with just four and a half laps to go, and running away to his fifth career win in the series, snapping a three-year, 63-race long dry spell, one of the longest in the field.
Marcus Ericsson was on a hotseat for his future in the series after a wretched run of form in 2024 and 25’ with Andretti. 15th in points then, 20th last season. He’s been back in the Top 10 for most of the year and it’s earned him a new deal, even if it’s only for a year. He needed this win, and he was excellent here. Classic Andretti bread and butter with street-track pace, combined with brilliant strategic nous in the caution infested middle portion of the race.
Speaking of cold spells, my heart goes out to Romain Grosjean. His last win? July 31st, 2011 and the Feature Race he won when it was still called GP2, commentated by IndyCar’s current play-by-play man Will Buxton. Grosjean admitted after the flag he cried on his way back to pitroad, clearly in frustration with coming so close to glory. A classic Dale Coyne strategic gamble that landed, combined with some excellent defensive driving all race.
Will Power clung on with barely a drop of fuel left to make it an Andretti Double Podium ahead of Alex Palou, who somehow navigated the chaos to fourth with a vintage hard-tyre stint and a genuine fear he was going to win another one at one point. And Pato O’Ward climbed 15 places from 20th on the grid to finish fifth.
It’s amazing how often a great race can mask and clean up all the mess that came before it. And in fairness to Markham, all the drivers pretty much agreed that this was a fun layout that would produce great racing, and it did. Maybe expand the entry into the Horseshoe a little bit and maybe narrow the exit and I think you’re there. The climax is everything we love about IndyCar, thrilling action, strategic convergence, and not knowing who was going to win until barely four laps to the flag. This race may end up a lowkey banger for the rest of its five-year tenure. Just make sure it’s built properly for next year, eh?
The Lightning Round
With that result, Alex Palou now has a 133 point lead with four races to go. It’s unlikely but he actually has an outside chance to clinch next week if he can outscore the field by 30 points after the Fascism 250. And that’s assuming the person in second takes every bonus point after that on the table (Poles, Leading lap bonuses too). Realistically, he clinches after Race 1 in Milwaukee.
As for David Malukas, he broke a toe-link late on and dropped to 17th place having struggled due to lingering damage from his wrist injury. It means we’re in a very interesting place where Kyle Kirkwood, Malukas and Christian Lundgaard are all separated by just six points in the fight for silver.
Not his fault this time, but this now marks Scott Dixon’s eighth consecutive finish outside of the Top 10, the longest stretch of his career. Or, one race for every Astor Cup his wife Emma thinks his hubby’s been screwed out of. (In his defence, he was looking great for a Top 5 at one point here.)
Graham Rahal ran through the pits FIVE times and finished ninth. Sometimes, the top-off strat works. As for his teammate Louis Foster, I do wonder if there’s a little bit of lost patience inside of RLL for Louis Foster. He was one of the most dominant Indy NXT Champions ever, and has largely failed to convert that into real results. This was easily his best weekend in IndyCar and to throw it away off his own error was gutwrenching. Thankfully, Bobby Rahal seems to love this young man, so maybe it’ll be forgiven.
Caio Collet’s crash in Saturday practice seemingly ruined his entire weekend. From being short-filled in Qualifying, to a late technical at the end of the race. At least AJ Foyt is seemingly keen on keeping him for ‘27.
The Verdict: 7/10 (Good) – Might be IndyCar’s best road and street course race in quite some time. This was looking rough in the middle portion, nearly a third of your race being under caution is always going to make it a tough watch, but the final third was an exceptional crescendo of what makes IndyCar great. A 4/10 race saved by a 10/10 finish. Don’t get it twisted though, IndyCar absolutely got away with one here. Which leads us wonderfully into… The Fascist 250. See you then? (I genuinely don’t know if I even want to cover this, I’ll make a decision next week.)
