Colton Herta made it 4-for-4 in on-track sessions in preparation for today’s Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto.
The driver of the No. 26 Gainbridge of Andretti Global with Curb-Agajanian has posted the fastest lap in three practice sessions and Saturday’s qualifying. His time in today’s warmup session was 1 minute, .0783 seconds. Second was Josef Newgarden (No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet) and third was series leader Alex Palou (No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda).
SEE: Warmup Results | Starting Lineup/Tire Choice
Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood, who starts second, was ninth in the No. 27 AutoNation Honda.
The 85-lap race is set for 1 p.m. ET on Peacock (United States), TSN4/TSN+ (Canada) and the INDYCAR Radio Network.
Herta has the pole for the third time this season, the 14th time in his career. But he looks to change his luck in those races.
In the first seven races when Herta was on the pole, he won four of them. But since then, he has not won from the pole, a drought of six races. His last win overall was in May 2022, a span of 40 races.
Starting third will be Felix Rosenqvist, who drives for Meyer Shank Racing which has a technical partnership with Michael Andretti’s organization. Andretti won this event a record seven times as a driver.
Today’s race features the first series start for Hunter McElrea, last year’s INDY NXT by Firestone runner-up who is driving the No. 18 Honda of Dale Coyne Racing. Fellow rookie Theo Pourchaire will make his sixth start for Arrow McLaren, but this will be his first race in the team’s No. 7 Chevrolet as he stands in for the injured Alexander Rossi (broken right thumb).
This is the 12th of 17 races scheduled for this season, and it is the last of the four street circuits. After today, the series has a three-weekend break for the Paris Olympics. The season resumes Aug. 17 with the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway, the first of four oval races left on the schedule. The lone road race is Aug. 25, the BITNILE.com Grand Prix of Portland at Portland International Raceway.
This means time is running out to challenge for the Astor Challenge Cup, awarded to the series champion. Palou, who has won two of the past three titles, holds a 35-point lead over Team Penske’s Will Power and a 52-point advantage on Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward. Palou will start today’s race from the 18th position. Power rolls of ninth, O’Ward 14th.
Also of note today: This will be the first street race where INDYCAR’s new hybrid technology will be used on a street circuit. The energy recovery system that made its debut earlier this month gives drivers the ability to regenerate and deploy an additional 60 horsepower in short bursts. Add that to the Push to Pass system that has been in place for several years gives drivers plenty of options to overtake and save fuel, depending on how they use the tools.
The green flag is expected about 1:30 p.m. ET. Expect cloudy skies and temperatures in the upper 70s.