IndyCar | Race | Toronto | O'Ward survives chaos to win as VeeKay and Simpson take shock podiums - Motorsport

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Round 13 of the 2025 IndyCar season is in the books at Toronto as the race has been run, full report and results below. Could Colton Herta convert pole position into a win for the second year in a row?

A crash in morning warm-up meant Santino Ferrucci did not start the race as it was too short a turnaround to fix his #14 AJ Foyt car. He was due to see the green flag from P23.

Herta had a perfect start, with Armstrong clearing Palou into turn 1. However, it was all about Kyle Kirkwood on the first lap as he overtook Rahal, Power and Palou by turn 3 to run in 3rd.

More pain for Team Penske

O’Ward, Ericsson, McLaughlin and Siegel all boxed at the end of lap 2 as they got off the greens. However, a caution was thrown soon after as Scott McLaughlin’s left rear tyre was not fitted properly. He hit the wall out of turn 2 as he could do nothing about it after getting on power with the wheel nut falling off.

Aside from VeeKay and Simpson, everyone else who started on the softs came in to fit hards under the caution. It put Alex Palou to the front as he was on blacks.

The Spaniard led VeeKay, Foster, Simpson, Malukas, Dixon, Newgarden, Lundgaard, Rossi and Shwartzman.

O’Ward cycled to the front of those who had pitted, sitting in P14 behind Jacob Abel. Colton Herta was 17th behind Ericsson and Siegel.

The race resumed on lap 7. Arrow McLaren’s O’Ward immediately went on the attack and overtook Abel and Robb to go 12th. Rosenqvist cleared Power for P20, with Kirkwood following him through on lap 10.

A lap later David Malukas made a very nice move on Simpson for 4th place.

The soft tyres of Rinus VeeKay fell off a mountain and he was passed by Foster, Malukas, Dixon, Lundgaard, Newgarden, Shwartzman and Rossi before finally pitting at the end of lap 13. It was the same story for Kyffin Simpson and it was causing absolute chaos.

Out comes a second caution

As a series of drivers were trying to or did pass Kyffin Simpson, Christian Rasmussen and Will Power had a bump at turn 5, sending the Dane into the wall. His front wing was broken and had a right rear puncture. He made it back to the pits but he went 2 laps down.

Palou’s massive lead was eroded.

Replays showed contact between Power and Rosenqvist. The Swede’s front right end plate had a solid touch with the Penske.

After those laps of crazy action thanks to VeeKay and Simpson’s tyres falling away massively, Palou led Foster, Malukas, Dixon, Lundgaard, Newgarden, Shwartzman, Rossi, DeFrancesco and O’Ward.

When the green flag was waved onap 18, Malukas overtook Foster for P2 into turn 3. Meanwhile the rapid Andrettis of Herta and Kirkwood passed Armstrong for P12 and P13.

From 9th, DeFrancesco was going backwards very quickly as O’Ward, Ericsson, Herta, Kirkwood and Armstrong quickly cleared him. It meant the Mexican in P9 was the lead driver who had at least made one stop.

A nightmare day for ECR

Caution number 3 appeared as Alex Rossi caught the leading edge of a concrete wall out of turn 11 and his right rear suspension completely caved in. It was day done for him.

In the game of chess, Palou and Dixon stayed out as those who did not pit shortly before the caution coming in. As the pit stops started, Marcus Armstrong spun Kyle Kirkwood around as the Andretti looked to get into his box. He was handed a drive through penalty for the contact.

Of those who pitted under this yellow, Malukas was P12 and switched to the high deg green tyres.

Palou led Dixon, VeeKay, Simpson, Daly, Power, O’Ward, Shwartzman, Rahal and Rosenqvist on the restart.

More carnage ensues

As David Malukas made a pass on Jacob Abel into turn 1, Louis Foster tried to force his way through as well. There was a small bit of contact with the Dale Coyne driver and Abel ended up in the wall. Josef Newgarden could not avoid him as the DCR car ended up on top of the Penske’s engine cover.

Callum Ilott also clouted into the back of Devlin DeFrancesco as the RLL driver sustained race ending damage. Kirkwood and Robb managed to avoid the chaos that unfolded in front of them.

At the end of lap 41 under caution, Palou and Dixon had to accept defeat and pitted for the green softer tyres. They dropped to P16 and P18.

VeeKay led Simpson, Daly, Power, O’Ward, Shwartzman, Rahal, Rosenqvist, Malukas and Foster as it went green again.

With O’Ward sending it at turn 1 on Power for 4th, the Aussie tried to go around the outside into 3. However, there was light contact and the Penske basically came to a stop at the wall.

The Mexican continued his charge as he overtook Daly and Simpson to be P2 halfway through the race.

Unfortunately for Louis Foster, that contact with Abel ended his day as the left rear damage only showed up at full speed. Palou and Dixon took advantage of it to go 13th and 14th.

The last stops begin

Lundgaard was the first driver to make his last stop on lap 53 and start the pit sequence. Intriguingly, Dixon managed to overcut teammate Palou despite having old and high deg softs on his car.

Race leader Rinus VeeKay boxed on lap 57, with O’Ward coming in a tour later. The Mexican and McLaren executed a perfect overcut to take the net lead.

From P1, Colton Herta came in at the end of lap 62. The Andretti came out in P6.

O’Ward led VeeKay, Malukas, Simpson, Robb, Herta, Ericsson, Kirkwood, Rahal and Rosenqvist. Dixon and Palou ran in 14th and 15th behind Lundgaard.

On older tyres, Robb was eaten up as the 3 Andretti drivers overtook him. He eventually pitted and rejoined in 17th. The other driver to pit late was Malukas and he came out in P15.

Just before that stop, Will Power absolutely sent it on Marcus Armstrong into turn 5 to take 15th, which became P14 thanks to the AJ Foyt racer boxing. Unfortunately for the #4, his right rear tyre was not fitted correctly initially and had a slow stop.

Daly falls off a cliff

In a massive scrap for P9, Daly fended off Lundgaard into turn 3. That allowed Dixon to split them. With Palou trying to pass the Dane into turn 5, he got on the dirty line at the exit of turn 6 and lost out to the Dane and Malukas. Malukas had passed Power just before that.

It was happy days for Scott Dixon as he breezed by the ailing Daly. Malukas did the same a lap later.

Unfortunately for Felix Rosenqvist, he dropped from 8th as he ended up in the run-off at turn 3 after locking up. He fell to P12 but got swallowed up by Palou and Power in turn 5 and 6. Once again, there was contact with the Australian as happened earlier in the race.

On lap 81, Daly and Lundgaard made contact into turn 3 and the Danish driver hit the wall. Amazingly he only had front wing damage. He then lunged Rosenqvist to keep that spot into turn 5 as Palou and Power had got by.

The bumping continued as former Formula 2 teammates Lundgaard and Armstrong made gentle contact into turn 3 for 14th.

Malukas and Power overtook Dixon and Palou respectively for P9 and P11 as both CGR drivers had to hit a fuel number.

One final caution appears

In a fitting end to a chaotic race, Felix Rosenqvist lost the car in turns 9 and 10. Although it looked like the Swede would save it, Siegel had nowhere to go and hit him in the rear. It meant the race finished under caution.

Pato O’Ward took a superb victory in a race he totally controlled after the final stops. Rinus VeeKay bagged his first podium at Dale Coyne Racing.

In 3rd was Kyffin Simpson as the young CGR driver secured his first rostrum in IndyCar. He resisted a lot of pressure from Colton Herta in the closing stages.

Ericsson, Kirkwood, Rahal, Ilott, Malukas and Dixon completed the top 10. P8 for the Brit marked PREMA’s best result in the series to date.

Championship leader Alex Palou had to settle for P12 as starting on the hard tyre was a big mistake.