5 winners and losers from IndyCar's unpredictable 2025 Toronto race

Pato O'Ward won the latest IndyCar race on the streets of Toronto and closed the gap to Alex Palou in the championship on Sunday, July 20. Colton Herta, the pole sitter, got unfortunate with the timing of the cautions yet managed a decent fourth-place finish.

Team Penske had another disastrous weekend at the only international race of the season, with Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden retiring from the race. Let's have a look at the winners and losers from the IndyCar race, Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto.

Winners from the IndyCar’s 2025 Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto

#1 Pato O'Ward

Pato O'Ward had difficulties getting the alternate to work during the qualifying, but still managed to get into round 2. The Arrow McLaren driver started the race in P10 and made an early stop after just two laps to get rid of the alternate tires.

The timing of cautions brought out by Scott McLaughlin and Alexander Rossi's crash further helped the Mexican driver, who inherited the lead of the race after the final round of pitstops, and cruised to victory.

#2 Rinus VeeKay

The Dale Coyne Racing driver started in P9 and was among the few drivers who made the two-stop strategy work. Rinus VeeKay was patient with the initial cautions and made the right strategy calls to make the two stop working, unlike Alex Palou. VeeKay finished P2 and scored DCR’s first podium in two years.

#3 Colton Herta

Colton Herta won the 2024 Indy Toronto and brought similar form into the 2025 race weekend. The Andretti Global driver took the pole position, but an early caution meant he pitted to get rid of the alternate tires and rejoined in the midfield.

NTT INDYCAR Series Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto - Source: Getty

The timing of the next cautions didn't help Herta either, yet he managed to make the move and finished the race in P4.

#4 Andretti Global

All three Andretti Global drivers had the race-winning pace at Indy Toronto. While Marcus Ericsson was helped by the cautions, Kyle Kirkwood and Herta suffered because of it. Kyle Kirkwood was also hit from behind while coming into the pits, which spun him around and cost time.

Despite the troubles, the Andretti Global drivers managed to finish the race in P4, P5, and P6, bringing home a strong result for the team.

#5 Dale Coyne Racing

It was a race with mixed emotions for Dale Coyne Racing as Jacob Abel crashed out of the race, but Rinus VeeKay stood on the podium. However, taking their first podium in two years made DCR one of the biggest winners from the Indy Toronto race.

Losers from the IndyCar’s 2025 Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto

#1 Scott McLaughlin

The Team Penske IndyCar driver started the race in P14 and made an early pitstop on the same lap as Pato O'Ward to get rid of the alternate tires. Had Scott McLaughlin not crashed, he would've been in a similar position to O'Ward and could've finished on the podium.

Instead, the rear left tire wasn't fitted properly during the first pit stop, and the wheel nut and tire came loose on the outlap, which led to McLaughlin retiring from the race.

#2 Alex Palou

Started the IndyCar race in P2 on the primary tires while others around him opted for alternates. Alex Palou claimed the early lead after the first caution as Colton Herta and other leaders pitted. With multiple cautions in the first half, Palou was able to stretch the tires and fuel near the halfway mark of the race.

NTT INDYCAR Series Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto - Source: Getty

However, the strategy call to get rid of the starting set of tires was left too late by Palou, and despite having fresher tires than the other drivers, the track position lost was too much to be made up for in the remainder race. Palou finished the race in P12.

#3 Santino Ferrucci

The AJ Foyt Racing IndyCar driver qualified P23 for the race but crashed his car during the warm-up. Despite being the third fastest in warm-up, the team was not able to fix the damage to the car in time for the race, and Santino Ferrucci didn't participate in the race.

#4 Team Penske

Another horror weekend for Team Penske, with Will Power being the only IndyCar driver making it past the first round of qualifying. During the IndyCar race, Scott McLaughlin crashed and retired following the loss wheelnut, and Josef Newgarden was involved in a crash with Jacob Abel on the safety car restart.

Will Power himself got involved in an incident with Pato O'Ward and was dropped to the back of the grid, but made a recovery to finish P11.

#5 Chip Ganassi Racing

While Chip Ganassi Racing made the right strategic calls for Kyffin Simpson, who finished on the podium, championship contenders Alex Palou and Scott Dixon, who were running 1-2, were left out too long and suffered in the second half of the race. Both Dixon and Palou finished outside the Top 5.

Edited by Sumeet Kavthale