Marcus Ericsson Ends a 63-Race Drought in Markham’s First IndyCar Race

MARKHAM — Markham’s first IndyCar race needed a finish people would still be talking about Monday. Marcus Ericsson gave it one.

The Andretti Global driver stopped from the lead on Lap 69, dropped to seventh on fresh alternate tires, then chased down a field trying to save fuel. He passed Romain Grosjean with five of 90 laps remaining and won the inaugural Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham by 7.5305 seconds.

It was Ericsson’s fifth IndyCar victory, his first with Andretti and his first since St. Petersburg in March 2023. The 63-race drought ended ten days after Andretti confirmed the 2022 Indianapolis 500 winner would return for 2027.

The closing stint made strategy visible without a timing screen. Grosjean had stopped on Lap 53 and needed to stretch his tires and fuel roughly 37 laps. Ericsson built a lead of more than 13 seconds before his final stop, rejoined in traffic, then worked past teammate Will Power and championship leader Alex Palou before reaching Grosjean.

Grosjean had almost nothing left with which to defend. The Dale Coyne Racing driver led 28 laps and finished second for the sixth time in his IndyCar career. He later said he “cried a little,” an honest response after coming within five laps of his first series win. Power finished third, putting two Andretti cars on the podium, with Palou fourth and Pato O’Ward fifth.

For Markham, the finish was the good part of an uneven first weekend. Friday’s on-track schedule was cancelled because promoter Green Savoree Racing Promotions had not completed the circuit build in time for inspection. IndyCar president J. Douglas Boles publicly apologized to fans, and practice and qualifying were compressed into Saturday.

The 12-turn, 2.19-mile course then delivered a race with passing, strategy swings and plenty of consequence. It was also too unforgiving in specific places. Pole-sitter Louis Foster and Kyle Kirkwood both crashed after catching exposed edges where straight concrete sections met around corners. Foster said drivers complain about those non-radius walls for exactly that reason.

The move from Exhibition Place still needs work before anyone calls it an instant success. The racing worked. The late build and wall geometry did not. Markham has a five-year agreement for the event, which gives organizers time to keep the layout’s speed while fixing the avoidable hazards and making Friday feel like a race day rather than a construction deadline.

For GTA fans, the new address already changes who can treat IndyCar as a local event. The circuit wraps around Unionville GO and sits beside the highways and condo towers that define weekday Markham. It brought Canada’s only IndyCar weekend into a suburban city with large Chinese, South Asian and Filipino communities, close enough for a family to arrive by train instead of building a full downtown Toronto day around the race.

The result also sharpened the championship picture. Palou left Markham with 542 points and a 133-point lead over Kirkwood, who crashed out. Four races remain, beginning with another new street event in Washington, D.C., next Sunday.

Catch up on how the Ontario race moved north in our Markham street-circuit preview, then keep the Indy at Markham event page for the returning weekend. Our GTA region guide has the year-round view of the roads and transit around the circuit.

Ericsson supplied the first name on Markham’s winner list. Year two should keep the late-race drama and lose the Friday apology.