Pato O’Ward Takes Toronto To Keep IndyCar Championship Dream Alive
Pato O’Ward made it two winning weekends in a row with a victory at the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto on Sunday.
O’Ward won the first race of the IndyCar doubleheader at Iowa Speedway the previous week, with points leader Alex Palou taking the second.
Palou started on the front row in second, but also on primary tires, while most of the front runners were on alternates. The plan didn’t shake out and he ended up finishing 12th, which allowed O’Ward to trim his season points lead from 129 to 99.
“Well, I chose the strategy, so that’s what we did wrong today,” Palou said after the race. “I was pushing for that strategy. I thought it was going to give us the best opportunity to win. I wanted to be up front trying to avoid being trapped in traffic.
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“We knew it was going to be a risky strategy rather than starting on alternates. It was kind of working. We were able to open up a big gap after that first yellow, but it was not enough today. Not our day.”
O’Ward was one of the other drivers that started on alternates and worked his strategy to take the lead for the last time on lap 62 of the 90-lap race, which finished under yellow due to an accident on lap 88.
“Oh, man, I can’t say I saw this coming,” O’Ward said. “But I knew we had a great car under me to race with, and nailed it on the strategy.”
Four races remain in the season and a race win is worth 50 points. Winning pole is worth one more as is leading a lap during the race, while the driver with the most laps led gets an extra two.
Full Results:
1. (10) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 90, Running
2. (9) Rinus VeeKay, Honda, 90, Running
3. (13) Kyffin Simpson, Honda, 90, Running
4. (1) Colton Herta, Honda, 90, Running
5. (8) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 90, Running
6. (6) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 90, Running
7. (5) Graham Rahal, Honda, 90, Running
8. (11) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 90, Running
9. (15) David Malukas, Chevrolet, 90, Running
10. (17) Scott Dixon, Honda, 90, Running
11. (4) Will Power, Chevrolet, 90, Running
12. (2) Alex Palou, Honda, 90, Running
13. (19) Christian Lundgaard, Chevrolet, 90, Running
14. (3) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 90, Running
15. (21) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 90, Running
16. (20) Robert Shwartzman, Chevrolet, 90, Running
17. (25) Sting Ray Robb, Chevrolet, 89, Running
18. (12) Nolan Siegel, Chevrolet, 87, Contact
19. (16) Felix Rosenqvist, Honda, 86, Contact
20. (22) Christian Rasmussen, Chevrolet, 82, Retired
21. (7) Louis Foster, Honda, 67, Running
22. (26) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 57, Retired
23. (27) Jacob Abel, Honda, 36, Contact
24. (18) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 36, Contact
25. (24) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 29, Contact
26. (14) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 2, Contact
27. (23) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 0, Did Not Start