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Opinion

2022 IndyCar Series: Toronto Indy Talking Points

(Photo by Brian Spurlock/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Roar Guru
18th July, 2022
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After a two-year enforced absence from Canada due to pandemic complications, the IndyCar Series returned to the street circuit at Exhibition Place in Toronto, and wasn’t it fantastic to see Canadian race fans – starved of IndyCar racing for so long – packing the grandstands around the bumpy, unforgiving 1.786-mile street circuit with stunning views of downtown Toronto in the background.

Here are all the talking points from a big weekend north of the border, preceded by as big a week off off-track developments as I can remember:

Scott Dixon makes history

The Ice Man from New Zealand grabbed his first win of the season, breaking the second-longest winless streak of his illustrious IndyCar career at twenty-three, taking the checkered flag for the first time since Texas Motor Speedway last year. In doing so, the Brisbane-born driver recorded his fourth win on the streets of Toronto, and made history, equalling the legendary Mario Andretti with fifty-two IndyCar Series wins. They both trial four-time Indianapolis 500 winner AJ Foyt with sixty-seven, a record that is probably now out of Dixon’s reach, although you get the feeling the fire still burns, and he’ll give it a serious crack.

You can definitely make a case that Dixon’s effort, in the ultra-competitive world of modern-day racing, where a dozen or more cars could win on any given weekend, is as or more impressive than Foyt’s feat, but, of course, AJ largely won his sixty-seven in an era of gross unreliability, so it’s a little bit of swings and roundabouts. One thing is for sure: both men (and Mario, of course) are legends and will forever be remembered as such.

Dixon’s first triumph of the year means he has now recorded at least one win in each of the last eighteen seasons, a testament to his amazing durability in a sport that can sometimes chew up and spit drivers out pretty quickly. He assumed the lead after the first round of pitstops, after Andretti Autosport’s Colton Herta led the race’s opening stint, and dominated from there, leading forty of the eighty-five laps contested. He built leads of two seconds on a handful of occasions, only to see the field bunched up due to cautions, but really wasn’t challenged. Another masterful drive.

Herta made it a Honda 1-2 at the race sponsored by the manufacturer and Arrow McLaren SP’s Felix Rosenqivst came home third, another strong result for the Swede.

New Zealander Scott McLaughlin, in fourth, faltered on a lap 67 restart and faded to ninth.

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Australia’s Will Power was never a factor, finishing fifteenth.

Alex Palou

The defending IndyCar Series champion for Chip Ganassi Racing doesn’t make the talking points memo this week for his on-track exploits (he finished sixth), but because of what happened during the week.

It all started when Chip Ganassi Racing put out a press release, featuring a quote purported to be from Palou, announcing they were picking up his option for season 2023. Which was not huge news, really, given how well driver and team have gelled in such a short space of time, until a few hours later when McLaren announced, also via press release, tat they had signed Palou for 2023, in a deal that includes some Formula One testing.

Then there was a series of Tweets from Palou denying the quote in the Ganassi release was actually from him, and announcing he was making a move to McLaren for personal reasons.

Cue another press release from Ganassi basically saying Palou was going nowhere for 2023, and you have an incredibly messy situation that is surely now going to be sorted out in court.

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There’s no love lost between Ganassi and McLaren’s Zak Brown, I had a suspicion that Ganassi knew Palou wanted to leave – the rumour has been floating through the paddock for a while now – and figured he might be able to make some cash from McLaren, a sort of pre-emptive strike to put the rival squad on the back foot.

Whatever the reason, a very good seat looks like it has opened up for 2023. Who fills it will be one of the more interesting silly season storylines.

During the post-race press conference in Toronto, Felix Rosenqvist mentioned that it didn’t sound to him like Palou would be racing anywhere next year, and that the entire matter is in the hands of lawyers. That’s another silly season storyline to follow.

Definitely a week of off-track excitement we won’t soon forget. I’m looking forward to seeing how Palou performs for Ganassi as they chase a championship whilst he has one foot out the door already. I have a feeling there’s lots more to play out yet.

After last race, I wanted to be a fly on the wall in the Andretti debrief, this week being one in Ganassi’s team on the opening day at Toronto would have been just as interesting.

A great weekend for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

Fair to say this squad has been one of the biggest disappointments of the season so far, given the combined talent of Graham Rahal, rookie Christian Lundgaard and Jack Harvey, the RLL team finally showed some of what they’re capable of in Toronto, with Rahal storming from fourteenth starting position to finish fourth, and Lundgaard came home in eighth.

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A much-needed weekend of good results and hopefully some momentum heading into Iowa, where one of the team’s biggest and most high-profile backers, Hy-Vee, are naming rights sponsor and putting a tonne of money and energy into promoting the sport’s return to corn country.

The points championship

Two races at Iowa, then the Indianapolis road course, Nashville, Gateway, Portland and Laguna Seca to decide the 2022 IndyCar Series champion and Marcus Ericsson (351) leads Penske’s Will Power (316) by thirty-five markers, with Alex Palou (314) a further two points back. Josef Newgarden and Scott Dixon round out the top five, both seven points behind Palou on 307. The championship race is still very much wide open.

Next stop, Iowa

After a year away, the IndyCar Series returns to Iowa Speedway for a double header race weekend on the ultra-fast, physically demanding 0.875mile oval where the laps tick by in under twenty seconds. It’s a weekend that should go a long way to separating the championship contenders from the rest of the field.

Stan Sport has ad-free coverage of both races Sunday and Monday morning (AEST) and IndyCar Radio is live via the IndyCar app.

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