TORONTO — The lone INDYCAR race this season across the border goes green this weekend on the streets of Exhibition Place and Lake Ontario.
The 2.874-kilometer course (OK, you want it in miles, 1.786-mile) has 11 turns and has been part of a summer festival for 37 years.
The tight course requires precision and also handling a pit road that isn’t straight but instead has some curves. At 90 laps, it is five laps longer this year (noon ET on FOX).
The streets of Toronto will once again play host to an INDYCAR race on Sunday.
The 27-driver field is the same as it has been for most races in 2025. And that wasn’t a certainty until Thursday morning for the final street course race of the season.
Let’s dive into a few things you need to know about this race.
Nolan Siegel Cleared
The Arrow McLaren driver was cleared Thursday to race after missing the event Sunday at Iowa following a hard crash Saturday in Iowa.
“Missing out on Sunday’s race in Iowa was definitely tough, especially after qualifying fifth,” Siegel said in a statement. “After a week of rest and recovery, I’m looking forward to being back in the car.”
Drivers have accelerometers in their ears, so INDYCAR doctors know how hard the hit is when they evaluate the driver. Any accident that registers 80Gs in any axis or direction is required to return for further evaluation. INDYCAR, like most sports leagues, uses the King-Devick test from the Mayo Clinic among its tools.
Nolan Siegel cleared to race this weekend at Toronto.
INDYCAR’s head neurologist, Dr. Bert Vargas, along with INDYCAR medical director Dr. Julia Vaizer, typically does the evaluation to clear a driver to return. Vargas serves as a member of the NFL Head, Neck and Spine Committee and is also a sideline unaffiliated neurotrauma consultant for the NFL.
Earlier this year, Marcus Armstrong had to return to the medical center at Indianapolis a few hours after an accident to be cleared for the next session. Siegel had to revisit Sunday morning and was not cleared.
Arrow McLaren team principal Tony Kanaan missed a race in 2001 because of a concussion so he knows how hard it is for the driver to sit out.
“I crashed in Detroit on Saturday, got a concussion,” Kanaan said. “They sat me out in the race on Sunday, but we had Portland next week, and I am sure I wasn’t right because that weekend, I was so slow in Portland. I started that and I crashed again in the first lap, and I couldn’t understand why. And I felt fine.
“We’ve come a long way, and this is probably one of the worst things because when … you’re looking at yourself, you’re perfectly fine, and you think you’re fine. Those type of injuries are so frustrating.”
In the last 12 years, there have been two drivers who have not returned to INDYCAR because of concussions — Dario Franchitti and Simon Pagenaud.
Linus Lundqvist will be on standby in case Nolan Siegel can’t race at Toronto.
Alex Tagliani was the replacement when Franchitti got hurt and Conor Daly was the replacement when Pagenaud got hurt. Linus Lundqvist, the 2024 INDYCAR rookie of the year, is on standby for Siegel.
Jack Harvey was the last driver before Pagenaud in 2023 to miss a race because of a concussion. He missed the race at Texas after a crash in practice in 2022 and was replaced by Santino Ferrucci. In 2021, Felix Rosenqvist missed two races following an accident in 2021 at Detroit. He was never diagnosed with a concussion but did not perform well on the post-crash concussion protocol tests. Oliver Askew and Kevin Magnussen replaced him in those races.
Robb Car Escapes Damage in Hauler Fire
About 150 miles into the trip from Iowa last Sunday, the transporter carrying Sting Ray Robb’s car blew a tire, which broke a seal on the axle and started a fire.
Sting Ray Robb pictured with his ride.
It burned the hole of about 5- to 6-feet high, according to Colona Township Fire Department Chief John Swan. The fire department is about four miles from where the accident occurred on Interstate 74/280 in Illinois and that was critical, Swan said, in keeping the car from getting damaged.
The fire didn’t penetrate the inside wall of the transporter, and equipment suffered smoke and heat damage.
The Juncos Hollinger Racing team has both of its cars at Toronto. It is using its Indy NXT hauler for Robb this weekend.
Comeback … Of Performance Kind
While all the Andretti drivers raced last weekend, they probably feel they need as much of a comeback as a driver such as Siegel.
All three of the drivers blew right front tires during the Iowa doubleheader weekend. Since that race was on an oval, there isn’t a lot of correlation between the loads last week and this week.
“It sucks,” driver Colton Herta said. “I don’t like to think about it for sure, and it makes me annoyed. But as far as what were the problems there, and are they going to come into this weekend?
Colton Herta is one of the favorites to win at Toronto.
“There’s almost zero percent chance. Such a different race, such different setup.”
Herta said they will figure out why they had the issue and no other organizations did in the coming weeks as they need to focus on the upcoming races here at Toronto and next week at Laguna Seca.
“It’s something that we’re definitely not taking lightly. And it’s important for the team to do that, just because for my peace of mind, too, inside the car, for blowing tires … because there’s a chance that you have a big one at some point,” Herta said.
“But at the end of the day, it’s part of it. This is the first for us at Andretti, so I think we’re learning this together for the first time.”
Herta is the defending winner of the Toronto race.
“It’s a track that poses a lot of different challenges,” Herta said. “It’s a street circuit. So no room for error, and the concrete walls are not good friends. So any little mistake turns into quite a big one here very fast.
“It’s a good mix of high-speed, low-speed corners. The pit stops are always difficult on this curvy pit lane that we have.”
Adjusting Goals?
Bouncing back will be vital for Andretti driver Kyle Kirkwood, who has won two of the street-course races this year.
Kirkwood went from 113 points behind series leader Alex Palou to 180 points behind after the Iowa doubleheader. With just five races left, Kirkwood doesn’t think he has a reasonable shot at the title.
“That seems unattainable from this point,” Kirkwood said. “As long as it’s mathematically possible to beat him, we’re going to keep trying to get wins. At the same time, we put ourselves in a pretty big hole.
“We’re just going to go out and try and get some wins here, show that we are a championship-capable winning team, which I believe we are.”
Kyle Kirkwood celebrates after winning the Long Beach Grand Prix.
So now is it win or don’t care considering the championship is out of reach?
“Winning races does win championships,” said Kirkwood, whose three wins rank only behind Palou’s seven this season. “Palou is proving that this season. That is the No. 1 focus.
“Of course, it would be nice to claw back some and give ourselves an opportunity to be in the second position because in a lot of cases, getting a second this year is like getting a win in the championship.”
Home-Country Pressure
And, finally, since the race is in Canada, that means it will be special for the one Canadian-born driver in the field.
Devlin DeFrancesco believes his first Toronto Grand Prix was in 2013.
“I feel very relaxed,” DeFrancesco said. “I’m excited to be home. I like this track.”
Devlin DeFrancesco of Canada returns home this weekend.
He said he doesn’t know how many friends and family are coming but he has a suite and has let someone else handle all the requests.
“There’s a tidal wave of support this weekend,” DeFrancesco said. “Toronto is one of the biggest turnouts for fans. It’s a hugely popular event. … It’d be amazing to be able to go back somewhere like Edmonton [too] أو في مكان من هذا القبيل. “
يغطي Bob Pockrass NASCAR و IndyCar لـ Fox Sports. لقد أمضى عقودًا في تغطية رياضة السيارات ، بما في ذلك أكثر من 30 دايتونا 500 ، مع اختلاف في ESPN و Sporting News ومجلة NASCAR Scene و (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. اتبعه على Twitter @بوبوكراس.
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