Herta Wins Toronto; Palou Extends Championship Lead

Source: Steve Russell / Getty

TORONTO — Colton Herta secured his first win of the 2024 NTT IndyCar Series season leading from start to finish in the Honda Indy Toronto on Sunday.

Though Herta got the win which is his first in 41 races, a huge storyline happened further back in the field as Alex Palou, who started 18th due to a disastrous performance in qualifying, was able to work his way back up through the field to a fourth-place finish.

Nevertheless, the win for Herta was a huge boost for Andretti Global as it is their first win of the season. It has been tough for Andretti as they have struggled to get to the front all season.

Herta and teammate Kyle Kirkwood swept the top two spots on the podium, Kirkwood’s best finish of the 2024 season.

“We’ve been knocking on the door for a win for so long,” Herta said. “41 starts without a win has been disappointing for us. I’m so happy. To finally get a win in such a long time. For us, the car was great!”

The intrigue, as mentioned, was further back in the field Alex Palou kept working his way up through the field. But, he found himself behind Will Power for most of the race. Power needed a result in which he finished in front of Palou in order to close the gap between him and Palou in the championship standings.

Power was able to stay in the top ten all day and keep Palou about two cars behind him for the most part.

A scary situation happened with 13 laps to go as a spin from Pato O’Ward collected six cars from behind him. One of them was Santino Ferrucci who launched off the nose of O’Ward’s stopped car, sending him riding sideways along the catch fence of the street course and landing upside down resting on his aeroscreen.

Ferrucci walked away from the crash, but the race broughtout out a red flag so the AMR Safety team could clean things up.

Once that was done, the restart ensued, and it would spell disaster for Will Power. Aware he needed every point he could muster coming out of the weekend, he dove hard to the inside of his teammate Scott McLaughlin.

Power got loose and slammed into the side of McLaughlin, which sent McLaughlin in into the wall and ending his race. the contact that caused the wreck would cost Power as he was penalized a drive-through penalty.

What would have been a 5th place finish ahead of Palou, turned into a 12th place finish behind Palou for Power. Palou came home fourth and with a 49-point lead ahead of Power.

“We were there and waiting for someone to make a mistake,” “The car was amazing, glad we finished in the top four. The goal is still to win as many races as possible. A lot of points at play so we need to keep doing what we’re doing.”

Scott Dixon’s third-place result leaped him into third in the points. The win for Herta puts him up to fourth. The wreck by O’Ward dropped him two spots to fifth.

The series will have four weeks off now due to NBC’s coverage of the Olympic Games. When the series returns, it will be back on an oval as the series will head to the Illinois side of St. Louis for the Bommarito 500 at Gateway.

The post Herta Wins Toronto; Palou Extends Championship Lead appeared first on WIBC 93.1 FM .