IndyCar News: Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto Preview

The 37th edition of the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto – a three-day motorsports festival featuring the NTT INDYCAR SERIES and four other racing series – begins Friday with Your Ontario Honda Dealers Present Free Fan Friday in support of Make-A-Wish® Canada. Gates will open at Exhibition Place at 9 a.m. ET.

To kick off the exciting festival weekend set for July 18-20, spectators can make a voluntary donation to Make-A-Wish® Canada and receive complimentary general admission tomorrow, July 18. Since 2010, more than $1 million has been raised to grant the wishes of children with critical illnesses through these annual race weekend efforts with the additional support of the Honda Canada Foundation.

There are multiple ways for fans and festival-goers to make contributions this year. Attendees will be prompted to donate upon entering the festival grounds, but are also encouraged to visit the Racing Towards Wishes Make-A-Wish® Canada Zone located inside the Enercare Centre. It will feature fun activities for kids, chances to win prizes, an opportunity to take a picture of the friendly Make-A-Wish® Canada mascot Roary, and more. Online donations are also accepted at makeawish.ca/honda-indy/.

Attendees at Your Ontario Honda Dealers Present Free Fan Friday on July 18 will be treated to a jam-packed on-track schedule featuring open-wheel racing from the NTT INDYCAR SERIES and two series from USF Pro Championships Presented by Continental Tire, plus exciting sports car action from Emzone Radical Cup Canada presented by Michelin and Miata Canada Cup. Additionally, an all-driver NTT INDYCAR SERIES autograph session is planned for 12:30 p.m. ET in Heritage Court.

Fans will also have access to an array of off-track features to experience at Exhibition Place. Festival-goers can explore premium food and drink offerings in the Truck Stop section or head to the Ontario Honda Dealers Pit Stop area inside the Enercare Centre on the west end to beat the heat. Merchandise stands to buy souvenirs to commemorate the trip, interactive displays and beer gardens fill Thunder Alley.

Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto 2-Day General Admission tickets are available for $85, offering the best weekend value. Single Day General Admission is $50 for Saturday and $70 for Sunday.

All spectators are encouraged to use Toronto’s GO Lakeshore West Train to Exhibition Station for the easiest commute without the worry of traffic or parking at the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto. Go Transit has a special offer of general admission plus round trip fare at hondaindy.com/GO. Children 12 and under are admitted free throughout the event when attending with a ticketed adult and can also ride Go Transit for free. For complete ticket pricing and event information, visit hondaindy.com.

Entry List

Fast Facts

Race weekend: Friday, July 18-Sunday, July 20

Track: Streets of Toronto’s Exhibition Place, an 11-turn, 1.786-mile (2.874-kilometer) temporary street course

Race distance: Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto: 90 laps/160.74 miles/258.69 kilometers

Push-to-pass parameters: 200 seconds of total time with a maximum time of 20 seconds per activation.

Hybrid energy deployment parameters: Unlimited activation with a maximum deployment of 295 kilojoules (kJ) per lap.

Firestone tire allotment: Five sets primary, five sets alternate to be used during the event weekend. Teams fielding a rookie driver may use one additional set of primary tires. Teams must use one set of primary and one set of new (sticker) alternate tires for at least two laps in the race.

X: @HondaIndy, @IndyCar, #indyTO, #IndyCar

Instagram: @HondaIndy, @INDYCAR, #indyTO, #INDYCAR

Threads: @INDYCAR,

Facebook: @HondaIndyToronto, @INDYCAR, #INDYCAR

TikTok: @INDYCAR, #INDYCAR

YouTube: @INDYCAR

Event website: www.HondaIndy.com

INDYCAR website: www.INDYCAR.com

2024 race winner:

Colton Herta (No. 26 Gainbridge Honda)

2024 NTT P1 Award winner:

Colton Herta (No. 26 Gainbridge Honda), 59.5431 seconds, 107.982 mph

Qualifying record: Josef Newgarden, 58.4129 seconds, 110.072 mph. July 13, 2019 (Note: Gil de Ferran set the outright lap record of 57.143 seconds, 110.565 mph on July 17, 1999)

FOX Sports telecasts: NTT INDYCAR SERIES: Practice 1, 3 p.m. ET Friday, FS2 (live); Practice 2, 10:30 a.m. ET Saturday, FS1 (live); Qualifying, 2:30 p.m. ET Saturday, FS1 (live); Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto Noon ET, Sunday, FOX (USA)/TSN4/TSN+ (Canada) (live). Will Buxton is the play-by-play announcer for FOX’s coverage of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, alongside analysts Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe. Georgia Henneberry, Kevin Lee and Jack Harvey are the pit reporters.

INDYCAR Radio Network broadcasts: Mark Jaynes is the anchor alongside driver analyst Davey Hamilton. Jake Query and Nick Yeoman are the turn announcers. Michael Young and Alex Wollf are the pit reporters. The Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto race (11:30 a.m. ET Sunday), NTT P1 Award Qualifying (2:35 p.m. ET Saturday) and all NTT INDYCAR SERIES practices air live on network affiliates, SiriusXM 218, racecontrol.indycar.com and the INDYCAR App powered by NTT DATA.

At-track schedule (all times local):

Friday, July 18

3:05-4:25 p.m. – NTT INDYCAR SERIES Practice 1 (45 minutes for all cars, followed by two groups for 10 minutes each), FS2 (USA) /TSN+ (Canada), (Live).

Saturday, July 19

10:30-11:30 a.m. – NTT INDYCAR SERIES Practice 2 (45 minutes of green flag running or 60 minutes), FS1 (USA) /TSN+ (Canada), (Live).

2:30-4 p.m. – Qualifying for NTT P1 Award (Three rounds of knockout qualifying), FS1 (USA) /TSN+ (Canada), (Live).

Sunday, July 20

8:32-8:57 a.m. – NTT INDYCAR SERIES Warmup, FS1 (USA) /TSN+ (Canada), (Live).

Noon p.m. – FOX/TSN4 on air

12:15 p.m. – Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto “Drivers, start your engines”

12:22 p.m. – Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto (90 laps/160.74 miles/258.69 kilometers), FOX (USA) /TSN4/TSN+ (Canada), (Live).

Race notes:

• The Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto will be the 13th race of the 2025 season. There have been four different winners in 12 NTT INDYCAR SERIES races this season. Pato O’Ward (Iowa Speedway-1), Scott Dixon (Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course), and Kyle Kirkwood (Streets of Long Beach, Streets of Detroit and World Wide Technology Raceway) and Alex Palou (Streets of St. Petersburg, The Thermal Club, Barber Motorsports Park, Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Road America, Iowa Speedway-2) have all won in 2025.
• The Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto will be the 39th INDYCAR SERIES race held on the streets of Toronto’s Exhibition Place. Colton Herta won on the streets of Toronto from pole position in 2024.
• Scott Dixon is the winningest active INDYCAR SERIES driver at Toronto with four victories (Dixon won both races in 2013, the 2018 race and the 2022 race). Michael Andretti has the most wins at the track with seven. Dixon, three-time Toronto winner Will Power (2007, 2010, 2016), Josef Newgarden (2015, 2017), Christian Lundgaard (2023) and Colton Herta (2024) are previous race winners entered this year.

• Drivers who have won poles at Toronto entered in this year’s race are Will Power (2011, 2015), Scott Dixon (2013 Race 2, 2016), Josef Newgarden (2018), Colton Herta (2022, 2024) and Christian Lundgaard (2023). The polesitter has won the race nine times since the first race in 1986, most recently by Herta last season.

• From 2009-2019, the eventual NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion won the Toronto race six times. Dario Franchitti won in 2009 and in 2011. Ryan Hunter-Reay won in 2012, Scott Dixon swept both races in 2013 and won the single race in 2018 and Josef Newgarden won in 2017. Seven other drivers have claimed the INDYCAR SERIES championship in the same season they won at Toronto: Bobby Rahal (1986), Al Unser Jr. (1990), Michael Andretti (1991), Alex Zanardi (1998), Cristiano da Matta (2002), Paul Tracy (2003) and Sebastien Bourdais (2004).
• Twenty-four drivers entered in the event have competed in past INDYCAR SERIES races at Exhibition Place. Scott Dixon and Will Power (18) have made the most starts at Toronto among the entered drivers. Eleven entered drivers have led laps at the track (Dixon 245, Power 162, Josef Newgarden 120, Christian Lundgaard 54, Graham Rahal 29, Scott McLaughlin 28, Rinus VeeKay 18, Colton Herta 98, Pato O’Ward 3, Marcus Ericsson 2 and Felix Rosenqvist 1).
• Chip Ganassi Racing has won eight times at Toronto: Michael Andretti (1994), Alex Zanardi (1998), Dario Franchitti (2009, 2011) and Scott Dixon (2013 both races, 2018, 2022). Team Penske has five wins at the track: Paul Tracy (1993), Will Power (2010, 2016), Josef Newgarden (2017) and Simon Pagenaud (2019). Team Penske has 10 pole positions at the track: Danny Sullivan (1988, 1990), Emerson Fittipaldi (1993), Helio Castroneves (2000), Gil de Ferran (2001), Will Power (2011, 2015), Simon Pagenaud (2017, 2019) and Josef Newgarden (2018).
• Scott Dixon has finished on the podium in seven of his last 14 starts at Toronto and has 12 consecutive top-10 finishes. He has 12 top-five finishes in his 18 Toronto races…Will Power has finished on the podium in five of his 18 Toronto starts.

Milestones: Scott Dixon will attempt to make his 352nd consecutive starts, extending his INDYCAR SERIES record streak…Graham Rahal will attempt to make his 252nd consecutive start, the third-longest streak in INDYCAR SERIES history…Josef Newgarden will attempt to make his 215th consecutive start, the sixth-longest streak in INDYCAR SERIES history…Dixon passed Mario Andretti for the INDYCAR SERIES record for starts with his 408th start May 25 at Indianapolis and will extend his record to 412 with a start Sunday…Dixon’s win at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on July 6 – his 59th INDYCAR SERIES win – extended two ongoing INDYCAR SERIES records he currently holds: Seasons with a win (23), Consecutive Seasons with a win (21). Dixon’s second-place finish at Iowa Speedway on July 13 extended two additional ongoing INDYCAR SERIES records he currently holds: podium finishes (145) and top-five finishes (215).