Markham, Ontario — A new street court tested the perseverance and patience of INDYCAR drivers Sunday.
Marcus Ericsson, a driver who hasn’t won in nearly four years and nearly found himself out of a ride after this season but earned a contract extension last month thanks to his perseverance and patience, emerged victorious.
Ericsson captured his first victory since March 2023 as he snapped a 63-race winless streak by claiming the inaugural win on the perilous streets of Markham, where the Ontario Grand Prix was relocated from Toronto’s Exhibition Place.
Here are my takeaways:
1. Streak Snapped
Ericsson indicated he felt that a win was coming with the performance this year, a 180 from last year when he finished 20th in the standings. A former Formula 1 driver and an Indianapolis 500 winner when at Ganassi, the Andretti Global driver entered Markham sitting ninth in the 2026 standings.
“The thing in racing, you have to believe in yourself, right?” Ericsson said in his winners news conference. “I went eight years without a win when I went from F2, went in F1, then came to INDYCAR. It’s easy to give up and do something else.
“I always feel like mental strength and that ability to push myself, even when things doesn’t go your way, it’s been one of my biggest strengths as a driver.”
Marcus Ericsson snapped a 63-race winless streak by taking the checkered flag on the streets of Markham.
The 35-year-old driver led 21 of 90 laps, including the last five, after he easily passed a fuel-saving Romain Grosjean for the lead. It was likely a popular win considering Ericsson’s path the lat few years.
“I don’t think there was any scenario last year where I would have won a race because I just wasn’t fast and I wasn’t happy with the way the car felt,” Ericsson said. “It was no one’s fault. Things didn’t work out. We were in a bad spiral.
It comes from working hard, putting the work in. There’s nothing coming for free. You can’t after a season like last year sit around and think hopefully next year will be better.”
2. Streak Continued
Romain Grosjean, who drives for Dale Coyne Racing, has no wins in 78 career INDYCAR starts since making the move from F1.
His last victory in a single-seater car came in 2011 in a G2 Series race.
“I cried a little, I’m not going to lie,” Grosjean said in his postrace news conference. “But control what you can control. … I did everything I could.”
3. Power Nearly Ruins Teammate’s Day
Will Power finished third but nearly ruined Ericsson’s chance to win when the two had contact when Ericsson passed him in the hairpin.
Power said he wasn’t trying to keep Ericsson from passing him.
“I said [to my team], ‘OK, I’ll let him go on the backstraight so I can stay close to Palou,’” Power said in his postrace news conference about the contact.
“He didn’t get the message, or it wasn’t quick enough for him. Miscommunication. I didn’t even look in my mirror. I just turned. Obviously at that point, I was upset because we lost such a gap.”
Will Power came through with a third-place finish on Sunday.
Ericsson, who had pitted several laps later than Grosjean for his final stop and was several seconds behind at the time, said the contact was unfortunate and he and his teammate are good.
“I was really eager to get by and sort of hunt down the leaders because I really felt like I had the pace to win,” Ericsson said.
4. New Track, Mixed Reviews
It might not be much of a surprise, but those who had great finishes loved the track while those who wrecked did not.
The biggest issue was the lack of any curved barriers, which meant that the walls all came to a point. A misjudgment could result in hitting a wall and end one’s day.
Pole-sitter Louis Foster saw his race end after 42 laps and Kyle Kirkwood’s ended in similar fashion 11 laps later.
“They didn’t come here with radius walls,” Kirkwood told me and other reporters. “That’s been the new normal for INDYCAR is radius walls at all the apex.
“As you’re wrapping around the corner, you can’t see the points and they surprise you a bit. But it’s not like it was any different than the rest of the weekend. It just can catch you off guard.”
The new circuit at Markham drew mixed reviews from drivers.
4 ½. Up Next: Freedom 250
The streets of Washington D.C. await INDYCAR drivers in what will be a spectacle in the nation’s capital on a 1.7-mile course.
It will be one of the longest street-course races in decades at 250 miles with the start-finish line across from the U.S. Capitol.
WHAT YOU SHOULD READ NEXT
From Ontario to Washington, D.C., INDYCAR has back-to-back brand-new street tracks. So how do drivers prepare?