Marcus Ericsson denies Romain Grosjean with late charge to Markham IndyCar victory

Andretti Global's Marcus Ericsson ended a 63-race winless drought with a dramatic late charge to pass Romain Grosjean and win the inaugural Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham.

After pitting from the lead with 21 laps remaining and droppping to seventh, Ericsson stormed back on fresh alternate tires, passed Grosjean for the lead with five laps to go and coasted to victory by 7.5305s on the 12-turn, 2.19-mile temporary street circuit. It's Ericsson's fifth career IndyCar victory and first since St. Petersburg in 2023.

"Yeah, it's been long enough," said Ericsson, 35. "We worked so hard and the No. 28 crew, RYA Group's Honda today was fantastic, but it doesn't come as a surprise. We've had such a good year, we've been working every weekend, getting stronger and stronger, qualifying up front every weekend. We might not have got the results we deserve every weekend. Really felt like we deserved it and we had to work for it today. We had to work for it yesterday, so it was great."

The result also marks Grosjean's first podium since the 2023 season (Barber). Will Power, who started 25th and last, finished third to give Andretti two cars on the podium.

Chip Ganassi Racing's Alex Palou finished fourth, ahead of Arrow McLaren's Pato O'Ward.

The Race

Pole-sitter Louis Foster (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing) led the field to the green flag at the alternate start between Turns 5 and 6, and immediately built a 1s gap over front-row starter Christian Lundgaard. As the field got sorted, rookie Caio Collet was forced to pit after a flat tire and bent toe link on his No. 4 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet. 

Felix Rosenqvist, who started 20th, was the first to go off strategy, mainly due to a slow puncture likely from the opening lap contact with Collet, and dove to pit lane on Lap 5, swapping off a set of harder primary tires to softer alternates on his No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Honda. 

The lead for Foster widened to 1.8553s over Lundgaard, with McLaughlin sitting 3s behind in third. 

The first frontrunner, sixth-place Rinus VeeKay, pitted on Lap 12 to go off sequence to a three-stopper. 

On Lap 14, the first caution of the race came out after rookie Mick Schumacher, who was running eighth, crashed in Turn 4, suffering significant right-front damage to his No. 47 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda, ending his day. 

With the pits open, Lundgaard opted to relinquish second and come in for service, with Foster and several others staying out. Graham Rahal, Rosenqvist, Santino Ferrucci, and Romain Grosjean also dove to pit lane.

The restart came on Lap 18, with Foster getting away once more  while Hauger, who restarted in the top five, began tumbling down the running order to 20th over the next two laps.

The issues continued for Rosenqvist, as he was left to retire before reaching 20 laps in the race due to fuel pressure problems. 

Team Penske's David Malukas gave up his place among the top 10 to pit on Lap 21, moments after a radio call of continued frustrations over the braking system. 

Foster's lead over McLaughlin stood at 1.4828s by Lap 25. Meanwhile, Palou pitted from fifth the next lap. McLaughlin pitted on Lap 28, elevating Ericsson to second. Ericsson pitted on Lap 30, with Alexander Rossi and Will Power also going in for service. 

On Lap 31, the caution came out after Meyer Shank Racing's Marcus Armstrong spun and stalled in Turn 5. Armstrong attempted to get back going, but stalled once more at a weird angle as the field went by, leaving the likes of McLaughlin to slow enough that the engine stalled briefly and dropped positions. McLaughlin was allowed to regain the positions lost, and returned up to sixth. 

The pits opened up on Lap 33, with Foster leading Kyle Kirkwood and Scott Dixon into pit lane, handing the lead to Arrow McLaren's Nolan Siegel. 

Siegel led the field to the green flag on Lap 35, with Grosjean in second. However, the yellow flag came out moments later as Dixon was spun by Hauger and collected Christian Rasmussen in Turn 8. While Dixon was able to continue on and return to the pits with significant left-rear suspension damage, Rasmussen retired at the scene.

The restart came on Lap 40, with Siegel once again but it was Grosjean who managed to take the lead at the hairpin corner. Meanwhile, the man on the move was Foster, who drove through the likes of Palou, Power, and Rahal up to fourth. 

Foster's charge came to an end as he attempted a dive on Ericsson for third, but clipped the inside wall and bounced into the outside barrier of Turn 3 on Lap 43, bringing out another caution.

Siegel and Rahal pitted under caution on Lap 44.

Grosjean led the field to the green flag on Lap 50, with Ericsson directly on his rear wing. 

Grosjean dove to pit lane on Lap 53, just as a caution came out for Kirkwood hitting the wall in Turn 3 in an identical crash to Foster's. 

Ericsson led the field to the restart on Lap 58, but the caution returned once more a lap later after Team Penske's Josef Newgarden and Siegel came together in Turn 5. 

Although the likes of Power, Rahal, Lundgaard, O'Ward, Ferrucci, Sting Ray Robb, and Rossi pitted, Ericsson continued to stay out. 

The restart came on Lap 62, with Ericsson getting a big jump on Grosjean. 

Ericsson managed to pull off a 6.9420s lead over Grosjean by Lap 66. Grosjean was also a few car lengths ahead of McLaughlin, Malukas and Palou. Ericsson's lead stretched to 13.4s.

Ericsson dove to pit lane on Lap 69, swapped to a fresh set of softer alternates, and rejoined fifth before losing two positions over the following laps to VeeKay and Power.

Meanwhile, Grosjean held a 1.632s lead over McLaughlin. 

With 18 laps to go, McLaughlin fell to third as Palou got by in Turn 6. The lead for Grosjean stood at 2.1s. 

Although Palou clawed the gap down to 1s, he made a mistake and overshot the apex in Turn 6 and dropped down to 3s back. However, he clawed back to within 2s the next lap. 

Grosjean held a 1.4657s lead over Palou with 12 laps to go, with Power and Ericsson on the charge as the Andretti teammates jumped to third and fourth, respectively. 

Two laps later, Grosjean extended his gap to 2.0991s over Palou. 

As Power caught Palou at the hairpin with nine laps to go, Ericsson dove under Power and the two made wheel-to-wheel contact but continued on. Ericsson took over third, and was within a car length of Palou as Power was left with dirty tires from being hit off-line. 

Ericsson dove under Palou with seven laps to go, taking over second and 2.6s behind Grosjean. 

Grosjean's lead dropped rapidly to 0.8s with six laps to go. Meanwhile, Power got around Palou for third. 

With five laps to go, Ericsson was on the rear wing of Grosjean and took the lead into Turn 9. 

Ericsson quickly pulled a gap of 2.3s over Grosjean with four laps to go. The lead progressed to 5.7s coming to the final lap. Ericsson rapidly pulled clear after taking the lead and crossed the line 7.5305 seconds ahead of Grosjean, with Power completing the podium.

Read Also:

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Mick Schumacher crashes out of Markham IndyCar race after strong start

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