TORONTO (AP) 鈥� Colton Herta won the chaotic Honda Indy Toronto on Sunday for his first victory in more than two years, starting from the pole and maintaining control throughout at Exhibition Place.
The 24-year-old American completed the first weekend sweep in IndyCar history, posting the fastest times in both practices, qualifying and the warmup Sunday before winning the race for his eighth career victory.
鈥淚t鈥檚 awesome. It鈥檚 amazing,鈥� Herta said. 鈥淔or whatever reason it just hasn鈥檛 gone our way. We鈥檝e had speed, we鈥檝e had plenty of podiums, we鈥檝e had a lot of poles, a lot of top fives, but no wins. And so it feels great to finally get one back.鈥�
The race was the first street event for the hybrid powertrains introduced two weeks ago on the road course at Mid-Ohio, with Herta putting a lot of extra stress to the engine by spinning around his car in triumphant doughnuts.
鈥淚 love doing doughnuts,鈥� Herta said. 鈥淎nd this engine鈥檚 getting ripped out after this race so I can destroy it as much I want. 鈥� I hate when I don鈥檛 get to do doughnuts and this was the perfect race to win.鈥�
Andretti Global teammate Kyle Kirkwood was second, 0.3469 seconds back on the street course, followed by four-time Toronto champion Scott Dixon of Chip Ganassi Racing.
鈥淪uper happy with second, especially when a teammate wins,鈥� Kirkwood said. 鈥淭hat was the goal today. We started 1-2 and we wanted to finish 1-2. Of course I would have (preferred to) have won, but I also wasn鈥檛 going to push the envelope whatsoever.鈥�
Series leader Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing was fourth after starting 18th following a penalty for interference in qualifying. He increased his lead to 49 points over Will Power, the Team Penske driver who ended up 12th after a late penalty.
The race featured six restarts, with a multi-car crash forcing a red flag on the 73rd lap after Pato O鈥橶ard spun out into a wall, leaving the nose of his car jutting out onto the track.
Marcus Ericsson locked up into the wall behind O鈥橶ard, then three more racers 鈥� Pietro Fittipaldi, Santino Ferrucci and Nolan Siegel 鈥� clipped O鈥橶ard鈥檚 nose. Ferrucci鈥檚 car went airborne and landed upside down, but the American immediately signaled to his team that he was OK and emerged from his vehicle.
Frenchman Theo Pourchaire was 14th for Arrow McLaren, subbing for the injured Alexander Rossi. Rossi broke his right thumb in practice Friday when his car hit a tire barrier and then skidded into a concrete wall.
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