For as much unwarranted criticism as IndyCar's upcoming race in Washington, D.C. has generated, simply because of who happens to be the current Commander in Chief, it looked on Friday like somebody forgot to mention to Canada that they were actually supposed to host their own NTT IndyCar Series race this weekend.
Seriously, what were we doing here?
The 12-turn, 2.19-mile (3.524-kilometer) street course, which replaced the historic Toronto street track that had hosted races dating back to 1986, was simply "not ready" for practice at any point on Friday, leading to a slew of schedule changes for the race weekend, and nobody was truly confident heading into Saturday that things would be much different either.
I honestly don't want to hear excuses about 'first year' and 'teething issues' with this one.
— Joey Barnes (@JoeyBarnes85) August 14, 2026
Simply unacceptable across the board from everyone involved. Period.
The regular fan works their ass off - and likely took a day off - to come to the track today. For this to be the…
Seriously, though, teething issues? Sure, but how many other first-year events cancel an entire day of track activity? No excuses.
Fortunately, the second day for IndyCar in Markham, Ontario, ahead of Sunday's inaugural Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham, has been better. Practice was indeed held twice earlier today, setting the stage for this evening's qualifying session, which itself had to be pushed back from the afternoon.
Chip Ganassi Racing's Alex Palou owns a 110-point lead in the championship standings after 13 of 18 races in 2026, and that is in large part due to his street course success, which includes three wins and a runner-up finish. That runner-up finish, however, did come in another inaugural event earlier this year in Arlington, Texas, when Andretti Global's Kyle Kirkwood won from seventh on the grid.
Palou's three street course wins this year have come from fourth, third, and pole. How crucial will this weekend's qualifying session be? Follow along with our updates from Markham Centre.
Of note, IndyCar has ditched the single-car qualifying format for the Firestone Fast Six, which had been used at the three most recent street circuits.
Qualifying is underway after an early delay.
Markham IndyCar qualifying: Round 1, Group 1 results
1 - Alex Palou, No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
2 - Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet
3 - Dennis Hauger, No. 19 Dale Coyne Racing Honda
4 - Marcus Ericsson, No. 28 Andretti Global Honda
5 - Graham Rahal, No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda
6 - Scott Dixon, No. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
7 - Kyffin Simpson, No. 8 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
8 - Christian Rasmussen, No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet
9 - Sting Ray Robb, No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet
10 - Nolan Siegel, No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet
11 - Santino Ferrucci, No. 14 A.J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet
12 - Caio Collet, No. 4 A.J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet
Markham IndyCar qualifying: Round 1, Group 2 results
Markham IndyCar qualifying: Round 2 results
Markham IndyCar qualifying: Firestone Fast Six results
Full Markham IndyCar starting lineup
Fox’s live coverage of the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham is set to begin from Markham Centre at 12:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, August 16. Start a free trial of FuboTV and catch all of the action from the newest event on the IndyCar schedule!
Add us as a preferred source on Google