JULY 23, 2025

(Photo of Pato O'Ward by Joe Skibinski for Penske Entertainment)

Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward isn’t ready to concede the NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship to Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou quite yet. O’Ward drove that point home in Sunday’s Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto by winning his second race in eight days as Palou finished 12th.

Palou entered the weekend with a 129-point lead over O’Ward, the largest leader’s margin this point system has ever seen this deep in a season. But 30 points evaporated at Exhibition Place, dropping their separation to 99 points with four races remaining.

A race win can be worth as many as 54 points.

“Oh, man, I can’t say I saw this (win) coming,” O’Ward said. “But I was feeling so good on the (primary) tires all weekend really. We were just struggling to get the alternates to work in qualifying. Sadly, that’s the one you need to transfer. But I knew we had a great car under me to race with, and (the crew) nailed it on the strategy.”

The win was the first for O’Ward in Toronto and his ninth in the series overall. He started the race in the 10th position but felt luck was going to be with him after a bird dropped an unlikely present on the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet and a crew member in the morning practice.

“That’s going to be a good day today, and it was,” the Mexican driver said. “I’m stoked for everybody (on the team). I would have never expected to have gone this much better in Toronto because it’s been the most challenging circuit for us in the past.”

Joining O’Ward on the podium were a pair of drivers scoring season-making finishes. Dale Coyne Racing’s Rinus VeeKay (No. 18 askROI Honda) finished second, with Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyffin Simpson (No. 8 Chip Ganassi Racing Journie Rewards Honda) finishing third. VeeKay scored his fifth career podium finish, but first since a race at Barber Motorsports Park in 2022. Simpson earned the prestigious spot for the first time in his two years in the series. Watch the race Highlights here. (Thank You to INDYCAR Media)

(MotoGP.com)

Marc Marquez (No. 93 Ducati Lenovo Team) emerged victorious on Sunday at the Tissot Grand Prix of Czechia to become the first Ducati rider to win five Grands Prix on the spin, but he was made to work for it in the first half of the battle. Marco Bezzecchi (No. 72 Aprilia Racing) put up a good fight to collect P2, 1.7s away from the win, as Pedro Acosta (No. 37 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) held off a late Francesco Bagnaia (No. 63 Ducati Lenovo Team) comeback to pick up his first Sunday rostrum of the season. Watch the Race Highlights here. (Thank You to MotoGP.com)

Editor's Note: This is our dearly departed billboard, which we had at Road America for several years. Peter gifted the phrase "America's National Park of Speed" to the track, which now uses it proudly in all of its communications. -WG

Editor's Note: Click on "Next 1 Entries" at the bottom of this page to see previous issues. - WG