Unfinished Business: Markham Practice Postponed As Crews Work To Finish Course

MARKHAM, Ontario — INDYCAR’s first visit to the Toronto suburb of Markham was delayed, as course workers needed more time to construct the track ahead of Sunday’s Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham (noon ET on FOX and FOX One). Support series were scheduled to get on the 2.19-mile track at 9 a.m. ET Friday, and INDYCAR drivers were scheduled to get their first taste of the 12-turn track at 3 p.m. Neither of those scheduled times was met, and after several delays, INDYCAR scrapped the entire day at 5:30 p.m. “Ensuring the safety of the drivers and the completion of the certification process of competing on a brand-new racetrack delayed all on-track activities today,” the track said in a statement. INDYCAR will add a practice to the schedule for Saturday at 10 a.m., another practice at 2:30 p.m. (when qualifying was originally scheduled), followed by qualifying at 6:30 p.m. “INDYCAR is incredibly disappointed that our promoter was not able to complete the track build on time, despite significant support from our team on site,” INDYCAR President J. Douglas Boles said in a statement. “Ontario has always been a magnificent market for our sport and the number of spectators that attended today is a shining example of that. New events can always pose logistical challenges and we join in the frustration of our loyal fans and apologize.” Drivers were hopeful to get on track on Friday but knew it was going to be a scramble. “I wouldn’t say I’m nervous or anything like that,” Team Penske driver Scott McLaughlin told me and other reporters on Friday morning. “I’m excited. It looks like an awesome layout. “Once it’s done, it’s going to be wicked.” It was apparent as teams loaded in on Thursday that there could be issues as a significant amount of wall and fencing remained and not enough personnel and equipment to finish quick enough for everything to be inspected and approved by the FIA representative. The track walk for teams was postponed until Friday morning. While significant progress was made overnight, persistent safety concerns of some walls and tire barriers remained. Additional tire packs were still needed for runoff areas and a few other places and the plan was to be able to install those overnight to be ready for Saturday. Drivers were itching to get on the track. All the streets had been repaved, meaning there is only one type of asphalt for the entire course. Typically, street courses are a mix of asphalt used on the various roads that have been repaved at different times. “We’re not missing much, but it’s a bit of a pain that we make it all the way here and it’s not ready,” INDYCAR points leader Alex Palou told me and other reporters Friday morning. “Markham has done an incredible job with the investment, with the layout and everything. “But they need to complete the track. I’m excited [because] so far it looks incredible. The tarmac being brand new. That’s something we don’t have. We’ve never hard it on a street course. There’s some overtaking spots. It’s super wide at some areas, narrow at some others.” This is the first race at Markham after 40 years in Toronto at Exhibition Place. That area has been a challenge in recent years because of construction and then it was not available this summer because of the World Cup. With those insurmountable hurdles, last year, Toronto race promoter Green Savoree made a five-year deal with the City of Markham, which is about 25 minutes from Toronto, to have the INDYCAR race. Track build woes and delays at new street courses are not unprecedented but certainly put a damper the city’s debut. “I guess they’re about a day behind, but it is what it is,” Andretti Global driver Will Power told me and other reporters. “It’s a very nice track. Very, very nice, probably the nicest street course we’re going to go to.”