By Ashley McCubbin

MARKHAM, Ontario — The twists and the turns of the NTT IndyCar Series season are set for another kink in the road, with a new challenge ahead for the drivers this weekend. The only race north of the border in Canada will see a change in venue, with the inaugural Honda Indy Ontario set to take place on the streets of Markham instead of Toronto.

“I’d say we’ve done quite well this season on street circuits,” Simpson told News From The Pits. “They aren’t our strongest suit probably, but we do a good job. I think we always have good race cars, maybe not necessarily the ultimate pace sometimes, but we do a great job making sure our race cars are good, we’re able to perform when we get in the longer stints.”

The track walk on Thursday afternoon will be the first time all the competitors will get a chance to see the 3.52-kilometre street circuit for the first time in person. In preparation for the event, Simpson has spent time on the simulator and noted it looks like it will be tricky.

“It looks like a very technical track, which isn’t usually my kind of track so much,” he commented. “I love all sorts of different challenges and tracks. I feel like once we get there in person it’s probably going to be a lot cooler than looking at a track map.

“I’m excited for it. I’m excited to see kind of the elevation change that it seems like it has. That seems like a cool aspect for a street course that we don’t really have anywhere else. It’s going to be interesting to see what the passing opportunities are like. I feel like it looks like it’s going to be difficult to pass, but you might just have some big moves in the race.”

The first on-track session will come in the form of practice on Friday afternoon, head of a second session on Saturday with qualifying following. The teams will then get a brief warm-up session on Sunday prior to the event in the afternoon. Those initial laps behind the wheel, Simpson notes it will be seeing how smooth the track is, and where the bumps are.

“There’s always bumps. It’s about finding where the difficult ones are and finding a good way around them,” he shared. “Other than that, you’re getting an eye for brake markers, visual references of where everything is. Once you get an eye for that, you’re pushing. You’re kind of pushing from right away, but it’s kind of more like a strategic kind of pushing where you’re not all out, you’re just looking, pushing in safe places, let’s say.”

Simpson showed speed last year across the border, as evident by picking up his first career podium finish. It seems the momentum has carried over to the 2026 campaign as the Chip Ganassi Racing driver has scored six top-10 finishes, highlighted by a fourth-place result at Road America.

“It’s been great,” he commented. “I think this kind of second half of the season we’ve really caught a stride and had some solid consistency that I’ve been very happy with. I think we’re doing a great job, doing a lot of things right. We’re learning from all our mistakes, which is the big thing. We just keep getting better. Hopefully we can grow to try to get back on that podium.”