By: Ashley McCubbin

Cover Photo by Brandon Feeney

MARKHAM, Ontario — “When you expect something good to happen, we’ve gone the opposite way, and then whenever you don’t expect something good, it’s kind of like, Ahh….”

Those were words of Pato O’Ward entering the Ontario Honda Dealers of Indy at Markham weekend, and they also sort of fit how the event played out for the Arrow McLaren driver, as well.

He showed enough speed to transfer into the Fast 12 during qualifying on Saturday, but a trip into the run-off at turn 10 instead saw him start deep on the grid in the 23rd position. Raceday did not go as smoothly as intended, either, as he went for a spin in the turn five hairpin at one point.

Despite the rough moments throughout the event, O’Ward stuck with it and was able to rebound to a fifth-place finish for his eighth top-five of the season.

“The rest of the year has been a bit very underwhelming,” he told News From The Pits before the weekend. “I think it’s just one of those where I have no idea how we’re still fifth in the championship. We’re still obviously in the fight for it. I think (Alex) Palou is sitting pretty as he has been in the last three years, so I think second might be the most realistic challenge for at least my team with five races to go.”

The stretch will begin with another new street course, as the IndyCar Series heads to Washington, D.C. for the Freedom 250.

“We’ve had a good year on street courses, so I am excited for this one (Markham) and the next one (Washington),” he commented. “It will allow us to kind of stay in the same rhythm to try and maximize it. Then going into Milwaukee with a double there and then Laguna (Seca) to close it off, so I think it’s gonna be intense as is expected. But I mean, it’s just IndyCar – you really don’t know what to expect every single weekend. It is always throwing something new at you, so we just need to be open to what the challenge is going to be and be flexible in the way you can’t just be set to stone on one thing. I think it’s going to be about who closes best with their team and communicates the best.”