Marcus Ericsson wins inaugural Ontario Honda Dealers at Markham

Marcus Ericsson has won the inaugural Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham.

Ericsson passed Romain Grosjean with four laps to go for the fifth win of his IndyCar career.

Grosjean was second, Will Power placed third and season-leader Alex Palou finished fourth.

It’s the first year Markham, Ont., has hosted the race after it moved from Toronto’s Exhibition Place, where it had been held since 1986.

Palou was 12th on the grid, his first time outside of the top 10 in qualifying in 30 races.

He entered Sunday’s race with a 110-point lead over Kyle Kirkwood in the driver rankings as he closes in on his fifth IndyCar title. 

Kirkwood went out in the 53rd lap when he pinged off the inside wall at Turn 3 and then colliding with the outside wall.

Louis Foster was the fastest car in practice and qualifying, earning his first pole of the season. 

Foster predicted pre-race that there would be “carnage” on the 12-turn, 3.52-kilometre road course around downtown Markham that runs between Kennedy Road, Enterprise Boulevard, Unionville GO tracks and Highway 407.

That prediction was prescient as Foster went out early on Sunday. He crashed in the 43rd lap when he clipped the inside wall after passing Ericsson then went nose-first into the outside wall of Turn 3.