MARKHAM, Ontario — Louie Foster of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing is currently the track record holder on the streets of Markham as the driver from Great Britain ended Saturday’s second practice session as the fastest on the new course.
Foster’s fast time was 1:14.1793 around the 12-turn, 2.19-mile street course in Markham, Ontario in preparation for Sunday’s Ontario Honda Dealers Indy At Markham. Foster turned the fastest lap in the first group session following Saturday afternoon’s all-cars portion of practice.
Marcus Ericsson of Andretti Global was second at 1:14.1933 with his time coming in the first group. David Malukas was the fastest in the second group with a time of 1:14.1940 in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet.
Kyle Kirkwood of Andretti Global was fourth overall at 1:14.2498 in the No. 27 Honda and Mick Schumacher of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing was fifth in the No. 47 Honda at 1:14.3082.
Next up for IndyCar is the knockout round of qualifications that begin at 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time.
Rookie Dennis Hauger set the early time at 1:16.1355 in the No. 19 Dale Coyne Racing Honda before Alexander Rossi, Kyle Kirkwood, Scott McLaughlin and Romain Grosjean all bettered his mark.
But Hauger regained it when he topped Rossi on the timing chart with a lap at 1:15.2880 at the 9-minute mark of practice.
At 9:30 into the session, Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin locked up in Turn 6, missed the corner and drove into the runoff in Turn 7. He was able to get his No. 3 Chevrolet back in the right direction and pulled into the pits.
While that was happening, Marcus Ericsson surpassed Hauger for fast time at 1:15.1281 in the No 28 Andretti Global Honda. Caio Collet jumped to second at 1:15.2131.
Ericsson lowered the track record with a lap 1:14.8971 at 13 minutes, 40 seconds into practice. Collet lowered it even further with a lap at 1:14.7370 in the No. 4 Chevrolet.
McLaughlin spun a second time in the session, apparently having a car that didn’t handle through Turn 10.
With 7:22 remaining in practice, Will Power stuffed the No. 26 Honda into the apex of the Turn 10 tire barrier and slammed hard with a glancing blow into the tire barrier. It was another bad break for the Andretti Autosport driver in 2026.
“You hate to lose track time, especially on a new circuit,” Power’s race strategist Ron Ruzewski said. “Right now, all three cars have been decent off the trucks so we will have to rely on Marcus and Kyle to direct us for the qualifying session.
“Right now, the focus is on getting the car assessed, what we have to work with and get it back in time for the qualifying session.”
Power was checked and released from the IndyCar Medical Unit.
“It was actually a very soft feeling crash with a lot of damage, unfortunately,” Power said. “I missed the turn in 9 and got in the dust and wasn’t up to speed on new tires. Very unfortunate.
“That section is a quite technical line over that bump, and you line up into Turn 10. I was actually good in those sectors. Yeah, man, it sucks to lose that time on a new track. That’s 12 minutes we would like to have back at a brand-new track.”
At the time of the impact, Alex Palou had turned the fastest lap of the session with a time at 1:14.6525 in the No. 10 DHL Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing. Collect was second at 1:14.7370 in the No. 4.
Palou was also the fastest driver in Saturday morning’s all-cars session and in the Group A session that followed.
The crash ended the all-cars portion of practice. Group B was next on course.
Louie Foster wowed the crowd with a flat lap at 1.14.2717 in the No. 45 Honda for a track record, moving Palou down to second. Foster went even faster on the next lap at 1:14.1793, three laps in a row that were progressively faster.
Ericsson moved up to second with a time at 1:14.1933 in the No. 28 Honda followed by Andretti Global teammate Kyle Kirkwood at 1:14.2498 in the No. 27 Honda.
That’s how that group finished with Foster, Ericsson, Kirkwood the top three followed by Mick Schumacher’s No. 47 Honda at 1:14.3082 and Scott McLaughlin’s Chevrolet at 1:14.5010 in the No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet.
“I like it, it’s a fun track, it’s tough though, challenging, you need to attack,” Ericsson said. “Fun challenge. They did a very good job with this layout.
“We are in the window. We have been fast all day, but in this category, you never know what more you need. You work on finding even more. It was a little strange in practice 1. It was not clear the Red tire was better, but it was like that in Portland. I would expect the Red to be a faster tire, but it’s definitely not straightforward.”
The second group was next on course for the final 12-minute session.
Collet, who had an extremely promising weekend and was among the fastest drivers all day, crashed with 2:12 left when he smacked the right rear into the tire barrier, damaging the car in Turn 10 and creating another Red Flag situation.
Nearly simultaneously, just before the Red was displayed, Team Penske’s Malukas turned the fastest lap out of that group with a time of 1:14.1940. That was third fastest overall behind Foster and Ericsson.
