The Indy Toronto, NASCAR Canada at Saskatoon, IWK 250, DIRTcar stops at Drummond and Brockville, and OMRS Bill Pickford Memorial highlight a packed schedule of racing in the coming week; here’s what you need to know.
Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto
The NTT IndyCar Series returns to the streets around Toronto’s Exhibition Place for its annual Canadian stop. The headlining Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto will feature 85 laps on the 11-turn, 2.874-kilometer street course; green flag is scheduled for around 1:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, with practice starting on Friday and qualifying on Saturday.
Danish driver Christian Lundgaard recorded his only career IndyCar win to date in last year’s race. Scott Dixon leads active drivers with four IndyCar wins in Toronto, followed by Will Power and Josef Newgarden, with two each. Defending champion Alex Palou leads the standings by 35 points over Power, despite some parity with race winners. Palou, Power, Dixon, Pato O’Ward and Scott McLaughlin each have two regular season wins so far this season, while Newgarden has one victory, which came in the Indy 500. Palou also won an exhibition race in California.
IndyCar will be joined by its USF 2000 and USF Pro 2000 support series. In the USF Pro 2000, Canadian Mac Clark is currently 11th in the standings, in his first season with the tour. Both USF 2000 and USF Pro 2000 will have one race each on Saturday and Sunday.
FEL Motorsports will also return to the streets of Toronto, with two races for the Sports Car Championship Canada presented by Michelin (SCCC) and three races for the Emzone Radical Cup Canada presented by Michelin, which will race in the same field as the visiting Radical Cup North America. GT4 driver Jack Polito and TCA driver Eric Kunz are off to perfect four-for-four starts in their SCCC classes, while Richard Boake and Gary Kwok have two wins each in the TCR class. Owen Clarke has three wins in four races to start the Radicals season.
Off-track activities include the second edition of Rev & Run, in support of the Parkdale Community Food Bank. Professional and amateur runners alike will lace up and pace the main track for a 5k on Friday night, while participating kids will tackle the 1k run on pit road. WeatherTech Canada is the title sponsor of the event, while Inside Track returns to sponsor the 1k.
Check back with InsideTrackNews.com and our Instagram page for coverage throughout the Indy Toronto weekend.
NASCAR Canada Series
The NASCAR Canada Series returns to Saskatoon’s Sutherland Automotive Speedway for the start of its two-race Western Swing on Saturday night. Following double-headers since 2017, Saskatoon returns to a single 250-lap event. There were nine different winners in the last 10 Saskatoon races, while Marc-Antoine Camirand, Andrew Ranger and Kevin Lacroix enter as the top-three in points, with two wins each to open the season. Jason Hathaway will be making his 150th start, while fellow series veteran Mark Dilley will make his final series start.
IWK 250 Weekend
The prestigious IWK 250 for the East Coast International Pro Stock Tour (EPST) will headline this weekend’s action at Nova Scotia’s Riverside International Speedway. The race is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. local time on Saturday and features $20,000 guaranteed to the winner, with more than $14,000 also available through the lap leader bonus.
Thirty drivers are entered for the IWK 250, including past event winners Dylan Blenkhorn, Donald Chisholm, Cassius Clark, Greg Proude, Craig Slaunwhite, and Regan Smith. Slaunwhite returns as the defending race winner, while Smith will provide some international star power, with the NASCAR Cup Series race winner driving the Cat Car for Kids.
Jarrett Butcher enters the IWK 250 with a slim four-point lead over Gage Gilby and Austin MacDonald in the EPST standings. Butcher has two wins so far this season, while Nicholas Naugle and Danny Chisholm have one win each. To read much more about the IWK 250 weekend, click here.
The Maritime All Star Series sportsman tour and Maritime League of Legends will race at Riverside on Friday night. Deven Smith won the most recent MASS sportsman race, at Scotia Speedworld, while Owen Mahar won the most recent MLOL race, at Oyster Bed Speedway. The Hot Rod Classics will take to the track on Saturday afternoon; Patty Lawrence won last weekend at Petty International Raceway.
Canadian Series News & Notes
There will be several other Canadian series to note this weekend:
- The Ontario Modifieds Racing Series will visit Peterborough Speedway for its prestigious Bill Pickford Memorial, named in honour of the former racer and official. Saturday night will feature a doubleheader, with 30 and 31-lap races to equal Pickford’s traditional No. 61. Tyler Bouillon has three wins in three races to start the season.
- The Great Lakes Legends Series (GLL) and Ontario Legend Car Series (OLCS) will race together for the second week in a row, visiting Full Throttle Motor Speedway on Saturday night. OLCS regular Mitch Wright took the victory in a combined event last weekend at Sunset Speedway, his third OLCS win of the season. Wright joins Josh Indig and Austin Arnel as early season winners in the GLL.
- The Ontario Pro Challenge will compete at Full Throttle Motor Speedway on Saturday night. Defending champion Tim Norris has four wins in six features to start the year; he holds a slim four-point lead in the standings over Bryan Stevanus.
Jason Metcalfe has two wins in four races to start the Outlaw Midgets season. COURTESY: Ashley McCubbin The Outlaw Midgets will race at Sunset Speedway on Saturday night. Jason Metcalfe and Rob McCall each recorded a feature win the last time out, on the Canada Day weekend at Sauble Speedway. Metcalfe leads the standings by six points over Nick Spiesz.
- The Nissan Sentra Cup will make its U.S. debut this weekend at Connecticut’s Lime Rock Park, with a pair of races on Saturday. Valérie Limoges holds a seven-point lead in the standings over Nicolas Barrette, following wins at Circuit ICAR earlier this month.
Darren Dryden scored the Southern Ontario Sprints win at SOMS. CREDIT: Dupuis Racing Photography The Avion Motorsports RS1 Series will return to action at Penticton Speedway on Saturday. This is the fifth event of the eight-event season.
- The Southern Ontario Sprints will compete at Merrittville Speedway on Saturday night. Dylan Westbrook won a pair of features last week at Ohsweken Speedway, before Darren Dryden scored a weekend win at Southern Ontario Motor Speedway. Westbrook leads the standings by 73 points over Ryan Turner.
International Series News & Notes
There will also be some international series to watch for, including some stops on this side of the border:
- The Super DIRTcar Series will make a trio of stops in Canada, racing at Autodrome Drummond on Monday and Tuesday before heading west to Brockville Ontario Speedway on Wednesday night. Following a DNF at Weedsport Speedway last weekend, Canadian Mat Williamson now finds himself fourth in the standings, though only 10 points back of the lead. Williamson has three wins in seven races to start the year.
- The DIRTcar Sportsman Series central region will be in action at Land of Legends Raceway on Saturday. Canadian Cody McPherson won the season opener, at Weedsport Speedway, before the most recent event was postponed.
- The NASCAR Truck Series will compete at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park on Friday night. Canadian Stewart Friesen is currently 12th in the standings, just four points out of a playoff spot. Friesen has one top-five in two prior Truck starts at the track.
- The NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series will race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with the Cup Series’ Brickyard 400 seeing a return to the 2.5-mile oval configuration for the first time since 2020. The Xfinity race will take place on Saturday afternoon, with Cup on Sunday.
- Formula One will race in Budapest, Hungary on Sunday morning. Canadian Lance Stroll is currently 10th in the standings; he has two top-10s in seven starts at the Hungaroring.
- The ASA STARS National Tour will compete at Anderson Speedway, in Anderson, IN, on Saturday. Canadians Cole Butcher and Kyle Steckly are currently second and seventh, respectively, in the points standings.
