When IndyCar rolled into Markham for the first time last weekend, nobody was quite sure what to expect. What they got was a shaky start followed by one of the more memorable additions to the calendar. A verdict the drivers themselves were more than happy to confirm.
Markham’s first day jitters
Friday, unfortunately, set the weekend off on the wrong foot. The opening day was largely a washout for track action, leaving teams scrambling and fans with little more than a schedule board to look at. It was hardly the debut a new circuit would hope for. But to the surprise of the fans, and seemingly the drivers too, Markham turned things around in a hurry, and by the time the checkered flag flew it had made the kind of impression that left fans and drivers wanting more.
Did IndyCar Just Get a New Favourite Circuit in Markham?
Practice on Saturday gave drivers their first real look at a track that had, up to that point, only existed in simulator form. It turns out, the simulators didn’t tell the whole story. Marcus Armstrong admitted the circuit caught him off guard almost immediately.
“It was fun, I mean, initially I was surprised actually because our simulation model was actually pretty good, but, yeah, it was a bit unexpected. I was expecting a bit more grip… initially it was driving on ice.“
He and teammate Felix had gone in expecting the high line to be the fast way around, only to find the opposite.
“It doesn’t seem that way. At the very least, no one’s running up there, so it’s just zero grip. But it’s going to be interesting in the race, especially lap one, because everyone’s going to be… it’s going to be a bit of a traffic jam.“
David Malukas came away with a similar mix of challenge and enthusiasm. Malukas pointed to the simulator’s flattened depiction of the track as the biggest surprise in person.
“The sim almost looked like it was flat. Then you come to realize you actually get a pretty big elevation going up into the hairpin. Outside of that, the simulator was pretty spot on… It’s going to be a lot of fun.“
Races are won on Sundays…
The excitement around the track carried through to race day. Romain Grosjean, who scored his best finish of the season at Markham, didn’t hold back when asked what he thought of the circuit itself.
“Amazing, Markham. Thank you for having us,” Grosjean said. “The pavement was great, the racetrack is great, the organization has been good, the track has been fun to ride. I’ve got to say, I’m very impressed with this weekend, generally. Smooth tarmac like this makes racing so much more fun.“
No one summed up the weekend quite like race winner Marcus Ericsson.
“I loved the track from the first lap. It’s really a challenging track. I think it’s a very high speed track for being a street course… It’s one of those tracks where you really need to have confidence in the car and you need to be able to attack. So it’s a really fun challenge. There’s no margin for error. You’re in the wall straight away. It’s a bit like a road course but with walls around… obviously it suited me quite well. So I enjoyed it.“
Markham delivered a genuine street fight from start to finish, with cars trading positions and chaotic restarts scrambling the order all afternoon. It all came down to the closing laps, where Ericsson passed Grosjean to take the inaugural win at the circuit.
For a circuit that spent its first day playing catch up, Markham’s turnaround was remarkable. By Sunday evening, the drivers weren’t talking about the mess of Friday, they were talking about a track that had produced one of the best races of the year.
Featured Image: James Black | Penske Entertainment