After a slow start, the new Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham roared to life over the weekend, with the NTT INDYCAR SERIES delivering a grand opening performance.

Sunday’s 90-lap race was a doozy, with 258 on-track passes, 242 of those for position. Those totals are the most recorded for the event that began in 1986 with Bobby Rahal winning the first race at Toronto’s Exhibition Place.

Marcus Ericsson

Andretti Global’s Marcus Ericsson (photo, above) saved some of the day’s best passes for late, charging through the field after a pit stop on Lap 69 dropped him from the lead to seventh place. New tires, extraordinary talent and the motivation to show why the team retained him for a fourth season was on full display as he hunted down rivals one by one.

The most memorable of Ericsson’s moves came at Turn 5, a unique corner on this 12-turn, 2.1-mile street circuit. As they approached the hairpin, Ericsson had a monster run on teammate Will Power, and contact was inevitable. The sound of the cars banging sidepods could be heard through the television broadcast, and the excitement of those on site was distinct.

Ericsson and Power are teammates this year for the first time, and it was fair to wonder what Power’s reaction would be. But he played a good sport, saying he had just told the team he would let the charging Ericsson go through on the long, uphill run to Turn 6. Essentially, he said, no harm, no foul.

Now in third place, Ericsson set his sights on reigning series champion Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing, and he quickly came into focus. Ericsson needed only two laps to overtake the series points leader, setting the table for a dramatic duel for the lead with Romain Grosjean.

Ericsson and Grosjean have known each other for years, at least as far back as 2009 when Ericsson arrived in Europe’s GP2 series, where Grosjean had finished fourth the year prior. Grosjean’s championship season in 2011 included the last win of his long career, a race in Hungary where Ericsson came home fifth. Three races earlier they finished first and fourth at Silverstone. They spent five years racing each other in Formula One, and this is their fifth season as opponents in INDYCAR. So, yeah, they know each other and their driving tendencies.

Romain Grosjean

Since joining the INDYCAR SERIES in 2021, Grosjean (photo, above, front) has often found himself within reach of a victory only to finish second on five occasions. To say he desperately wanted this one is an understatement, but Ericsson had too much for him. To be fair, the pass for the lead in Turn 6 wasn’t one of the more difficult of the day, but the crowd loved it.

Ericsson waltzed home from there, running away with a 7.5305-second advantage at the finish line. Upon ending a 63-race drought, he celebrated so ferociously he barely had enough voice left to describe what had just happened. That the announcement of his 2027 contract renewal with Andretti Global had come only 10 days prior added to the moment as the Swede is one of the really good guys in the paddock.

For Grosjean, there will be another day, and he took the disappointment in stride. After all, the performance was strong, and he led 28 laps, seven more than Ericsson.

Power also was pleased, this being his second consecutive third-place finish and third in the past five races. His second-half surge with his new team is real.

Palou, too, had every reason to be thrilled to finish fourth after failing to qualify in the top 10 for the first time in 30 races dating back to the end of the 2024 season. With Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood and Team Penske’s David Malukas each having late-race wall contact, Palou’s standings lead swelled to 133 points with four races to go. A fourth straight title is surely his.

Everyone now takes a deep breath as a signature event on this year’s schedule is on tap with the Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C. (Sunday, 11:30 a.m. ET, FOX, FOX One, INDYCAR Radio powered by OnlyBulls). It was a January stunner when officials announced this grand opportunity to race in the capital city, and the series is set for a grand show.

If it’s as good as Sunday’s race in Markham, the sport will have again delivered again.