Track Build Woes in Canada Delay IndyCar Debut on Markham Street Course

By David Morgan, Associate Editor

The NTT IndyCar Series was set to make a big debut north of the border on the new street course in Markham, Ontario, Canada, but issues with the build of the 12-turn, 2.19-mile course have pushed all track activity to Saturday.

The new Markham course replaced the long-standing race in Toronto around Exhibition Place, with the Toronto suburb taking over for 2026 and beyond in what had been a highly anticipated race on the calendar.

Issues first arose late in the week as crucial elements of the track, including walls, fences, tire barriers, and other assorted items were still incomplete, forcing crews to work overnight and into the morning to try and get the track ready for the originally planned IndyCar practice on Friday afternoon.

But after thrashing throughout the day and postponing the 3:00 pm ET practice time to 6:00 pm ET, the sanctioning body had to pull the plug and call Friday a wash so that track and IndyCar officials could make sure the course was as safe as possible before sending cars out on it at speed.

“INDYCAR is incredibly disappointed that our promoter was not able to complete the track build on time, despite significant support from our team on site,” INDYCAR President J. Douglas Boles said, as series officials continue to work with promoter Green Savoree Racing Promotions to finish the track build and sign off on its completion.

“Ontario has always been a magnificent market for our sport and the number of spectators that attended today is a shining example of that. New events can always pose logistical challenges and we join in the frustration of our loyal fans and apologize.

“Once we hit the track, we believe the circuit will be spectacular. We would like to thank the city of Markham for the major support it has made to provide INDYCAR a layout, which is fast, technical and will put on a terrific show on Sunday.”

The new weekend schedule will now see the three-day show compressed into two days, with opening practice now scheduled to run at 10:00 am ET, followed by second practice at 2:30 pm ET, and qualifying at 6:30 pm ET on Saturday.

Opening practice will be televised on FOX Sports 2, with second practice on FOX Sports 1. Qualifying will air on the FOX One app at 6:30 pm ET, and will then show on FOX Sports 2 at 7:00 pm ET.

The Sunday schedule remains unchanged with warm-up at 8:40 am ET (FS2) and the 90-lap Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham at Noon ET on FOX.