IndyCar’s opening practice for the Ontario Honda Grand Prix of Markham will now run from 6:00 to 7:30 pm ET, after the track’s unfinished safety elements forced the session’s original 3:05 pm start to be scratched.
Practice rescheduled for late afternoon
The new time slot for Practice 1, which will be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 in the United States, follows the series’ announcement that the circuit’s construction has not yet reached a safe threshold.
Fans following the event online will see the session on FS1 at 6:00 pm, a departure from the originally planned 3:05 pm slot.
Why the delay? Unfinished works linger on the street circuit
Race bridges, safety fencing and timing‑and‑scoring cables remain incomplete along the 12‑turn, 2.19‑mile temporary track that winds through downtown Markham.
Construction crews still need to finish the bridge spans that will support the high‑speed sections, the fencing that houses spectators, and the cable runs that run the lap‑by‑lap telemetry back to the scoring office.
IndyCar’s statement clarified that the practice session would only start once “the race promoter has completed the track build and INDYCAR deems the circuit safe and appropriate for competition.”
Event schedule stalls throughout the day
Thursday’s routine track‑walk was postponed from 8:00 am to Friday morning, forcing teams to observe the layout while construction continued in their vicinity.
Teams were told to delay loading pit‑lane equipment until late Thursday afternoon, further pushing back the operational timeline.
When the double‑sided pit lane finally opened in the afternoon, no cars were able to reach the circuit for earlier activities, leaving Friday’s first support‑class session on hold as well.
First Canadian race away from Exhibition Place
The event represents a landmark shift in IndyCar’s Canadian presence, as the series moved from Toronto’s Exhibition Place—home to IndyCar since the 1980s—to the newly built circuit in Markham’s eastern precinct.
The temporary street layout was engineered to challenge drivers with short straights, heavy‑braking corners and a double‑sided pit lane that increases strategy complexity.
The decision to relocate was formally announced on September 3, 2025, and the new circuit’s specifications promise a different racing dynamic than the traditional Exhibition Place configuration.
Looking ahead to the first on‑track action
Promoters and series officials are working around the clock to finish safety installations, with further schedule changes expected as the day proceeds.
Once structural and safety work is finalized, the first drivers to set lap times will arrive at a circuit that has promised a “tough technical challenge,” signalling the start of a racing weekend that could reshape IndyCar’s presence in Canada.
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