IndyCar Markham starting lineup: Louis Foster storms to pole as Alex Palou crashes

Louis Foster has secured pole position for the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham, a 90-lap IndyCar race on a 12-turn, 2.19-mile temporary street circuit. He achieved a lap time of 1m13.2383s, 0.3969 seconds ahead of the next closest competitor. Christian Lundgaard will join Foster on the front row.

The event has been impacted by challenges, including the cancellation of the first day of practice and qualifying due to the track not being completed and safety inspections not being conducted. As a result, all practice sessions and qualifying were held in one day, with drivers facing the setting sun during qualifying. Several drivers, including Alex Palou, experienced difficulties, with Palou crashing during the second round of qualifying and starting 11th, his first position outside the top 10 this season.

The starting grid has been affected by penalties, with Alexander Rossi, Christian Rasmussen, and Marcus Armstrong each facing a six-place grid penalty for excessive engine changes. The current series points leader, Alex Palou, had been on a strong run before his crash, having won his sixth IndyCar victory of the season at Portland and extending his lead to 110 points over Kyle Kirkwood.

Brief written by urgent.news from Motorsport.com, CityNews, Yahoo Sports, Winnipeg Free Press — 4 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.