After leading Free Practice 2, Louis Foster continued his strong form in Markham during Saturday evening’s qualifying session. The Briton flew around the Canadian street circuit to claim pole position with a time of 1m13.238s, finishing 0.396s ahead of Christian Lundgaard, who saved McLaren’s day.

Caio Collet had a qualifying session to forget in Markham. As AJ Foyt Racing was preparing the car for the start of the session, it had to be wheeled back to the garage after failing to fire up its Chevrolet engine. After resolving the issue, the Brazilian ran slow on track and caused a red flag early in the session. As a result, the #4 lost his two fastest laps and will start from 24th place.

Qualifying was further marked by three other red flags. In the first, Will Power spun, and despite avoiding the wall, the delay in resuming traffic led IndyCar to interrupt the Group 2 session. The second was caused by Josef Newgarden, who crashed at the corner preceding the pit entry, triggering a red flag even though he was already inside the pit lane area.

Álex Palou was responsible for the third red flag. Right after taking the lead in Q2, the Spaniard clipped the wall lightly, but was unable to negotiate the subsequent turns with left-rear suspension damage, crashing into the barrier that delineates the Markham track.

IndyCar returns on Sunday with the Markham GP. The 14th round of the 2026 season is scheduled for 1:00 PM. All activities feature complete coverage from GRANDE PRÊMIO.

How IndyCar Qualifying Went in Markham

Group 1

The green flag for qualifying waved at 7:46 PM following a 16-minute delay due to preliminary track activities in Markham, which aided Collet as Foyt needed to wheel the #4 back to the garage to resolve a Chevrolet engine starting issue.

Palou logged a 1m15.924s right away before pitting, a strategy mirrored by the rest of the field, including Hauger and Collet, who sat second and third. McLaughlin, Ferrucci, and Ericsson made up the top six advancing options with 6 minutes remaining. Siegel posted a 1m16.674s to jump to second shortly after drivers returned on soft tires.

Robb took top spot with 4m40s remaining at 1m15.514s, but was quickly eclipsed by Siegel’s 1m15.187s. Rasmussen entered the 1m14s bracket with a 1m14.700s with under 4 minutes left. Simpson set a 1m14.534s to take the lead, but was soon overhauled by Hauger and Rahal, who registered 1m14.195s and 1m14.489s respectively.

With 2m03s on the clock, Rasmussen, Dixon, and Robb held transfer spots. Collet was ninth with a 1m17.493s when his car stopped on track, bringing out the red flag due to a reported lack of fuel—costing the Brazilian his two best laps as the cause of the stoppage.

After a 4-minute pause, a one-lap shootout was granted. That saved Palou from elimination, as the Spaniard produced a 1m14.099s to top the segment, 0.060s clear of McLaughlin. Hauger, Ericsson, Rahal, and Dixon advanced, while Simpson, Rasmussen, Robb, Siegel, Ferrucci, and Collet were knocked out.

Group 2

As usual, drivers made an initial run to get their cars into optimum condition for a hot lap. Louis Foster once again showcased strong form in Markham to take the lead four minutes from the end with a 1m14.104s, 0.277s clear of O’Ward.

Romain Grosjean jumped to second with roughly two minutes to go at 1m14.257s. Mick Schumacher then surprised the field by taking the top spot with the first sub-1m14s lap of the weekend: a 1m13.929s.

David Malukas set a scorching 1m13.475s immediately after and returned straight to the pits. Foster improved in the final minute, rising to second with a 1m13.761s just ahead of Alexander Rossi’s 1m13.897s.

As times began to drop, Will Power spun and caused a red flag with 57 seconds remaining, resulting in the Australian losing his two fastest laps. At that point, Malukas, Foster, Rossi, Schumacher, Christian Lundgaard, and O’Ward held the top six positions.

The stoppage was brief, but IndyCar gave a single fast lap to the 13 drivers, though nobody improved. Consequently, VeeKay, Grosjean, Kirkwood, Rosenqvist, Armstrong, Power, and Newgarden were eliminated—Newgarden losing out after crashing at the final turn before the pits and causing another red flag. O’Ward was penalised for causing a local yellow flag late on, forfeiting his best lap and dropping to 10th, handing the final transfer spot to VeeKay.

Caio Collet had a difficult session following mechanical issues and a red flag (Photo: IndyCar)

Q2

The green flag waved at 8:32 PM, sending all drivers onto the track except Dennis Hauger, Mick Schumacher, and Louis Foster, who emerged moments later. Among the early runners, Álex Palou posted a 1m17.572s before returning to the pits, with his rivals following suit.

Graham Rahal took the lead midway through Q2 with a 1m16.826s. With four minutes remaining, Hauger set a 1m14.489s before the #15 improved to a 1m14.665s. Then came Scott Dixon (1m14.764s), Rinus VeeKay, Palou, and Christian Lundgaard.

Palou surged to first place, but lost his two fastest laps after causing a red flag immediately afterward. The Spaniard clipped the wall at Turn 1, damaging his rear-right suspension and coming to a halt further down the track with 2m53s left in the session.

The stoppage lasted about five minutes before the green flag signaled the final sprint. At that moment, VeeKay, Hauger, Rahal, Dixon, Lundgaard, and Ericsson occupied the transfer spots.

Malukas jumped to third with a 1m14.492s three seconds before the checkered flag, but was beaten by Foster’s 1m14.415s. Rossi climbed to fifth with a 1m14.581s. Lundgaard saved himself after the clock hit zero with a 1m14.352s, good enough for third.

Ericsson surged to the lead with a 1m14.019s, bringing McLaughlin right behind him at 1m14.189s at the death. With that, Hauger, VeeKay, Lundgaard, and Foster advanced to the Fast 6 alongside the top two. Malukas, Rossi, Dixon, Rahal, Schumacher, and Palou were eliminated.

Fast 6

Following an extended break, the Fast 6 received the green flag at 8:59 PM. Hauger was the first to break into the 1m14s range with a 1m14.861s with 3m30s remaining on the clock.

Foster then put together a stunning lap of 1m13.373s to take the lead, placing 0.777s ahead of Ericsson. The Briton improved further to a 1m13.238s and returned to the pits with 1 minute remaining to secure pole position.

Lundgaard will start 2nd, almost 0.4s behind Foster.