Kyffin Simpson tamed the tricky Toronto streets, going from 13th to 3rd for his second top 5 finish, and his best finish of the 2025 season.
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyffin Simpson finally joins teammates Dixon and Palou as a podium finisher after a stunning drive on the streets of Toronto.
A hard earned finish
“It was incredible” Simpson said after finally snagging a podium place. After coming close at the race in Mid-Ohio but just missing out, the 20 year old was ecstatic to finally stand on the podium after a wild race in Toronto.
The Cayman Island native was sceptic heading into the race following a P13 qualifying position.
“It was definitely kind of a race that came to us. I at no point thought we were one of the quickest cars. I mean, early on it was looking like it wasn’t going to be a very good race for us.”
“Got that turned around real quick. We ended up with a really good spot after that. I guess it was third safety car, third or fourth safety car. From there on I just tried not to mess it up really.“
Additionally, safety cars and cautions played a huge part is strategy, allowing for teams to lose less time in the pits. With Toronto having four, CGR played it perfectly to help Simpson to make up places on and off track.
Rising confidence
As such a young driver, finding confidence is key in helping find results on track. Simpson gives credit to his more veteran teammates, in helping him find his feet.
“I’ve learnt so much from Scott and Alex. They’ve just helped me develop so much over the last two years, year and a half. I owe a lot of thanks to them.“
On his growing confidence – “Yeah, I mean, it’s very high right now. As a stand from me to Taylor to Luke, my engineer, to all the pit guys, we’ve all been making big strides all year.“
While making up positions during the race is where the winstruly come from, a good starting point comes from qualifying and a teams speedy pit stops. Simpson went on to explain that the CGR team has made massive improvements to those pivotal points across the season.
“We’ve all been making big strides all year. Pit stops have gotten better and better with each race. Strategy has been on point all season. I feel like I’ve learnt a lot this year, just gotten more and more comfortable. Qualifying has been a big step up this year.“
“Yeah, just everything’s kind of coming together for us. We’re in a good spot.”
Cautions coming at the right time
Street tracks bring one major challenge unique to their locations, a track full of different surface types. From Practice 1 to the race, the roads of Toronto were torture on the tires. Cars were slipping and sliding every lap, bringing out the cautions. However, Simpson was happy to see them in the later stages of the race.
“I was for sure happy. Herta was looking very quick. At that point I was really struggling with my tires. Then I had Stingray (Robb) in front of me, as well, which would have been really tough for me to get by him because I was really struggling just in all the brake zones“
“Yeah, when I saw that yellow come out, I was just super happy ’cause otherwise it was going to be a really tough fight to the end.“
Kyffin Simpson sits 17th in the 2025 Championship with 191 as IndyCar heads to Monterey for the race at Laguna Seca.
