Arrow McLaren driver, Pato O’Ward took victory in Indy Toronto, winning in Exhibition Place after he and McLaren chose to “make a decision and send it”.
Pato O’Ward ended on victory lane in Toronto after passing drivers ahead “one by one“. The Mexican driver started in tenth to finish on the top step. The Arrow McLaren driver noted, “it feels like it’s always a recovery Sunday“.
Pato O’Ward continued, “We keep making our Sundays so much harder than what they have to be. Qualifying has been not our friend. But Sundays have been. I feel like the gist of this year for at least the 5 side, it feels like it’s always a recovery Sunday, always been a recovery Sunday. We keep fighting our way forward.“
“Today it was a very similar post to what I had in Mid-Ohio. We got hosed in timing in the qualifying here. We’ve been struggling a bit on the alternate, which sadly is the one you need to transfer.“
Pato O’Ward keeping the championship open at Indy Toronto
The Mexican driver knew that the No. 5 car had the chops to finish in P1 with a new package. After today result, O’Ward is keeping his mind open to fight for the championship after Toronto.
“I knew I had such a strong car on the preferred tire for the race. I had a car that I could attack with, I had a car I could really put it where I needed to, at least just to get by people. We had to get really aggressive there sometimes. We had to get our elbows out a little bit if we want to keep this championship somewhat of a conversation.“
However, O’Ward did not win alone. With great strategy calls from Arrow McLaren pared with the Mexican’s driving they were able to celebrate this win together.
“It’s always good to feel that way, and that gives you that little extra edge to make these days come to fruition. They did a great strategy. I made sure that I was going to be the winning one.“
Teamwork makes the dream work
O’Ward commended his pit crew for setting up the stage for him to send it home. The 26-year-old noted that their work “was freaking awesome“.
“We had a great pit stop, the first pit stop. It was freaking awesome. The guys were great. We pushed hard in, we pushed hard out. We undercut everybody that was on the alternate.“
“That was the first step.“The second step, we could have just kind of maintained there and waited for the other guys to start peeling off. I didn’t really want to do that. I started picking them off one by one.”
O’Ward was committed to the strategy that his team set him up on, even though the race was changing, the amount of cautions seen.
When asked why she stuck with the strategy, the Arrow McLaren driver answered, “Because that’s the only way you make a strategy work. You can’t be half-assing it. You can’t be, We should have done this. No. Make a decision and send it. That’s how you can put yourself in a position.“
“Maybe if it’s not the easiest strategy to be a winning strategy or podium strategy, you make it happen because you put yourself in that position.“
