IndyCar’s Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham was seen by 913,000 viewers on Fox. The inaugural street race, which saw Andretti Global’s Marcus Ericsson capture his first win in three years, outdid last year’s Toronto race – which was viewed by 734,000.
The race peaked with 1.081 million viewers from 2:15 to 2:30 p.m. before Ericsson passed Romain Grosjean for the lead on Lap 86 of the 90-lap race. It was IndyCar’s most-viewed Toronto-area race since 2012, when 1.129 million watched Dario Franchitti win in the Exhibition Place neighborhood.
IndyCar’s first weekend at Markham faced a lot of scrutiny after the race’s promoter, Green Savoree Racing Promotions, didn’t have the new street course prepared for IndyCar and support series practice sessions Friday. The race moved to Markham after spending 37 of the last 40 seasons in Exhibition Place. With World Cup matches taking place at BMO Field this year and the downtown Toronto race being a rolling one-year contract, IndyCar moved to a suburb 20 miles out, where the series is set to race for another four years.
Fox is averaging 1.731 million viewers, which is up 16% from last year through 14 races (1.486 million). Aug. 9’s Grand Prix of Portland received only 677,000 viewers – a 5% decrease from 2025.
IndyCar is in its second year of having all its races broadcast on Fox’s network channel. Last summer, Fox acquired a one-third stake in Penske Entertainment, IndyCar’s parent company. Markham marked the third straight race below 1 million viewers after eight of the first 11 races of the season surpassed 1 million (and only one was below 900,000). The Music City Grand Prix on July 20 had 775,000 viewers, although rain delay coverage following the men’s FIFA World Cup final reached 2.878 million viewers.
This week, IndyCar heads to the nation’s capital for another new street race, the Freedom 250 Grand Prix in Washington, D.C. Following the missed opportunity from the Music City Grand Prix, the Freedom 250 Grand Prix could be the second-most-watched race of the season behind the Indianapolis 500 (6.635 million). The 250-mile race is to occur Sunday at 1 p.m. on a 7-turn, 1.7-mile course on the National Mall.
Zion Brown is IndyStar’s motorsports reporter. Follow him at @z10nbr0wn. Get IndyStar’s motor sports coverage sent directly to your inbox with our Motor Sports newsletter. Subscribe to the YouTube channel IndyStar TV: IndyCar for a behind-the-scenes look at IndyCar and expert analysis.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IndyCar’s first Markham street race gets TV ratings bump on Fox
Reporting by Zion Brown, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Zion Brown, Indianapolis Star | USA TODAY Network
