Arrow McLaren Racing shows up to Toronto this weekend looking to repeat what was accomplished in 2022 to where the team placed at least one car on the podium. It’s an event that’s a home game for Racing Direction, Gavin Ward, as well as part-owner Ric Peterson. Both are Canadian’s and grateful to be coming back to their homeland for Sunday’s Honda Indy Toronto (1:30 p.m. ET, Peacock, INDYCAR Radio Network).

“Toronto is a special event, not only for me with it being run on the streets in my hometown but also for the Canadian team members we have, including part-owner Ric Peterson,” Ward said. “I remember riding my bike over to this track when the thought of making a living in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES was just a dream. Now to be here ready to fight for the pole and the win is “pinch-me” stuff.

“The Canadian winters serve up some bumpy roads that keep our damper experts busy, and the long blast down the Lakeshore serves up some great racing. Let’s go have some fun.”

Fun is something that they’re hopeful to have. Last year, Felix Rosenqvist and Alexander Rossi had late race contract while battling for a spot on the podium for which sent Rossi into the tire barriers and a 23rd place result.

Rosenqvist won the battle in a third-place run.

Now, the duo are teammates under the McLaren banner. On the last street race, they duo found each other once again though.

On the Lap 91 restart in Detroit, Will Power went for the lead going outside Alex Palou for the top spot. Power was too wide and got into Scott Dixon. Rossi meanwhile, benefitted the most in going from fifth to second while Power slid into third and Rosenqvist remaining in fourth.

A caution would quickly occur behind.

On the ensuing restart, Power got back by Rossi for second. Rosenqvist battled back and hip checked Rossi to snag his fifth career podium while Dixon got back by Rossi to finish fourth in the aftermath.

Rossi said he would talk to Rosenqvist privately about that move. Rosenqvist said he’d oblige.

“I mean, we race hard, but I think we also race fair,” Rosenqvist said. “Obviously we like each other. We don’t have any intentions to put each other in the wall.

“But, yeah, it was tight. I think the move wasn’t really high-risk. I was completely alongside him into three. Yeah, just gets tight, man. It’s so close. He squeezed me a little bit on entry, I squeezed him a little bit on exit.

“I think it’s a good problem to have. The Arrow McLaren cars have been up there every race. You’re going to find yourself in a situation where you’re fighting teammates. I think it’s something we’ll discuss internally if we can manage it differently. Obviously there were no team calls on this one, which is cool. They let us battle it out on the track.

“Yeah, I mean, I think he actually hit the wall, but I think he got out in the marbles. I think it’s a good thing he was able to get back in.

“I have to say, I pretty much didn’t have any more room on entry. I was just trying to not go into the wall on apex. After that, I just tried to get out of the corner as quick as I can, give him the room he needed.

“As I say, we’ll talk about it. No biggy. I’m just happy we both finished up front.”

Now, both are hopeful to be battling for a win in Sunday’s race.

“It’s good to be back in my favorite city in the world. I love Toronto, and I love the track there,” said Rosenqvist. “I’ve had some of my best career highlights there, including my first podium finish with the team last year, so I’m excited to return.”

Being third on the last street race in Detroit and third the last time out here has Rosenqvist as a solid sleeper.

For Rossi, he has a pair of top five finishes (4th St. Pete, 5th Detroit) in 3 street course starts this season. He also has also been solid here with being 2nd, 8th, 3rd and 23rd (started 4th) in his last four starts as well.

“First and foremost, I’m really excited to be back here in Toronto for the race,” said Rossi. “This city always brings an amazing crowd and energy. That fuels all of us at the track. The street course in Toronto is tight and technical, but that’s exactly what makes it so challenging and rewarding.

“We’ve had great pace on street courses this year and we need to continue that trend to gain back the couple spots we’ve lost in the championship over the past two events.”

McLaren knows that they’re likely chasing not just Ganassi this weekend, but Andretti Autosport too. Honda is 3-for-3 on street courses this season and have won each of the last five in general if you date back to this race last year.

Scott Dixon has three consecutive top two finishes here. He won last year and was runner-up the last race out in Mid-Ohio. Alex Palou has 4 wins in the last 5 races including 3 straight. He won the last street race in Detroit, but was sixth here as a rookie in 2022. Marcus Armstrong is a rookie while Marcus Ericsson has 2 podiums (1st, 3rd) in 3 street races this season.

If they open the door slightly, Andretti has to be the ones there for the taking. They have 6 front row starts in 9 races run this season. However, they also have just 1 win to show for it. They’re prone to making mistakes on track, on pit road and on the pit box. So, while Kyle Kirkwood won Long Beach from the pole and Colton Herta having won the last two poles on the season and here last year, they could in theory, also leave the door open too.

That leaves it up to the Chevrolet duo of Penske and McLaren. While Penske won the first 3 street races in 2022, they’re 0-for-5 since. In fact, one could argue that McLaren has passed them over.

The reason I mention them is the fact that they and Ganassi have combined to have won 7 of the last 8 street course races and 13 of the last 19 of them in general. They’ve also won five straight Honda Indy Toronto’s and combining for 5 of the 9 podiums this season on street courses and have won 8 of 9 races this season, it may be a race between these two on Sunday.

They went 9-10-15 in Toronto and 2-6-11 in Nashville a year ago. This year, they went 7-13-17 in St. Pete, 6-9-10 in Long Beach and 2-7-10 in Detroit.

McLaren by comparison, went 2-4-19 in St. Pete this year, 7-17-22 in Long Beach and 3-5-26 in Detroit.

If Ganassi leaves the door open and Andretti/Penske look similar in nature, McLaren could be the ones to capitalize on that.