Honda Indy changes lanes with move to Markham

A panel was held today in Markham to announce the Honda Indy race will be coming to the city in 2026.

The Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto is shifting gears and moving its tracks to Markham next year.

Wednesday’s announcement marks a major detour for the annual open-wheel auto race, colloquially known as the Honda Indy, which has been taking place on a street course through Toronto’s Exhibition Place in some form since 1986.

The race has long had the nickname the “Roar on the Lake Shore” due to the course’s iconic straightaway along Lake Shore Boulevard.

Officials with the City of Markham and Green Savoree Toronto, a racing promotion company that has been hosting the event for the last several years, revealed the new race will get underway on Aug. 14-16, 2026.

A temporary 12-turn, 3.52-kilometre track—longer than the 11-turn, 2.874-kilometre course that’s been housed near Exhibition Place—will be built in Markham’s downtown core, between Kennedy Road, Enterprise Boulevard, Unionville GO tracks and Highway 407. The track will also feature a double-sided pit lane.

Organizers expect the race to draw more than 140,000 attendees over the three-day weekend event and generate “tens of millions” of dollars in economic activity through sport tourism, hospitality and event services.

“This opportunity from the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham sets the stage for us to show what we are all about,” Markham Mayor Frank Scarpitti said enthusiastically at a news conference Wednesday. “We are ready and we are excited to host this storied sporting spectacle from the planning that is already well underway to the final checkered flag.”

“Buckle up, everyone. We’re off to the races.”

The financial details of the new five-year agreement were not disclosed.

IndyCar is one of the highest class of open-wheel auto racing in North America and the vehicles can top speeds of 370 km/h.

Mayor Chow speaks on Indy’s departure

Asked why the event is being moved north of Toronto, Jeff Atkinson, president of the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham, said the city’s upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup hosting duties was a factor.

“But that was not the only factor on our radar. If you look at Exhibition Place, it’s a great property, but they have a lot of development happening in the future. And you know, for us, I think there’s a lot of cities lining up right now to be a NTT IndyCar Series host, and if we took a year off from Exhibition Place in Ontario, this event may never come back,” he said.

At an unrelated news conference, Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow said it was “not logistically possible” to host both the FIFA World Cup and Honda Indy in the same summer, despite the city’s best efforts to make it work.

“We worked really hard to try to move the timing – a few weeks before or after – but somehow the Indy did not want to do that so we didn’t have much choice,” she said. The World Cup starts in June and runs until late July.

Deputy Mayor Ausma Malik says it’s “disappointing” to see the race swap tracks after decades.

“Hosting the FIFA World Cup at Exhibition Place in 2026 is an opportunity to showcase Toronto to the world. Although this hosting precluded the oHnda Indy from being held here for next summer only, Exhibition Place was ready to welcome the Honday Indy back in 2027 and beyond,” Malik said in a statement.

Chow admitted that while downtown Toronto will “miss” the Indy, the city will do its “best” to bring it back in the future.

At this year’s Grand Prix of Toronto, numerous IndyCar Series drivers shared their grievances about Toronto’s track conditions, noting the street course entering Turn 3 was especially rough.

READ MORE: Track conditions at Exhibition Place presents tire challenge for IndyCar Series race

The particular section of Lake Shore Boulevard they were referring to is under construction to make way for the controversial Therme Spa and waterpark. Drivers Kyle Kirkwood and Will Power noted there was a predominant bump along one particular stretch.

Once known as the Molson Indy, the event has become one of Ontario’s largest sporting events, shutting down parts of the Lake Shore for one weekend in July every year.

The Indy has welcomed several prestigious racecar drivers, including Power who set the fastest ever race lap in 2018 with a time of 59:7140.

With files from The Canadian Press