Pre-Race Notes: Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham
Markham, Ontario| August 14-16, 2026
The NTT INDYCAR SERIES returns to Canada this weekend for a new street course event in Markham, Ontario, just northeast of Toronto. The temporary street circuit is located near Markham’s downtown district and features a 12-turn, 2.19-mile (3.52-kilometre) clockwise layout including a double-sided pit lane, fast straightaways and technically challenging sectors.
- Firestone is supplying 1,400 race tires for 25 entries taking part in practice and qualifying, including the Firestone Fast Six, as well as Sunday’s 90-lap (197.1-mile) race.
- Firestone continues its efforts to explore and accelerate the use of sustainable technologies in motorsports by providing Firehawk primary and alternate (red-sidewall) race tires for the Markham street circuit that integrate Bridgestone global ENLITEN™ Technology.[1] Components include the following materials[2]:
- Renewable soybean oil: Replaces petroleum-based oils traditionally used in tire compounds
- Recycled steel: Used for the bead wire that anchors a race tire to a wheel
- Recycled carbon black: Reinforcement material recovered from end-of-life tires
- New for street course races in 2026; Single-car qualifying for Firestone Fast Six:
- The fastest qualifier from Segment 2 will be the first to choose which position they would like to make their Fast Six qualifying run with subsequent choices made for the remaining positions based on the order of Segment 2 results.
- Once the qualifying order is determined, teams will make their tire selection – primary or alternate tires – prior to lining up in single-file and in order of their qualifying run, at pit out to await their qualifying attempt
- As per INDYCAR rules, each entry must use one set of primary and two sets of alternate tires for at least two laps in street course races.
- Firestone Racing provides a real-time tire tracker at Livetiming.net/firestone for media and fans to follow track tire strategies in qualifying and the race.
Each NTT INDYCAR SERIES entry will receive the following allocation of Firestone Firehawk race tires:
- Primary (black sidewall): 5 sets per entry (Rookies receive one extra set for Practice 1)
- Alternate (red sidewall): 5 sets per entry
- Rain (gray sidewall): 5 sets per entry
Notes from Cara Krstolic, Chief Engineer and Director of Race Tire Engineering and Production:
The primary Firestone Firehawk street-course tires we’ve brought for this new Markham street race have the same construction and compounds we designed for all the 2026 street circuits, including St. Petersburg, Arlington, Long Beach, and Detroit.
Having three new street courses (Arlington, Markham, Washington D.C.) added to the 2026 season has been a good challenge for us, but the great thing about our Firestone Firehawk street course race tires is that they are so versatile. They have performed well with all the varied surfaces and conditions, and we expect the same to be true for the Indy in Markham.
These street race tires incorporate ENLITEN Technology with the addition of sustainable materials, including the use of soybean oil in the production of tread compounds, recycled steel bead wire, and recycled carbon black.
As per usual, the alternate (red sidewall) tires are expected to provide more grip than the primary tire and a greater performance drop-off over the course of a stint. Overall durability is expected to be comparable to what we’ve seen at the previous street races this season.