Pato O'Ward over the moon after giving Zak Brown a special "first memory" with IndyCar Toronto win

Zak Brown got to witness the first win of McLaren's IndyCar division at the race in Toronto, where Pato O'Ward emerged victorious. The Mexican was delighted to give the 53-year-old the chance to celebrate the victory on the ground with the squad, revealing how it will be a special first memory for him.

Since the Arrow McLaren name got on the IndyCar grid, O'Ward has been the sole driver to have won a race with the team. He has secured nine race victories with the squad, but McLaren Racing CEO, Zak Brown, was never able to witness a victory first-hand.

On the upside, this unfortunate streak was ultimately broken at the Toronto race, where O'Ward started 10th and made daring moves with the aid of reliable strategy to bag the race win. Witnessing this, Brown was on top of the moon, and the nine-time race winner shared how it would be a great first memory to take to the next race weekend for his boss, as he said in the post-race interview:

"Zak [Brown] is the superstar this weekend. He's never been at any of our wins. He's been close, at the 500. He's never been at one of our wins. I'm glad and I'm super happy that I can give him that first memory of his IndyCar team, at least first win being there in the flesh. It's a really cool place to do it at."

Pato O'Ward secured the race win in Toronto just eight days later after his maiden victory of the season in Iowa.

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Tony Kanaan and Zak Brown had already anticipated Pato O'Ward's victory in Toronto

Pato O'Ward hugging Tony Kanaan after winning the 2025 NTT INDYCAR Series Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto - Source: Getty

The Arrow McLaren outfit was in a rave after Pato O'Ward won the 90-lap race. The 26-year-old had the race well under control in the final half as the team geared up to celebrate its second win of the year.

Team principal Tony Kanaan was on board with the celebrations and revealed that Zak Brown and he had already placed O'Ward as the race winner in the pre-race debrief, as he said in the post-race interview:

"Zak [Brown] and I mentioned the goal was for all three cars to finish in the top 10. Will texted me, I disagree with that. I think we have a better car than 10th. I said, Zac didn't say you should finish 10th. He put you first and the other two inside the top 10. He crosses the finish line. Will comes and looks at me and said, 'Hey, prove us wrong every weekend, we'll be okay with it.'"

O'Ward has reduced his deficit to Alex Palou in the championship standings from a staggering 129 points down to 99 points.