"We've figured it out": Rinus VeeKay calls Dale Coyne car best in his IndyCar career after Toronto

After his second-place finish in Toronto last weekend, Rinus VeeKay has shared that he believes both he and the team have worked out how to maximise the car.

His first podium since the 2022 Grand Prix of Alabama and Dale Coyne's first podium in two years, VeeKay explained that their weakness has been qualifying.

According to Motorosport.com, VeeKay said: "We’ve been moving forward every race in the last six races. But we’ve been starting in the back. 

"It was important for us to qualify well, and we qualified ninth [in Toronto]. 

"We did a bit of a different strategy than others. In the crazy race it was today, it turned out to be the right call.”

A race that saw strategy pandemonium thanks to several Cautions brought out by numerous crashes, VeeKay found himself the lead ahead of eventual race winner Pato O'Ward in the second half of the race.

Pitting before O'Ward, the McLaren driver overcut the Dutch driver to take the lead. 

Both had pitted on lap one which proved to be the winning ticket by the end of the race.

"The yellow definitely helped", VeeKay continued, "That was kind of our strategy. There was a really high probability of a Turn 1, Lap 1 yellow in the past eight years.

"I think the team and I did everything we could. Pato had only done about 20 laps on that set of tires before the final stop, so he needed less fuel and had a shorter stop. 

"We were waiting to fill the tank, and that’s where we lost time. Coming out of the pits, I think he was two seconds ahead. I closed the gap a bit while his tires were coming up to temperature.

“I really gave it everything. I tried to save some tires to maybe attack him in traffic near the end. But honestly, this is all I could do. I maximized it, and the whole team did too. I think everyone’s very happy. Everyone should be really proud.”

A mixed bag of results so far for Dale Coyne Racing in 2025, before Toronto, Rinus' best finish had been a tantalising fourth in Alabama.

Achieving a spree of top ten finishes, VeeKay believes, at times, this is the best indyCar he has driven during his career in the series.

"There've been a few races this year where I’ve had the best car I’ve ever had in my IndyCar career. 

"It was a crazy offseason with everything that happened, but I think it was a big step in my career.”

DCR underwent major engineeral changes in May which saw Michael Cannon return to the team as lead engineer to VeeKay.

VeeKay believes the uptick in results is the explanation to why they're now working out what they need to do.

"After the engineering overhaul, we really started figuring out what we needed to do,” he digressed.

“Michael Cannon brought a lot of experience to the timing stand and the engineering truck. It’s paying off.”

Cannon has previously been compared to Formula One designer, Adrian Newey, by Veekay and had left the team before to work with other teams such as Chip Ganassi and AJ Foyt.

On Cannon, VeeKay said: "With Michael Cannon joining I think we’ve got a really strong team. Matt Nelson, Michael Cannon, Dale Coyne, that whole strategy group, together on the stand, they make it happen every time.

"Whatever happens in the race, we make the right decisions.

“We’re at that point in the season where we’ve figured out what we need to do. I think we're going to have some strong races coming up."