Colton Herta emerged fastest during Practice 2 at Indy Toronto, continuing Andretti Global’s good form around Exhibition Place.
Kyle Kirkwood led the field in Practice 1 at the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto, with multiple drivers complaining of grip and graining issues. Kirkwood had described Exhibition Place as having the “lowest amount of grip” he’s experienced in IndyCar. While IndyCar officials had repaved Turn 3 ahead of FP2, Turn 3 and Turn 8 still proved difficult.
Herta’s 1:00.05 was enough to best the field in FP2, showing strong positives ahead of qualifying. Andretti Global teammates Kirkwood and Ericsson finished P2 and P15 respectively.
Practice 2 begins in Toronto
45 minutes of green-flag running began at Indy Toronto, as Felix Rosenqvist led the cars out of pit lane and through the streets of Toronto’s Exhibition Place. The opening moments of the session saw drivers setting their first laps on the Firestone primary tyres, with Christian Rasmussen setting the best first-lap time of 1:07.3.
Drivers were still feeling the impact of Turn 3’s bump, but IndyCar officials had placed new asphalt overnight to help soften the blow – though Santino Ferrucci and Colton Herta found themselves being the first drivers running wide at that corner. IndyCar had to do some more groundwork, as a hole was found in pit lane.
The session evolved quickly, with Kirkwood, the returning Noah Siegel, and five other drivers heading into the 1:02 territory before five minutes had passed. Kirkwood immediately improved his time, posting a 1:01.9 to extend his gap at the top of the charts. Andretti Global teammates Herta and Marcus Ericsson rounded out the top three with a 1:02.0 and 1:02.4 respectively.
Louis Foster displaced the Andretti podium with a lap one hundredth better than Ericsson’s, before improving and going fastest with a 1:01.7. Track improvement saw David Malukas, Scott Dixon, Scott McLaughlin, Christian Lundgaard and Alex Palou all enter the top-10 and early 1:02 territory. Pato O’Ward joined them with a 1:02.1, but not before locking up at Turn 3.
As most drivers ended their first stints by pulling into pit lane with 30 minutes to go, the session saw Foster, Palou, and Kirkwood running as the three fastest and only drivers breaking under 1:02.
As the session developed
Palou posted his best lap of 1:01.8 as drivers emerged for their second stints. The top 3 seemed difficult to challenge, but Herta displaced Kirkwood with a 1:01.8, thousandths ahead of Kirkwood’s time.
The track at Indy Toronto quickened, and so did the times. Ericsson went fastest with a 1:01.5, two tenths faster than Foster, before being knocked to P2 by Alexander Rossi’s 1:01.4. Seconds later, Kyffin Simpson went P1 with a 1:01.3. As most drivers returned to pit lane, Simpson, Rossi, and Ericsson occupied the top 3, while six other drivers broke into the 1:01s.
The first driver-on-driver incident happened as Devlin DeFrancesco impeded Power, but there was no contact.
Calum Ilott, Siegel, and Kirkwood posted session best times, as Kirkwood went P2, Siegel P4, while Ilott occupied P6. Then, Kirkwood improved by over a second to go P1 with a 1:00.3. Kirkwood’s lap put him nearly a second ahead of Simpson in P2, before Will Power went P2 with a 1:00.7.
Over the next few laps, Herta, O’Ward, Palou, Newgarden and McLoughlin also broke into 1:00.7 times. Herta improved massively to give Andretti a provisional 1-2, crossing the line with a 1:00.3. As the teams pulled their drivers into the pits ahead of a final run, Andretti occupied the top 2, while Team Penske filled out P3 to P5.
The closing stages at Indy Toronto
As the session entered its final few minutes, Herta usurped his teammate with a 1:00.0. At the same time, Kirkwood improved to set a 1:00.1. While his teammates excelled at Exhibition Place, Ericsson flailed in P15.
Dixon improved with a 1:00.7 to split the Penske group in P5, before O’Ward went just ahead with a 1:00.6.
The session closed with the field split by two-and-a-half seconds, but the top 10 only split by less than one. Despite the exceptional session, Herta did make light contact with the wall exiting a corner late on. Under chequered flag conditions, Jacob Abel spun at Turn 7 and made contact with the wall.
IndyCar Practice 2 Results
- Herta
- Kirkwood
- Newgarden
- McLaughlin
- O’Ward
- Dixon
- Palou
- Power
- Malukas
- Rosenqvist
- Veekay
- Lundgaard
- Armstrong
- Rahal
- Ericsson
- Ilott
- Simpson
- Foster
- Rossi
- Siegel
- Rasmussen
- Ferrucci
- Shwartzman
- Daly
- Abel
- Robb
- DeFrancesco
