TORONTO — The valleys for street drains and bumps made the 11-turn, 1.786-mile temporary street course for the Honda Indy Toronto even more of a wild ride for the 27 drivers in Friday’s opening practice session.
“Just ridiculously bumpy,” driver Graham Rahal said. “Stupid.”
Modifications and changes were made to the course prior to the race weekend. But it appears more needs to be completed Friday night.
The Andretti Autosport duo of Kyle Kirkwood and Roman Grosjean finished the session on top of the speed chart. Kirkwood was the fastest at 1:00.8075 seconds for a speed of 105.737 mph in the No. 27 AutoNation Honda. Grosjean was second at 1:00.8575 seconds (105.650 mph) in the No. 28 DHL Honda.
“It went phenomenal for us,” Kirkwood said. “We kind of led the whole session. Andretti Autosport does a fantastic job at setting up these street-course cars, specifically. Fingers crossed. You expect to see some more of that. It’s a good start for us, but we’ve got to keep the thing going.”
Felix Rosenqvist was third in the No. 6 Chevrolet for Arrow McLaren at 1:00.8607 seconds (105.645 mph).
“It changes some lines and how we approach it,” Rosenqvist said. “Some other corners were better. Turn 6 was less bumpy and Turn 3 was less bumpy. They improved some places, but some places are harder for a driver. Quite challenging, but a good session for us. The car felt good and all of us on the team were up front for most of the session. It felt good.”
Rosenqvist said there is new tarmac on the apex on the approach to Turn 9, so he is turning in with understeer. That means a driver has to enter too fast for the grip in that section. In Turn 10, there is a “massive bump” according to Rosenqvist.
“Mixing it up with the different lines is interesting,” Rosenqvist said. “It’s an inverted approach to the section, but I think it’s fun. It reminds me of Rally driving where you set the car up for the jump except way less jumping. It’s rare for IndyCar, but it’s a new challenge.”
Andretti Autosport driver Colton Herta was fourth at 1:00.9135 seconds (105.553 mph) with Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin rounding out the top five in the No. 3 Chevrolet at 1:00.9700 seconds (105.455 mph).
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou, who has a 110-point lead over teammate and four-time Toronto winner Scott Dixon, was 12th at 1:01.3233 seconds (104.848 mph) in the No. 10 Journie Rewards Honda. Dixon was 11th at 1:01.2794 seconds (104.923 mph) in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda.
Palou has won the last three IndyCar series race and is attempting to become the first driver to win four in a row since Sebastien Bourdais in the Champ Car Series in 2006. He would join an impressive list of drivers that include Jimmy Bryan in 1954, Mario Andretti in 1967, Bobby Unser in 1968, Al Unser, Jr. in 1990, Alex Zanardi in 1998, Cristiano da Matta in 2002 and Bourdais.
In 1964, AJ Foyt opened the season with seven wins in a row. He won nine of the first 10 races that season and 10 of the first 12 in a 13-race season, leading the standings from start to finish.
IMSA’s Tom Blomqvist was a full three seconds off the pace in Friday’s practice. He is filling in for the injured Simon Pagenaud in the No. 60 SiriusXM/AutoNation Honda for Meyer Shank Racing. His fastest lap was 1:03.7979 (100.781 mph). He ran 39 laps in the session, the most of any driver.
“The biggest goal for me was to survive the session and get as many laps as possible,” Blomqvist said. “I need a good night’s sleep and come back tomorrow and try to do better. It all feels foreign to me, but it’s a race car and I need to figure it out. Hopefully, I come back tomorrow and I’m in better shape. I’m hoping that does wonders.
“The car is so different than what I’m used to.”
Despite the bumpy race course that saw several cars briefly catch air, there were no incidents in the practice session.
Overnight rain is expected which could change the race course even more.
Saturday’s schedule includes a practice at 10:35 a.m. (ET) followed by knockout qualifying culminating with the Firestone “Fast Six” at 2:50 p.m. (ET). Sunday morning includes a warmup session at 10:15 a.m. (ET), followed by the Honda Indy Toronto at 1:30 p.m. (ET).