Andretti gets another 1-2 in the second practice, with Colton Herta ahead of teammate Kyle Kirkwood.
Practice 2 in Toronto sees Andretti again dominate the session as Colton Herta tops the time sheets with a 1:00:5657. His teammate Kyle Kirkwood gets just behind in the same tenth of a second. Ganassi, Arrow McLaren, and Rahal also show good pace, with at least one of their drivers inside the top 10.Andretti Autosport keeps its form in Toronto. After their pole position last season, Kyle Kirkwood led Practice 1 and now Herta gets on the top. Three out of four of their cars stayed in the top 10, with Romain Grosjean finishing the session in 7th place. Only the Toronto native Devlin DeFrancesco did not have a great session, ending it in 21st place. But, less than a second behind Herta.
Even the Andretti-affiliated team Meyer Shank Racing had a good result. Helio Castroneves could keep his No. 06 inside the top 10 throughout the session, showing excellent race pace. But, in the end, he had to be content with 20th, as he could not get a proper qualifying run. His new teammate, rookie Tom Blomqvist, found one second of pace between the two practice sessions. But, the challenge of driving an IndyCar through the bumpy streets of Toronto is proving to be as hard as imaginable. Blomqvist is preparing for eventually, as the rumors appoint, to get that full-season seat next year with the team.The next team on the time sheets is Chip Ganassi Racing. The outfit that won last year’s race and is dominating this season got Marcus Ericsson and championship leader Alex Palou in 3rd and 4th respectively, showing great pace. Scott Dixon was 9th, only a couple of tenths behind both. Marcus Armstrong was the fastest rookie of this session, besides only achieving 19th place.
Arrow McLaren had a fast, but difficult, car during the session. All three drivers had issues with the balance of their machinery. Pato O’Ward could extract 5th place, besides going a number of times through the street circuit’s runoffs. Felix Rosenqvist caused the only red flag of the session, on a crash at the exit of turn 5 with 7 minutes remaining on the clock. The Swede showed pace, ending up in 15th place.
But, Alexander Rossi had the most difficulties with the car, not getting even into the top 20 and making some excursions off the track.
Rahal Letterman Leningan surprised once again. The team showed great pace on the streets, with Lundgaard in 6th, Rahal in 13th, and Harvey ending up in 15th. After great races in Road America and Mid-Ohio, the outfit shows great performance again, a step up from their rhythm in the first part of the season. Completed the top 10 Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden and Dale Coyne’s David Malukas. Penske did not impress on the first sessions of this weekend but need a good result to stay within Palou’s championship run. Malukas’ performance could impress top running teams, as he declared that he will not stay at Dale Coyne next season.Qualifying will take place today at 2:30 PM ET, and you can get updates at Pit Debrief.
