Practice kicked off in Toronto under nice blue skies, with Hunter McElrea making his debut in the series with Dale Coyne.
45-minute session — All cars
Rinus VeeKay led inside the opening 10 minutes as a 1:08.2743 saw him lead Rasmussen, Robb, Siegel, Sowery, Simpson and Fittipaldi.
The times quickly started to tumble. A 1:03.2859 from defending race winner Christian Lundgaard saw him lead by almost half a second a third of the way into the session.
VeeKay, Power, Rahal and Canapino completed the top 5.
After Graham Rahal moved to the top, a 1:02.6980 from Will Power saw the title contender become the first driver to dip below the 63s mark, putting him almost 0.6s clear. The Australian went even faster still as a 1:02.6443 saw him clear by a couple of tenths.
Marcus Ericsson had a nightmare day as his Honda engine gave up on him. The Swede slowly made his way back to the pits to avoid causing a red flag.
Championship leader Alex Palou went top at the halfway point, banging in a 1:02.3310 to lead Power by 0.3s.
Rosenqvist, Armstrong, Rahal, Malukas, Lundgaard, O’Ward, Dixon and Canapino completed the top 10.
Arrow McLaren’s Alexander Rossi was next to lead the charts, pumping in a 1:02.2747 to outpace Alex Palou and Felix Rosenqvist by less than a tenth.
The first spin of the weekend came from Will Power as he spun in turn 9. The Penske driver looked to have got a tiny bit wide on entry.
Moments later, Agustin Canapino had a big spin at turn 8 but luckily avoided the wall.
On the approach to turn 8, Santino Ferrucci had a front right lock-up and headed down the run-off.
Right at the end, a 1:01:8906 from Colton Herta saw him dip below the 62s barrier to end up quickest by almost 0.2s from Palou. Felix Rosenqvist impressed once again in the MSR to be 3rd, with Dixon, Rossi, McLaughlin, Newgarden, Kirkwood, VeeKay and Power completing the top 10.
Debutant Hunter McElrea did a great job, placing P20.
Group 1 — 10-minute session
Along with the rookies, O’Ward, Dixon, Armstrong, Ferrucci, Rahal, Herta, Robb, Lundgaard, Rosenqvist and Canapino ran in this session. The alternate tyre started to appear.
On the exit of turn 11, Colton Herta grazed the wall with his right hand side tyres but no damage was done.
When he switched to the softer tyre, Colton Herta smashed his previous best as a 1:01.0399 saw him pace the field by almost 0.3s as Felix Rosenqvist continued to show good pace. Marcus Armstrong and Scott Dixon were the only other drivers in the 61s bracket as they did a 1:01.7791 and 1:01.8717 respectively.
Rahal, Ferrucci, Lundgaard, Siegel, Canapino, McElrea, Simpson, Lundqvist, Rasmussen, Robb and Sowery completed the order.
Group 2 — 10-minute session
Newgarden, McLaughlin, Rossi, Palou, Power, VeeKay, Kirkwood, Ericsson (unable to take part due to his engine failure), Fittipaldi, Malukas and Grosjean ran with the rookies.
A red flag was thrown with 7 minutes to go as Alexander Rossi crashed at turn 8. The Arrow McLaren driver had a small lock-up on entry, grazing the tyres and then hitting the concrete wall. His hands were on the steering wheel did a 180 degree turn as he was trying to save it, potentially hurting his hand or wrist in the process due to the impact against it.
After Hunter McElrea went down the run-off at turn 8, Linus Lundqvist crashed into the tyre barriers in the same spot as Rossi. Much like the American, the car just did not seem to turn with a lack of grip following horrendous weather in Toronto earlier in the week.
With the time not stopping following the second red flag, the big guns could not get a run in on the greens.
A 1:02.6102 from Hunter McElrea was enough to be fastest in the second group, but all the very quick times came in the 45-minute session and during Group 1 ahead of qualifying tomorrow.
