TORONTO – Four-time Honda Indy Toronto winner Scott Dixon’s No. 9 PNC Bank Honda was the fastest in Sunday morning’s warmup session for the NTT IndyCar Series race later this afternoon.
Dixon’s fast time was 1:01.3208 around the 11-turn, 1.786-mile temporary street course at Toronto’s Exhibition Place.
Click here for the full results.
Andretti Autosport driver Kyle Kirkwood was second at 1:01.3810 in the No. 27 AutoNation Honda. Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden was third at 1:01.6161 in the No. 2 Chevrolet.
“The team has done a great job and the car has been quick, I don’t think we realized our potential for most or the weekend,” Newgarden said. “I was happy with my car in the rain, but I misjudged the rain tires. It’s unfortunate we are starting 11th, but I think we have a great car underneath us and can hopefully end up going forward.
“It’s not ideal where we are starting from, but we will try to choose the right strategy. I think we have a fast car to run through the field. Let’s see how it works out for us.”
Newgarden was followed by Andretti’s Colton Herta’s 1:101.8147 in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda and Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou’s 1:01.8695 in the No. 10 Journie Reward Honda.
Palou takes a 110-point lead in the battle for the season championship into Sunday’s race that begins at 1:30 p.m. on Peacock.
Overnight rain created a wet-dry track when the session began with cloudy skies and cool temperatures of 72 degrees, but the cars took the track on racing “slicks.”
Alexander Rossi had one of the fastest cars in practice and qualifications, but the rain in Saturday’s qualification session created an electronic issue that caused his car to shut off.
Further examination by his Arrow McLaren crew determined water had gotten into a tiny pinhole in his steering wheel and that caused the electronics of the car to fail.
When a new steering wheel was installed, the car fired up and he used Sunday morning’s practice session to simulate the conditions he will experience so far deep in the pack.
“My steering wheel failed in the braking zone, and I didn’t have the ability to shift or pull clutch,” Rossi said. “I’ve never seen anything like that. It’s a real shame because the car was great and had what we needed to qualify without a problem. We will regroup and be ready to fight from the back tomorrow.”
Felix Rosenqvist was driving aggressively in turn three with Scott McLaughlin. His race strategists, Billy Vincent, reminder Rosenqvist, “They don’t pay any points for Sunday morning warmup, bud.”
Dixon and his championship-leading teammate Palou had the fastest pace in the first half of the 30-minute session. Kirkwood was also back toward the front with the third-fastest time.
Devlin DeFrancesco had to drive into the turn three runoff, but after righting his car, returned to the course.
In the final 10 minutes of the session, the timing list changed, as pole winner Christian Lundgaard went to the top before Dave Malukas, Marcus Armstrong, DeFrancesco, Callum Ilott and Palou all spent time with the fastest speeds.
That was before Dixon ran the fastest lap of the session and ended up on top.