Alexander Rossi was fastest in the first Indy track activity in Toronto. The top-4 were all Honda-powered drivers. Álex Palou was 10th
Andretti's American Alexander Rossi led the first free practice 1 of the IndyCar Series in Toronto, Canada, on Friday afternoon (15). With a time of 1min00s609, the owner of the #27 car led a top-four formed by Honda-powered cars in the first activity of the weekend in Canadian lands.
Frenchman Simon Pagenaud, the last Toronto GP winner and currently with Meyer Shank, was second, with RLL's Graham Rahal in third and Sweden's Marcus Ericsson, the championship leader with Ganassi, fourth. The best Chevrolet was two-time Penske champion Josef Newgarden, who came fifth.
McLaren's Felix Rosenqvist was sixth, followed by Colton Herta, Scott Dixon, and Will Power. Defending champion Álex Palou, after the troubled week in which he announced his switch from Ganassi to McLaren for 2023, rounded out the top-10.
Brazilian Helio Castroneves finished the first track activity in Toronto in 12th position. The Meyer Shank driver posted a best time of 1min01s245, and had a minor accident on the final stretch of the session.
Free practice 2 of the IndyCar Series in Toronto is scheduled for 11:00 am (GMT -3) on Saturday. While qualifying is scheduled to start at 3:00 pm.
Find out how Indy's free practice 1 went in Toronto:
The 75-minute free practice began at 3:40 p.m. (ET), with the cars taking to the track on their respective installation laps, quickly returning to the pits. The first 15 minutes of activity was marked by few cars on track, and drivers who had never been to Toronto for Indy before taking the track. The fastest time to start was set by Andretti's home driver Devlin DeFrancesco, with a 1min02s450.
Defending champion Álex Palou, driving in Toronto for the first time, took the lead with Ganassi, posting a 1min01s478. Dale Coyne's David Malukas was right behind with 1min02s027. The lead was taken by Will Power, who posted a time of 1min01s324 to knock Palou out of first place.
The new leader of the session became Andretti's Alexander Rossi, who clocked 1min01s306. After 30 minutes of running time in Toronto, the top-10 also included Will Power, Simon Pagenaud, Alex Palou, Felix Rosenqvist, Marcus Ericsson, David Malukas, Graham Rahal, Josef Newgarden and Takuma Sato.
The first red flag of the day came out, but not because of an accident, but because of the asphalt conditions at turn 2. After an inspection by the Indy safety team and 4 minutes of interruption, the green flag came out again in Toronto. The leader was Felix Rosenqvist, from McLaren, with 1min01s301.
Near the final 30 minutes of practice, Graham Rahal surprised RLL and took him to the top with a time of 1min01s218. And the session was again interrupted by a crash for Juncos' Callum Ilott at turn 2.
The practice was cleared again after the track was cleared, but the red flag came out again, this time because of Ganassi's Jimmie Johnson, who spun and hit the wall in turn 8 lightly. The rescue team helped the seven-time Nascar champion to restart his car, and he brought the #48 Ganassi back to the pits.
The green flag came out with 16 minutes left on the clock. Brazilian Helio Castroneves surprised and jumped to second place with Meyer Shank, with 1min01s245. Palou returned to the lead with 1min01s137, leaving Rahal second and Helio third.
The Spaniard's lead didn't last long, as Felix Rosenqvist clocked 1min00s793 and jumped into first, only to be overtaken seconds later by Alexander Rossi with 1min00s609. Rahal, Ericsson and Newgarden also overtook the Swede, who dropped to fifth.
With less than four minutes to go, another red flag was brought out. This time, Helio Castroneves spun and hit the tire barrier in turn 8. The interruption was short-lived, as the Brazilian re-started the car by himself and was able to return to the pits.
Indy 2022, Toronto GP, Free Practice 1: