Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

Australia
Practice report

Toronto IndyCar: Dixon leads Rahal in opening practice

Bouncing back from a disappointing race at Iowa Speedway, Scott Dixon put his Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda at the top of the times at Toronto, as Honda dominated the first session.

Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda

Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda

Art Fleischmann

Dixon lapped the street course in 60.7474sec to beat Graham Rahal of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing by 0.19sec.

Rahal, who qualified on the front row last year, was just 0.06sec faster than his teammate Takuma Sato, yet between them was Alexander Rossi’s Andretti Autosport machine, which tagged the wall on the final corner halfway through the session.

Marco Andretti was just 0.3sec off top spot in the second Andretti car, ahead of Sebastien Bourdais’ Dale Coyne Racing-with Vasser-Sullivan entry.

As at the last street course, Will Power was fastest of the Chevrolet runners, and Penske’s Indy 500 winner ended the session in seventh, 0.4sec from the ultimate pace.

Ryan Hunter-Reay rubbed the outside wall at Turn 1 but recovered to take eighth ahead of AJ Foyt Racing’s impressive rookie Matheus Leist and the second Ganassi car of Ed Jones.

It was not a strong session for Canada’s local heroes, although Robert Wickens did well to take 11th on his first encounter with the track in an IndyCar. However, his Schmidt Peterson Motorsports teammate, James Hinchcliffe, who won last week at Iowa was only 18th. The second Coyne car of another Canadian, Zachary Claman De Melo, went into the Turn 3 run-off and was only classified 19th.

Conor Daly’s first outing for Harding Racing-Chevy, in place of Gabby Chaves, produced P20. That put him ahead of Ed Carpenter Racing’s Jordan King, who ran out of fuel on course and brought out a red flag, Charlie Kimball’s Carlin Racing-Chevy and Rene Binder of Juncos Racing.

Toronto, IndyCar first practice

ClaDriverLapsTimeGapIntervalMph
1 9 new_zealand  Scott Dixon  16 1'00.7474     105.842
2 15 united_states  Graham Rahal  16 1'00.9385 0.1911 0.1911 105.510
3 27 united_states  Alexander Rossi  17 1'00.9786 0.2312 0.0401 105.440
4 30 japan  Takuma Sato  16 1'01.0050 0.2576 0.0264 105.395
5 98 united_states  Marco Andretti  14 1'01.0492 0.3018 0.0442 105.318
6 18 france  Sébastien Bourdais  18 1'01.1308 0.3834 0.0816 105.178
7 12 australia  Will Power  16 1'01.1595 0.4121 0.0287 105.128
8 28 united_states  Ryan Hunter-Reay  15 1'01.2536 0.5062 0.0941 104.967
9 4 brazil  Matheus Leist  22 1'01.2703 0.5229 0.0167 104.938
10 10 united_arab_emirates  Ed Jones  19 1'01.3189 0.5715 0.0486 104.855
11 6 canada  Robert Wickens  19 1'01.3410 0.5936 0.0221 104.817
12 22 france  Simon Pagenaud  17 1'01.3436 0.5962 0.0026 104.813
13 1 united_states  Josef Newgarden  18 1'01.4408 0.6934 0.0972 104.647
14 26 united_states  Zach Veach  23 1'01.6999 0.9525 0.2591 104.208
15 14 brazil  Tony Kanaan  18 1'01.7694 1.0220 0.0695 104.090
16 21 united_states  Spencer Pigot  13 1'01.8786 1.1312 0.1092 103.907
17 59 united_kingdom  Max Chilton  22 1'01.9038 1.1564 0.0252 103.864
18 5 canada  James Hinchcliffe  16 1'02.0026 1.2552 0.0988 103.699
19 19 canada  Zachary Claman De Melo  23 1'02.1755 1.4281 0.1729 103.411
20 88 united_states  Conor Daly  14 1'02.3857 1.6383 0.2102 103.062
21 20 united_kingdom  Jordan King  23 1'02.4122 1.6648 0.0265 103.018
22 23 united_states  Charlie Kimball  18 1'02.4714 1.7240 0.0592 102.921
23 32 austria  Rene Binder  24 1'02.4772 1.7298 0.0058 102.911

Be part of Motorsport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Goodwood “honored” to display Borg-Warner Trophy
Next article Newgarden not upset over Iowa, positive for Toronto, excited by title fight

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

Australia