IndyCar Toronto: Herta fastest in FP1 as Rossi, Lundqvist wreck

Andretti Global’s Colton Herta was fastest in a frantic opening practice on the Streets of Toronto.

The California native delivered a flying lap of 1m01.0399s around the bumpy and tight 11-turn, 1.786-mile temporary street circuit around Exhibition Place. Last year’s FP1 best time was a 1m00.8075s.

The No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Honda of Felix Rosenqvist was second overall with a best of 1m01.332s, with Chip Ganassi Racing’s Marcus Armstrong third with a run of 1m01.7791s.

Six-time IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon was fourth, ahead of Graham Rahal in fifth.

AJ Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferucci was sixth, ahead of reigning and two-time series champion Alex Palou.

The initial 15 minutes of the 45-minute all cars running only saw 15 cars on track, with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Christian Lundgaard setting the early benchmark at 1m03.2641s on the harder primary tires.  

Rahal was the first to knock his team-mate off the top spot, but Team Penske’s Will Power reset the mark with a lap of 1m02.6980s with 27 minutes left in the all-cars segment.

It was only two minutes later that Marcus Ericsson slowed with a plume of smoke erupting off the back of his No. 28 Andretti Global Honda. He later stated on the Peacock broadcast that he “just lost power” and was left watching his team-mates for the remainder of the session.

The top spot rotated once more as Palou produced a flying lap of 1m02.3310s, but then was knocked off after Rossi nailed a quick run of Rossi 1m02.2747s.

Power spun in Turn 10 with 15 minutes left in all cars, but got self-started and continued on. The No. 78 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet of Agustin Canapino spun moments later at the exit of Turn 8.

Rosenqvist dished out a lap of 1m02.2467s to go to the top of the leaderboard. In the final minute of the all-cars portion, Herta handed out a 1m02.2189s lap to set the quickest time but was dethroned after Palou nailed a 1m02.0804s lap. But Herta responded with a 1m01.8906s to return to the top spot.

After a brief five-minute break, the remaining 20 minutes was halved as the field split into two groups with running on the softer alternate tires.

Rahal went out and set an early mark of 1m02.4593s in the split group, but was fuming over the handling of his No. 15 RLL Honda, calling in over the radio: “The rear of my car is garbage. Absolute garbage.”

Chip Ganassi Racing’s Marcus Armstrong delivered a 1m02.1155s lap with six minutes left to set the mark for Group 1. Herta then went fastest with 1m01.0399s flying lap in the last minute, with Rosenqvist then taking the second spot at 1m01.3323s.

Alexander Rossi, Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, is repaired in the paddock

Group 2 began with trouble for Rossi, who brought out the red flag after clipping the tire barrier in Turn 9 and ripping the left-front corner off the car, pounding the wall. He was seen removing the right glove and holding his hand and wrist following the impact.

After rookie Hunter McElrea, making his IndyCar debut with Dale Coyne Racing, took to the escape road, fellow rookie Linus Lundqvist drove hard into Turn 8 and buried his No. 8 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda under the tire barrier to bring out another red flag.

The session ended under the red flag, with McElrea setting the quickest time of the group at 1m02.6102s.

Main Information Additional Data Driver Info

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Main Information
Cla	Driver	#	Laps	Time	Interval	Mph
1	C. Herta Andretti Global with Curb-Agajanian	26	17	1'01.8906		103.887
2	A. Palou Chip Ganassi Racing	10	19	+0.1898 1'02.0804	0.1898	103.569
3	F. Rosenqvist Meyer Shank Racing	60	16	+0.3561 1'02.2467	0.1663	103.292
4	S. Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing	9	16	+0.3788 1'02.2694	0.0227	103.255
5	A. Rossi Arrow McLaren	7	15	+0.3841 1'02.2747	0.0053	103.246
6	S. McLaughlin Team Penske	3	21	+0.4418 1'02.3324	0.0577	103.150
7	J. Newgarden Team Penske	2	13	+0.4455 1'02.3361	0.0037	103.144
8	K. Kirkwood Andretti Global	27	16	+0.6006 1'02.4912	0.1551	102.888
9	R. van Kalmthout Ed Carpenter Racing	21	24	+0.6050 1'02.4956	0.0044	102.881
10	W. Power Team Penske	12	22	+0.6675 1'02.5581	0.0625	102.778
11	P. O'Ward Arrow McLaren	5	12	+0.6728 1'02.5634	0.0053	102.769
12	C. Lundgaard Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	45	17	+0.7688 1'02.6594	0.0960	102.612
13	D. Malukas Meyer Shank Racing	66	16	+0.8447 1'02.7353	0.0759	102.488
14	G. Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	15	20	+0.8951 1'02.7857	0.0504	102.405
15	M. Armstrong Chip Ganassi Racing	11	17	+0.9440 1'02.8346	0.0489	102.326
16	C. Rasmussen Ed Carpenter Racing	20	22	+1.4379 1'03.3285	0.4939	101.528
17	A. Canapino Juncos Hollinger Racing	78	21	+1.4608 1'03.3514	0.0229	101.491
18	R. Grosjean Juncos Hollinger Racing	77	18	+1.5921 1'03.4827	0.1313	101.281
19	S. Ferrucci A.J. Foyt Enterprises	14	19	+1.7319 1'03.6225	0.1398	101.059
20	H. McElrea Dale Coyne Racing	18	23	+1.9226 1'03.8132	0.1907	100.757
21	M. Ericsson Andretti Global	28	5	+2.0634 1'03.9540	0.1408	100.535
22	N. Siegel Arrow McLaren	6	23	+2.0891 1'03.9797	0.0257	100.494
23	P. Fittipaldi Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	30	22	+2.1686 1'04.0592	0.0795	100.370
24	L. Lundqvist Chip Ganassi Racing	8	27	+2.1856 1'04.0762	0.0170	100.343
25	T. Sowery Dale Coyne Racing	51	25	+2.2457 1'04.1363	0.0601	100.249
26	R. Robb A.J. Foyt Enterprises	41	17	+2.5515 1'04.4421	0.3058	99.773
27	K. Simpson Chip Ganassi Racing	4	22	+2.5872 1'04.4778	0.0357	99.718
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