Kirkwood slides into first in slick first Toronto practice

The streets around Exhibition Place in Toronto felt more like a hockey rink than a racetrack on Friday as the field of IndyCar Series drivers spent the afternoon slipping and sliding around the gripless circuit.

From holding dozens of impressive drifts to being unable to stop for corners and needing to venture down runoff areas and execute spins to turn around and keep going, to hammering the walls with left and rear wheels, the opening practice session for Sunday’s 90-lap Honda Indy Toronto race was far from boring.

“It’s bumpy,” said championship leader Alex Palou, who was third fastest. “Bumpier than last year.”

Despite the bumps and general absence of traction, Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood was able to muster an impressively fast lap in the No. 27 Honda, turning a 1m01.205s tour on Firestone’s faster alternate tires during a qualifying simulation run. In 2024, Kirkwood’s teammate Colton Herta led the first Toronto session with a lap of 1m01.040 in better conditions.

Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin was second in the No. 3 Chevy (1m01.341s) to edge Palou in the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda (1m01.599s) in the final minute of the session, and behind them, the top six had Meyer Shank Racing’s Marcus Armstrong in fourth with the No. 66 Honda (1m01.699s), Penske’s Will Power in fifth with the No. 12 Chevy (1m01.854s), and an impressive Callum Ilott from PREMA Racing (1m01.899s) in the No. 90 Chevy.

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The opening practice session for the full 27-car field saw the usual turning of installation laps and subsequent sitting by most drivers as the rookies and newer drivers stayed out to either learn the track or get into a rhythm.

With 25 minutes left in the 40-minute all-drivers session, 15 cars had turned competitive laps and the Ed Carpenter Racing duo of Christian Rasmussen and Alexander Rossi were first and second respectively, with Rasmussen’s Chevy-powered lap of 1m03.013s setting the standard.

As 20 minutes remaining approached, the count was up to 25 cars with Palou and Sting Ray Robb being the only holdouts.

At 20 minutes, Santino Ferrucci went to first with a 1m02.850s as Christian Lundgaard hit the wall with his right-rear wheel at the exit of the final corner and continued.

Power took P1 on the next lap with a 1m02.650s. He improved it to 1m01.906s and held P1 as Herta shot to P2 with a 1m02.022s and Josef Newgarden went to P3 with a 1m02.155s as the clock wound down to 15 minutes.

With 11 minutes to go, Palou improved to fifth, and with six minutes left, three drivers ran long and nearly connected with each other in the Turn 8 runoff.

The all-driver session ends led by Power, Herta, Newgarden, O’Ward, Kirkwood and Palou as the top six.

The first breakout group had 12 minutes on track and Power was fastest again, turning a 1m01.853s as the runners performed qualifying simulations on Firestone’s softer alternate compounds. He had Lundgaard behind in second followed by Felix Rosenqvist, Scott Dixon, Graham Rahal and Rossi who rounded out the top six. Jacob Abel met the wall with his left-rear suspension and had his run curtailed while bend componentry was replaced.

The second group saw Kirkwood lead the session and day with a 1m01.205s lap as the group found a lot more speed on their alternate tires after the first group put down the alternate rubber. McLaughlin jumped to second in the final minute ahead of Palou, Marcus Armstrong, O’Ward, and David Malukas.

UP NEXT: Practice 2, Saturday, 10:30am ET

RESULTS