Foster steps up to pace second Markham IndyCar practice

Louis Foster put the Rahal Letterman Lanigan team in P1 during second practice for tomorrow’s Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham, while teammate Mick Schumacher also shone with fifth place. In between were Marcus Ericsson, David Malukas and Kyle Kirkwood.

At the other end of the scale, the third Andretti Global entry of Will Power suffered a hard impact with the Turn 10 tire wall during the all-car segment of the session. That precluded him from participating in the group segment. It also means his crew is racing hard against time to fix the TWG car for this evening’s qualifying session which begins at 6:30pm ET.

Chip Ganassi Racing's Alex Palou wasn’t able to show his full hand due to a compromised flying lap in his group segment, but he – along with Team Penske's Malukas, the Andretti cars and Juncos Hollinger Racing-Chevy’s Rinus VeeKay appear to have the pace to contend in the Firestone Fast Six shootout.

How second practice unfolded – all cars – 40 minutes

Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood, currently second in points, was the first driver to duck into the 75-second bracket with a 1m15.6232s lap around the 2.19-mile 12-turn street course, although he was swiftly shaded by Alexander Rossi of ECR. Soon after, rookie Dennis Hauger put his Dale Coyne Racing car on top with a 1m15.2880s, but Andretti’s Ericsson snipped half a tenth from that to gain P1. Two laps later, he set the fastest lap yet seen, with a 1m14.8971s – an average of 100.938mph.

Penske’s Scott McLaughlin went down an escape road at Turn 6, while Pato O’Ward made hard contact with a wall with his Arrow McLaren's left rear but limped to the pits without causing a stoppage. Then Caio Collet, star of morning practice, proved it was no fluke by jumping to second for AJ Foyt Racing, before logging fastest time with a 1m14.7370s. That was fast enough even to survive the first shots fired by Palou, four-time and reigning champion.

VeeKay and Juncos Hollinger Racing again punched above their weight, shooting to fourth ahead of Foster who has always excelled on tricky street courses. Kirkwood then ducked under the 75s barrier to go fourth fastest.

With 11 minutes of the 40 to go, the picture shifted. Palou delivering a 1m14.6525s to go top was not surprising. Given McLaren’s mediocrity to this point, O’Ward’s 1m14.7758 to snatch P3 was remarkable.

Then Power tore off the right-side appendages and rear wing of his car with heavy contact on the Turn 10 tire barrier, bringing out the red, and eventually, checkered flags, and giving the No. 26 crew plenty to fix before qualifying.

Split session, Group 1

Halfway through the 12-minute session, Foster produced a 1m14.7081s to go top, a quarter second ahead of Ericsson and VeeKay, with Kirkwood and Dale Coyne Racing’s Romain Grosjean a further tenth adrift. Then Foster produced a 1m14.2717 and backed it up with a 1m14.1793 – 101.915mph average – that pulled him almost half a second clear of the improving VeeKay.

Ericsson and Kirkwood moved up to second and third mere hundredths away from Foster and four tenths ahead of VeeKay. In the final seconds, Schumacher jumped to fourth, just 0.13s behind his pace-setting RLL teammate Foster – arguably the ex-Formula 1 driver’s best showing in any session in his nascent IndyCar career.

Split session, Group 2

To no one’s surprise, the man who revels in the characteristics of the primary tires, Palou, went to the top with a 1m14.5600 but on what should have been his fastest lap, he lost time, allowing the impressive Hauger to get within four hundredths of him, and Malukas to vault him with a 1m14.1940. That was a couple of hundredths off Foster’s time in Group 1.

The chance to improve on their times was put on hold by a red flag, as Collet’s hitherto impressive day was halted by damage incurred in a Turn 10 wall strike. There was time for one more flying lap but it would have taken two to eclipse previous bests, so the session ended on an anti-climax.

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