Simon Pagenaud did exactly what he needed to do in the two NTT IndyCar Series practice sessions on Friday. See, Pagenaud needs to get back into the championship hunt or this could very well be a two man fight for the Astor Cup championship trophy by the end of the month.

Pagenaud, enters Sunday’s Honda Indy Toronto (3 p.m. ET/NBCSN/INDYCAR Radio Network) trailing points leader Josef Newgarden by 61 points. But, the Frenchman was the one leaving the street circuit the happiest on Friday afternoon.

Pagenaud, was P1 for the day with a top time of 59.870-seconds in his No. 22 Chevrolet in the second and final session of the day. The Team Penske driver finished runner-up in this race last year and has three consecutive top 10 finishes in Toronto to go along with three top 10’s in four tries on street courses in 2019 too.

“It’s been a really good day,” said Pagenaud. “It comes from all the preparation ahead of time. Just very happy with the DXC Technology Chevy. I love this track. It’s just a lot of fun. It reminds me of Reims in France and it’s just awesome. Just really like the rhythm. You know, it’s fun. The car is really, honestly, really good. I just needed to put a good lap together and it seems good on every tire in every condition. I’ve got to get the job done, and I’ll tell you what, man, this is so much fun. It’s just awesome. I told the team, ‘It’s such a pleasure to drive this car, thanks for preparing it.'”

He wasn’t the only one that got done what he needed on Friday. Scott Dixon, most notably Chip Ganassi Racing, did too.

Dixon, enters this weekend fourth in the standings – 94 points out, as he too was in the top five in both sessions on Friday as well.

Dixon, was fifth quick on the day (1:00.144-seconds) but P1 in the first practice as he turned in a time of 1:01.072-seconds in his No. 9 Honda.

“The PNC Bank car felt really good in both sessions,” Dixon said. “In the second practice, we tried something to help the rear end out, but, honestly, when we went for it on the red (Firestone alternate) tires we didn’t get one single, clear lap. The car is fast. The No. 15 car held us up once, then the No. 2 car a few times after that. I think we’re right there in the window and hope to be able to show speed tomorrow.”

Dixon, is the defending Toronto race winner as he also has eight straight top 10 finishes on the street course. On these types of tracks in 2019, Dixon has three podiums in four tries.

His CGR teammate of Felix Rosenqvist was third and second respectively on the day with a top lap of 59.931-seconds in his No. 10 Honda. The Swedish rookie was very confident heading into this weekend and Friday showed just that.

“I think the team brought a great set-up and a great car here to Toronto,” said Rosenqvist. “We won here in Indy Lights twice in one weekend in 2016 and so I’ve always loved this layout. It’s cool having CESSNA with us this weekend as well. They’ve had a long history with Chip Ganassi Racing and it’s great to have them as co-primary with NTT DATA. We had a really strong start in Practice 1 and the car was even better in Practice 2. It’s always great having a teammate like Scott (Dixon) because there is such a wealth of knowledge on the No. 9 team. I hope we can keep things moving in the right direction for tomorrow, as qualifying is crucial here.”

Scott Dixon practices his No. 9 Honda on Friday in Toronto – INDYCAR Media Site

Where they got even better news is, both Newgarden and Alexander Rossi struggled a bit. Yes, Newgarden was P2 in the first session but was only P8 in the second one. Rossi, was fourth and 14th respectively himself including getting into the wall in the second session of the day.

“It was kind of an up-and-down day,” Newgarden said. “I think the Hitachi Chevy has a lot of potential. It seems like it’s fast, but we just haven’t extracted all of the speed out of it yet. We need to work on that tomorrow. That’s why you have practice. From the team standpoint, I thought it was a flawless day. The guys always do a great job of executing, so we just need to get a little better overnight and refine everything and get ready for qualifying.”

Rossi, is equally as frustrated.

“It was difficult this afternoon. For sure, a couple mistakes for me, so I think that cost us a bit of time changes-wise and understanding the car. It’s pretty crazy around here. It’s a lot of fun. You’re sideways a lot of the time, so it’s what people want to see in Indy car racing.” (About the tricky Turn 11): “I think Turn 11 is always hard. I don’t think it’s any different this year. I just think we saw probably a few guys trying quite hard there, and today is the day to try it. You don’t want to make these mistakes tomorrow or Sunday, obviously, so you can get a little bit more adventurous with your lines and experimentation to see if something works. Obviously, I found a few things that didn’t work, and hopefully, we don’t find any more.””It was difficult this afternoon. For sure, a couple mistakes for me, so I think that cost us a bit of time changes-wise and understanding the car. It’s pretty crazy around here. It’s a lot of fun. You’re sideways a lot of the time, so it’s what people want to see in Indy car racing.” (About the tricky Turn 11): “I think Turn 11 is always hard. I don’t think it’s any different this year. I just think we saw probably a few guys trying quite hard there, and today is the day to try it. You don’t want to make these mistakes tomorrow or Sunday, obviously, so you can get a little bit more adventurous with your lines and experimentation to see if something works. Obviously, I found a few things that didn’t work, and hopefully, we don’t find any more.”

Sebastien Bourdais (59.986-seconds) and Spencer Pigot (1:00.040-seconds) rounded out the top five of the overall speed chart.