Kyle Kirkwood gave Andretti Autosport a clean sweep of the top two speeds on the speed chart for Friday’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES practice on the streets of Toronto. Kirkwood turned in a late lap with 40 seconds remaining in the 75-minute incident free session of 1:00.8075-seconds in his No. 27 Dallara-Honda to end up P1 on the day.
His teammate Romain Grosjean was second in his No. 28 Dallara-Honda. He was .0500-seconds back with his lap being 1:00.8575-seconds.
MORE: 5 things I’m watching for Sunday’s Honda Indy Toronto
Colton Herta gave them three cars in the top four at 1:00.9135-seconds. Herta was last year’s pole sitter here and is eyeing a third straight pole on the season to start Sunday’s Honda Indy Toronto (1:30 p.m. ET, Peacock, INDYCAR Radio Network) from the top.
A pair of Chevy’s rounded out the top five in Felix Rosenqvist (1:00.8607-seconds) in third with Scott McLaughlin (1:00.9700-seconds) chiming in at fifth.
Kirkwood though, was the star of the day as he also led the way on the Firestone primary tires too.
Up until 15 minutes to go, every lap turned at that point were on those tires. Kirkwood and Alexander Rossi were the only two drivers to get in the 1:01-barrier on the black sidewall tire. Pato O’Ward, Alex Palou, Marcus Ericsson, Grosjean, Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden, Rosenqvist and Herta followed.
Then, with just under 15 minutes left, the faster times came all with everyone electing to slap on the alternate green side walled tires. Christian Lundgaard was first up at going 1:01.6996-seconds. Palou topped him two minutes later at 1:01.3233-seconds. That lap remained the best until Kirkwood went .1996-seconds quicker with around seven minutes remaining.
Scott Dixon jumped to P2 with just under six minutes left only to see both Josef Newgarden and Callum Ilott emerge into the top five shortly after.
With under four minutes left, the Andretti Autosport duo of Romain Grosjean and Colton Herta were the first to get under the 61-second mark with Felix Rosenqvist splitting the pair a minute later.
Kirkwood joined them not too long after.
Here are my top five takeaways from the session.
Penske/Ganassi Absent
Chip Ganassi Racing and Team Penske didn’t have much representation up front with just two combined cars in the top eight of the timing charts. That was Scott McLaughlin in fifth and Marcus Ericsson in sixth.
That could in theory open the door to victory lane to a new team this weekend.
Penske and Ganassi have combined to have won 7 of the last 8 street course races and 13 of the last 19 of them in general.
With Penske and Ganassi having won five straight Honda Indy Toronto’s and combining for 5 of the 9 podiums this season on street courses and have won 8 of 9 races this season, it initially looked like a battle between these two on Sunday.
However, Ganassi was 6-11-12-22 and Penske 5-9-10.
Andretti and McLaren had six of the top eight speeds between them which maybe sways the advantage to their direction.
Ganassi is 2-for-3 on street courses this season and also won the final two races of them last year to give them 4 wins in the last 5 tries.
While Team Penske won the 1st three street races last year, Ganassi was next best in class on these circuits with finishes of 2-8-9-23 at St. Pete, 3-6-20-22 in Long Beach and 3-6-7-22 in Detroit.
Also, Ganassi drivers have won four of the last five races on the season including going 1-2 the last time out in Mid-Ohio.
Penske started off 3-for-3 with 3 different drivers on street courses in 2022, but have since gone 0-for-5. In just 2 of the last five, they had the second-place finisher.
They went 9-10-15 in Toronto and 2-6-11 in Nashville a year ago.
This year, they went 7-13-17 in St. Pete, 6-9-10 in Long Beach and 2-7-10 in Detroit.
But, with factoring in Andretti and McLaren, they went 1-12 on Friday.
Since 2022, these four have won all 27 races and if you go back to 2021, they’ve won 37 straight. Furthermore, in this Aeroscreen era (57 races), they’ve won 94.7% (54-for-57) of them.
The last non “Big 4” team to win was Meyer Shank Racing in 2021. In fact, these teams didn’t win the Month of May at all with Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus VeeKay winning the GMR Grand Prix and Helio Castroneves the Indy 500.
The only other time they didn’t win was the 2020 Indy 500 with RLL and Takuma Sato.
That’s it.
The separation is real. You have the top 2, the next two, then the rest.
Penske has won 22 times. Ganassi has won 21. Andretti has won 7 and McLaren 4. The other teams are RLL, ECR and MSR each with 1.
Andretti Autosport Flexes Muscle
One thing I was watching this weekend was how well Andretti Autosport finishes. I knew that they’d be fast, that’s a given, but it was more of could they turn the Friday-Saturday speed into Sunday success.
On Friday in Toronto, they were back to the front with having 3 cars in the top four of the speed chart including a 1-2 effort.
“Yeah, much more straightforward than we expected with the traffic and the aero flight, so that was good,” said second fastest, Romain Grosjean. “I think Andretti has done a phenomenal job with the cars, first, second and fourth, I believe, so we knew we have a strong street package, but it looks even better than it has been.
“Obviously the track is going to change a lot. It did during the session. Fairly happy with how it went. No one really got a clear lap.
“But it was good enough to get a good one at the end.”
Kyle Kirkwood was quickest overall and was fastest on both sidewalls. His lone race win and pole came on a street course in Long Beach back in April.
Kirkwood has qualified 5th (St. Pete), 1st (Long Beach) and 12th (Detroit) on street courses this year. He’s finished 15th, 1st and 6th respectively in them too.
For Grosjean, he’s qualified 1st, 3rd and 3rd on street courses this season. Away from street circuits, he’s qualified 11th (Texas) and 19th (Indianapolis) as well as 1st (Barber), 18th (Indy GP), 19th (Road America) and 14th (Mid-Ohio).
Then you have Herta in fourth. Herta enters this weekend on the heels of two straight poles. He was on the pole here last year. The only problem is the fact that he also doesn’t even have a podium to show for it this season.
Which leads to Andretti needing a complete weekend.
See, the 2023 season started off with a ton of promise for the Andretti Autosport camp. They looked strong in both the Thermal and Sebring tests, then they won 3 of the first 4 poles to the season and ushered Kirkwood to a Long Beach win.
However, despite fast race cars, that’s their only bright spot.
Despite 3 cars in the Fast 6 in St. Pete, all 4 were collected in crashes in the race itself. Texas saw 3 of the 4 crash, Indy was a disaster, Detroit saw more carnage, Road America they had a pole and should have been a win while Mid-Ohio they had another pole and 2 of the top 3 starters. They didn’t win there either.
Andretti has had a front row starter in 6 of 9 races run this season but has just one win to show for it.
Can they finally get the results to match the speed? Maybe this is the weekend to do so.
Grosjean has been slumping after being fifth in points coming into the Month of May.
“Yeah, I think there’s been circumstances, a few things in the last few races that made us fall back and look like it hasn’t been a great run.
“I think from my side I know where I can improve, but today just went smooth. We know we have a strong street package. Qualified first in St. Pete, third in Long Beach and third in Detroit, so always up there.
“It’s a good start. Obviously, as I said, the track is going to change a lot, but we need to keep working and keep improving. But generally happy with the car and happy with what we’ve been doing. Hopefully we can have a trouble-free weekend where everything goes and we don’t have any issue in the car and I don’t make any mistakes.”
If they leave 2023 with just one lone trip to victory lane, this season will be classified as a major disappointment.
Watch Out For Rosenqvist
Felix Rosenqvist is facing the harsh reality. He knows that a chance of winning a championship this season is highly unlikely. He enters Sunday’s race 13th in points (-214). To make up that much ground in eight races is a rather tall task to accomplish.
Which is why if Rosenqvist has a shot at a win from here on out, he’ll be overly aggressive in doing so.
“I think like we’re not here to be P12 or P11. I think a win or something like that would be a good way to kind of end at the end of the season,” said Rosenqvist. “I think there’s some good tracks for us coming up. Just kind of — I think more than anything, being able to string together some race results and feeling like we didn’t leave anything on the table would be a rewarding feeling after having some troubled races.
“Yeah, I know we can be there if we just do the job. Yeah, just going for the win.”
Maybe that comes this weekend. The Swedish driver was third quickset on Friday (1:00.86-7-seconds) which equals the spot he finished in here a year ago too.
“I think you approach it a bit differently,” he said. “Maybe you try to go for a big result. I think there’s probably no chance for us to win the championship.
“I think I’m mentally more in a head space where I want to go for like — if I can go for a win, I’ll try all in, and I think a lot of us are in the same position because Alex is just taking off in the standings.
“Like I say, we’ve been super fast on one lap, and I think actually the race pace has been mega, as well.
“Just haven’t really strung a result together in the last three, four races. Looking forward to just having a solid week, and I feel like we started good here. Normally a pretty good place for us, so yeah, just looking forward to having a smooth weekend.”
Last year, Rosenqvist and Alexander Rossi had late race contract while battling for a spot on the podium for which sent Rossi into the tire barriers and a 23rd place result.
Rosenqvist won the battle in scoring a podium.
Now, the duo are teammates under the McLaren banner. On the last street race, they duo found each other once again though.
On the Lap 91 restart in Detroit, Will Power went for the lead going outside Alex Palou for the top spot. Power was too wide and got into Scott Dixon. Rossi meanwhile, benefitted the most in going from fifth to second while Power slid into third and Rosenqvist remaining in fourth.
A caution would quickly occur behind.
On the ensuing restart, Power got back by Rossi for second. Rosenqvist battled back and hip checked Rossi to snag his fifth career podium while Dixon got back by Rossi to finish fourth in the aftermath.
Rossi said he would talk to Rosenqvist privately about that move. Rosenqvist said he’d oblige.
“I mean, we race hard, but I think we also race fair,” Rosenqvist said. “Obviously we like each other. We don’t have any intentions to put each other in the wall.
“But, yeah, it was tight. I think the move wasn’t really high-risk. I was completely alongside him into three. Yeah, just gets tight, man. It’s so close. He squeezed me a little bit on entry, I squeezed him a little bit on exit.
“I think it’s a good problem to have. The Arrow McLaren cars have been up there every race. You’re going to find yourself in a situation where you’re fighting teammates. I think it’s something we’ll discuss internally if we can manage it differently. Obviously there were no team calls on this one, which is cool. They let us battle it out on the track.
“Yeah, I mean, I think he actually hit the wall, but I think he got out in the marbles. I think it’s a good thing he was able to get back in.
“I have to say, I pretty much didn’t have any more room on entry. I was just trying to not go into the wall on apex. After that, I just tried to get out of the corner as quick as I can, give him the room he needed.
“As I say, we’ll talk about it. No biggy. I’m just happy we both finished up front.”
Now, both are hopeful to be battling for a win in Sunday’s race with them being P3-P7. Pato O’Ward was even eighth too.
“It’s good to be back in my favorite city in the world. I love Toronto, and I love the track there,” said Rosenqvist. “I’ve had some of my best career highlights there, including my first podium finish with the team last year, so I’m excited to return.”
Being third on the last street race in Detroit and third the last time out here and third in practice has Rosenqvist as a solid sleeper.
Blomqvist 26th Quickest
Tom Blomqvist knew a week ago that this opportunity could come around. However, without much word, he flew back home from the IMSA race in Ontario to England overseas. He felt like Simon Pagenaud would end up okay. Honestly, he was hopeful for that too. Blomqvist knows Pagenaud well.
They’re both not only in the same Meyer Shank Racing camp, but they shared the IMSA ride in Daytona. He was hopeful his buddy would end up being alright to race. So, without hearing any different, Blomqvist booked a flight to head to Monaco for some R&R. Then, last minute, he got word that he was needed back in Ontario after all. This time, on the streets of Toronto, a track that he’s never driven at before, let alone been to.
What a first audition this would be. He knew what he was faced against but also knows that at the end of the day, this is a race car that has four wheels and a steering wheel. He just needs to get acclimated and keep the thing in one piece.
Friday was all about learning. While he tested for the team in Sebring last Fall, that’s the only time he’s been inside of an Indy Car. Now, this is for real and one that’s a potential audition for next season.
That’s why this was mostly about getting his feet wet with the team and learning the track more so than focusing on speed.
Blomquist turned 39 laps in practice with 29 of them on the Firestone primary tires and the final 10 on the alternates.
“Yeah, that was difficult, but as expected, I guess. To be honest, the biggest goal for me was just to survive this session, try and get as many laps as possible,” he said.
“Yeah, lucky I’ve got a night’s sleep to hopefully digest and come back better like I know what I’m doing tomorrow because it’s difficult to jump in like this. I’ve only driven the car once; it was a while ago. I don’t know the track either, which obviously doesn’t help.
“But the biggest thing is just feeling the car and then knowing what you’ve got underneath you. At the moment it still feels a little foreign, just the seat position, your steer — everything, all the small stuff.
“But at the end of the day it’s a race car, and I need to try and figure it out. Let’s see, hopefully I come back tomorrow and I’m in a bit better shape.”
As far as what he had to unlearn, he says, “everything.”
“I think the biggest thing is just the physicality of the car is quite a lot. So once the speed picks up, all the load through the wheel and everything is just so much greater, so to feel the car becomes a little bit more difficult for me because I’m not used to that.
“Some of the lower speed stuff with the braking, the braking of the car is really, really good compared to what I’m used to. It’s easier to get like — I feel quite comfortable there.
“Obviously the last sort of — we need to turn a bit off the brakes to find the limit of the car, floating it into the apex, all that stuff is what I need to improve a lot. But it’s just the little things, the whole 9, the last section there with that new pavement there was really tough for me.
“Yeah, need to try and get my head around that hopefully by tomorrow.”
He says after one day, he’s still looking bigger picture though too.
“I’m not obviously maximizing even the tires. Just finding improvements with each kind of lap I do or each run I do.
“Yeah, there’s a lot to look at overnight. I have all the information from the group, and the car also felt very good in terms of I wasn’t scared of anything, so the car is obviously very, very good.
“Its just my feeling with being able to take it to the limit. It’s something (indiscernible) obviously it’s going to feel all right.
“We’ve got tonight to go through the data and the video and bits and bobs and then hopefully come back in a better shape for tomorrow.
“Like it’s a hard situation to come into. Obviously I’m a competitor, so I want to do well. If I lead the weekend and felt like I didn’t really get what I expected for myself, obviously I’ll be a little bit disappointed.
“Like today I just wanted to get through it. It was even harder than I actually thought. I drove the car a while ago, but it’s just hard to jump into that. Everything feels so foreign. You just feel a bit lost in the car, all the buttons, coming into the pits, like all the basics is just so foreign.
“But yeah, it’s going to be really hard. I knew it was going to be hard, but that’s the issue coming in is how hard it’s going to be. Hopefully I figure it out.
“I just don’t want to embarrass myself. That’s the biggest thing.
“But I’m not too worried about it. I’ll get on top of it.”
Manhole Covers
A street race is always bumpy. I mean you’re literally racing on city streets. However, Toronto had some issues on Friday outside of the norm. The bumpiness was extreme with the most concerning involving some manhole covers that made life challenging for the 27 drivers practicing on a sunny Friday afternoon in Canada.
The Turn 9-10 sequence has a cover that was launching cars going over it. At one point, Christian Lundgaard ran over it and got all four tires off the ground.
Romain Grosjean says that it’s not a normal racetrack when asked to give feedback to Tom Blomqvist. He says that the section is “horrendous.”
“It’s not a normal racetrack. That section is horrendous in terms of bumps and change of tarmac and so even for us it’s very hard to know what’s going to happen,” he says.
Felix Rosenqvist notes that the section was a complete redo from the notes from last year.
“Yeah, pretty different experience this year,” said Rosenqvist. “Seems like there’s some new repaves and patches on the track. Initially the session was really slippery, and everyone was just waiting for the track to go quicker, but it didn’t seem to happen.
“Then it kind of got traction and the lap times tumbled. But it was a new challenge. I would say it was the most different it’s been to get back here.
“I think Turn 9, Turn 10, Turn 11 was like a complete rethink in terms of driving lines and just how we approach it, really. Some other corners that were better, I thought, like Turn 6 was less bumpy, Turn 3 was less bumpy. They improved some places, and some places are harder as a driver.
“Quite challenging I thought, but good session for us. The car felt good, and I think all of us in the team were pretty up front all session.”
When elaborating on the changes, Rosenqvist went into deeper detail.
“Yeah, so approaching 9, you have a new tarmac right on the apex, so you’re kind of turning in with understeer 9, he continued. “Then as you hit the apex you grip up, so you kind of have to go in too quick for the grip you have, but then you have to trust that it grips.
“Then going into 10, there’s a massive bump right on entry, so you kind of have to go through that. Like there’s no choice, you have to go through it.
“Then as a car, it kind of lands on the bump, you have to turn in, and if you take it with too much speed it’s really easy to just go straight. I think we saw a couple of, me including, trying that, and yeah, you’re just mixing it up with different the lines and stuff. Was kind of interesting.
“Then 11, the new tarmac kind of ends right at the apex, so you can send it in pretty hard, but then it gets bumpy on exit. Yeah, it’s a complete inverted approach to the section, but I thought it was fun. You could see us working out there for sure.
“It kind of reminds me a bit of rally driving, like you have to set the car up before the jump and then you have to land in the right place. It’s like, yeah, a rally approach but way less jumping, obviously. Yeah, it makes you think.
“I think it’s kind of rare to have that in INDYCAR, so it’s a new challenge for sure.”
The rest of the bumps are something the drivers will have to deal with as that’s normal. But, for some of these manhole covers and patch work needs to be addressed overnight before we get back to action on Saturday. This has become a hazard.
“Yeah, it’s going to be a challenge. I think it’s going to get a lot better through the weekend with that rubber up and the grip picking up from the first lap to the end was better, but yeah, 100 percent the tarmac, it’s a challenge, but it’s just taking it all in and maybe he’s super lucky with a yellow and hold the field. Who knows,” Grosjean continued.
Results
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