Kyle Kirkwood set the pace in first practice ahead of IndyCar’s Honda Indy Toronto, but there was chaos behind.
The bumpy street circuit at Exhibition Place in Canada is a notoriously challenging track to master, despite its relatively short length of just 1.75 miles.
Towards the end of the lap, Turn 8 has a very difficult braking zone as the series of bumps on the racing line make it easy to lock a front tyre.
Scott McLaughlin (No. 3 Gallagher Insurance Team Penske Chevrolet), Pato O’Ward (No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet), and Santino Ferrucci (No. 14 Sexton Properties/AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet) all ran wide there in one incident.
Will Power finished fifth for Team Penske as the outfit is still pushing for their first victory this season in a barren run.
Power was quick, but wasn’t happy with Turn 3’s bumpiness
The Australian set a 01:01.8538 in Canada and shed light on a new bump at Turn 3, which is the heaviest braking zone on the track.
He said via the official IndyCar website: “There’s a massive new bump at the end of the straight into (Turn) 3. It actually hurts (and it’s) right in the braking zone – boom!”
This bump could cause chaos in Sunday’s 90-lap race as drivers attempt to overtake at the end of the back straight.
Power has endured a stuttering season so far, with just three podiums this year, hindered by a failure to score a top 10 finish in four of the last five races.
Kirkwood set the pace for Andretti Global as they returned to the track Colton Herta dominated last season.
He is hoping for the track to grip up over the weekend, as in FP1, the circuit was very hard to master.
The American said: “It’s certainly a tough one because that’s probably the lowest amount of grip I’ve driven in IndyCar in a very long time. That’s just due to the fact that we don’t have a bunch of support series here.”
Image credit: Penske Entertainment Joe Skibinski
