Takuma Sato’s climb up the field throughout the weekend came to a head on Saturday morning as he topped the final practice for Honda Indy Toronto.
Sato was under 0.100 ahead of title-contender Josef Newgarden, as Sato looks to continue his own push through the standings with a string of strong performances. Newgarden was less lucky to close off the session, running off course and into a tire wall close behind a similar incident for hometown favourite Robert Wickens.
Scott Dixon, currently leading Newgarden for the top of the points standings, faced issues as well. Having topped both of Friday’s practice sessions, Dixon was looking to complete a perfect practice weekend in final practice. However, locking the brakes coming out of the front stretch, Dixon was unable to recover time and was sixth fastest.
Will Power greatly improved his pace, with a P3 time in the session. Having struggled with the car’s pace in prior sessions, Power praised the track’s new surface and maintained there was a potential to improve.
Spencer Pigot evened out a quietly quick practice weekend, sitting at P5 after the third and final session. His penchant for tricky street courses will make him a driver to watch throughout the remainder of the Honda Indy Toronto event.
Iowa winner James Hinchcliffe, who had seen a great improvement in pace from the first to second sessions, sat back in P14 after the final session and will head into qualifying as a major question mark despite finishing P3 at his home track last season.
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