The NTT IndyCar Series took to the streets of Toronto for the second practice session of the weekend on Saturday morning.
26 drivers filled the 1.79-mile course, and pushed the limits as much as they dared in preparation for their qualifying runs scheduled for later in the day.
Just as he was on Friday, Colton Herta was the fastest around the bumpy street course. He set a time of 1:00.5763, just over one tenth of a second faster than the competition.
Kyle Kirkwood and Will Power set the second and third fastest times, each moving forward significantly from their Friday times.
There were quite a few eyes on Hunter McElrea as he continues his debut IndyCar weekend, and he was the fastest rookie of the session.
He completed his best lap in 1:01.5738 and was 16th on the timesheets, giving him quite a bit of confidence in his first event in the premiere series.
Everyone battled traffic on the short course, and there were more than a few drivers that had to abandon a fast lap attempt on account of slow cars ahead.
Unlike the first practice session on Friday, there were a distinct lack of incidents to break up the second practice run.
There were plenty of close calls however, with multiple drivers touching the concrete barriers and running into the runoff areas.
There was a particularly close call between Pietro Fittipaldi and Felix Rosenqvist when the former backed out of a push lap in order to prepare for a second quick push.
Rosenqvist was just behind on track, and barely squeezed past between the #30 RLL Honda and the wall. The Swede waved his hands angrily in the cockpit afterwards, fully realizing how close he was to disaster.
Rosenqvist was seen driving angrily for the remainder of the session as well, and is definitely much more fired up than usual midway through the weekend.
Marcus Armstrong touched the wall with his left rear while pushing hard through Turn 7, and Scott Dixon misjudged his braking in the same corner and had to spin his car around before continuing.
The #7 Arrow McLaren entry was not on track during the session, with Theo Pourchaire not yet at the race track.
The young French driver was announced earlier in the morning as the replacement for Alexander Rossi, who broke his thumb in Friday’s practice.
Pourchaire’s flight from Europe arrives in Toronto less than two hours before qualifying is set to begin, giving him a very short time to prepare for his run.
Knockout qualifying begins on the streets of Toronto at 2:45 eastern time.
