IndyCar travels north of the Canadian border this weekend to tackle the streets of downtown Toronto.
There were 27 drivers that took to the track in the initial session of the weekend, including Nolan Siegel in the #6 Arrow McLaren Chevy.
The young driver had to sit out of last Sunday’s race at Iowa Speedway due to lingering effects from a hard crash the day before.
Arrow McLaren brought Linus Lundqvist to Toronto as a reserve driver, but it appears his services are not needed because Siegel was cleared to take part in this weekend’s event.
The 1.79-mile course is made up of a patchwork of various pavement types, and some of them were incredibly slick for the first practice run. Drivers were seen power-sliding at every turn and flirting with disaster near the concrete barriers.
Will Power was the first driver to find good pace and complete a lap under the 62-second barrier, but Kyle Kirkwood was the fastest when he fit the softer compound tires.
Kirkwood lapped the course in 1:01.2054, and was followed closely by the best laps of Scott McLaughlin and Alex Palou.
Marcus Armstong also handled the unexpectedly slick conditions well by setting the fourth best time, with Power rounding out the top five by time the session was over.
The two Juncos Hollinger Racing drivers were the slowest on track, leaving Sting Ray Robb and Conor Daly to search for what can be changed headed into the rest of the weekend.
There was one potentially dangerous moment when McLaughlin locked up under braking and ended up in the runoff area at Turn 8.
Pato O’Ward and Santino Ferrucci also ran long moments later in the same corner before McLaughlin had a chance to get back on track, making for an incredibly busy runoff area.
All three drivers were able to navigate around each other, however, and continued with no damage done.
The only damage on any driver’s car was that of Jacob Abel, who touched the concrete barriers and broke a left rear toe link in the process.
Drivers will complete a second practice run Saturday morning, followed by qualifying a short time after.
