A downpour caused the first sessions of the Honda Indy Toronto weekend to be pushed back a bit, but the drivers of the Verizon IndyCar Series took to the streets of Toronto's Exhibition Place circuit to turn their first laps of the weekend just 15 minutes behind schedule.
Luca Filippi, driving the No. 20 CFH Racing car, set the first time of the 40-minute session, a 1:16.789, as most of the driver chose to hit pit road again after early installation laps.
Five minutes into the FP1, other drivers started clocking fast laps, with the A.J. Foyt Enterprises duo of Hawksworth and Sato leading the way with a pair of 1.10/1.11 times; five seconds slower than the average Indy Lights lap, though, as the track was still a bit wet from the rain.
Simon Pagenaud was the first set a lap quicker than those of the Indy Lights cars, but as the streets of Toronto dried even more and drivers got more used to it, times started plummeting. After 10 minutes of practice, Penske’s Frenchman led the pack with a respectable 1:01.621, set on his fourth lap. His teammate Juan Pablo Montoya and Rookie of the Year frontrunner Gabby Chaves followed, being the only other drivers to clock below 1:03, with a pair of 1:02 laps.
As times started improving all around, some top notch drivers, like defending series champion Will Power or last week’s Texas winner Scott Dixon, were still to leave the pits and set their first fast laps.
Before Andretti, Rahal and Dixon could put their first times on board, six drivers had already lapped around 1:01: Pagenaud, Newgarden, Sato, Filippi and Power, the Aussie doing so on just his fourth lap.
Power's fourth lap was the first of three on which he improved his best time, from sixth to second, then to first with a 1:01.166.
As the clock dropped to under 20 minutes of practice left, the Penske fleet were once again dominating the charts, with Pagenaud and Castroneves completing the trifecta at the top. Montoya was 14th by then, having lapped the circuit only three times.
Just as usual as the Penske domination, however, was the common sight of both Dale Coyne cars running last: Vautier was 22nd and Rodolfo Gonzalez, another former GP2 prospect, 23rd with roughly 10 minutes to go, over 2.5 seconds behind Power’s best lap.
Luca Filippi, signed as a road course specialist by Ed Carpenter, was the first driver to lap the Toronto track in under a minute and a second. His 1.00:850, however, only topped the charts for moments before a wave of other drivers, Montoya, Pagenaud and Newgarden, set faster times, relegating him to fourth.
Juan Pablo Montoya, winner of the Indianapolis 500 and current points leader entering this weekend in Toronto, turned the quickest lap of the session, a 1.00:634, set on his seventh lap out. Simon Pagenaud claimed Penske another 1-2 practice, with a 1.00:792 on his 11th lap. Josef Newgarden completed the top-three, clocking 1:00.836 at the wheel of the No. 67 CFH Racing car.
Luca Filippi, blasting a 1.00:850 lap, was fourth quickest while Detroit Race 2 winner Sebastian Bourdais, with a 1.00:862, was fifth quickest.
Reigning series champion Will Power was sixth fastest in the No. 1 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, while his teammate Helio Castroneves was just behind at seventh fastest.
Completing the top-10 in this opening practice session behind Castroneves were Rahal, Kimball, and Kanaan. Rahal, eighth fastest, was the only Honda in the top-10.
Practice 2 for the Verizon IndyCar Series is set to begin at 2:45 pm ET this afternoon. Follow @VAVELIndyCar on Twitter for more througbout this weekend in Toronto.
Pete Liguori is a writer for the VAVEL USA Racing section. Follow him on Twitter at @PeteUSSports.
