2016 Honda Indy Toronto Practice: Pagenaud Tops Charts

Simon Pagenaud topped the timesheets during Friday’s Verizon IndyCar Series practice session at Toronto, where Team Penske completed a 1-2-3 finish.

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A slightly revised circuit made for some new challenges for the drivers of the Verizon IndyCar Series on Friday, but what didn’t change was Simon Pagenaud’s dominance as he remained the driver to beat.

Pagenaud’s fastest lap was 61.7081 seconds for an average of 104.194 MPH around the Honda Indy Toronto street circuit.

It was enough to best his teammates, Helio Castroneves and Will Power, by 0.2 and 0.35 seconds respectively.

Pagenaud currently holds a 73-point lead in the drivers standings, and was pleased with Friday’s end result.

“It’s been a fun day,” Pagenaud said. “We made some adjustments for Practice 2. It actually went better than we expected. We’re on a good pace this weekend. Certainly I think we’re pretty set with the race car. Now we need to make some adjustments for qualifying, but we’re pretty close.”

The final three corners around the 1.785-mile 11-turn temporary street circuit around Exhibition Place were altered in the offseason to accommodate for commercial construction inside the circuit. The pit lane has been moved outside to the drivers’ left, a first in the 30-year history of the track.

The revised corners complicated Juan Pablo Montoya’s day; he shunted his car as he exited Turn 11 on his fourth lap. The left-front wheel of his Team Penske Chevrolet grabbed the inside wall, pushing him to understeer the car into the outside wall coming onto the main straight. He exited the accident unscathed, and accepted complete responsibility for the incident.

Charlie Kimball experienced some difficulties of his own, bouncing off the exit wall and sliding across the circuit to smack right into the pitwall. The right side of his car absorbed the impact.

In more positive news, hometown hero James Hinchcliffe returned to the circuit he used to cheer at as a child. A native of nearby Oakville, Ontario, Hinchcliffe has raced Indy cars at Toronto six times in his career. He missed last year’s race in Toronto as he recovered from injuries sustained in a practice crash ahead of last year’s Indianapolis 500.

You can watch a lap of the Indy Toronto track through Hinchcliffe’s visor cam below:

Serving the series as the sole Canadian, he admitted there’s some added pressure for this race. His career-best finish at the track is eighth, which he’s accomplished on two occasions.

“There’s definitely more tension when you come home, no doubt about it,” he said. “At the end of the day, we’re trying to win every single race. It’s heightened emotions (here), a bad day feels worse, but a good day feels way better. Hopefully tomorrow and Sunday are good days and it all feels pretty good.”

He said Friday was a “good day” for him as Hinchliffe’s No. 5 Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda was fifth-fastest during Friday practice.

“Mikhail (Aleshin, his teammate) and I swapped notes after (morning practice),” Hinchcliffe said. “I took some things off his car, he took some off mine. Both cars were running well in that second session. Good to see.”

The 2016 Honda Indy Toronto takes place this Sunday, July 17 at 3:37 p.m. ET/12:37 p.m. PT. The race broadcast begins at 2:30 p.m. ET/11:30 a.m. PT on CNBC, as NBCSN will be broadcasting the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.