Colton Herta continued Andretti Autosport’s strong early showing at Honda Indy Toronto, leading Saturday morning practice with the quickest lap of the weekend.
Herta paced the 45-minute session with a top lap of 1 minute, .0471 of a second in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda on the 11-turn, 1.786-mile temporary street circuit around Exhibition Place. His teammate Alexander Rossi led Friday practice at 1:00.6090 in the No. 27 NAPA AUTO PARTS/AutoNation Honda.
SEE: Practice Results
“We rolled off the trucks really good,” Herta said. “As we saw, Alex was fastest yesterday. Another Andretti car up there today with us. We feel really confident going into qualifying. Made some good adjustments overnight. They seem to be working.”
Herta will be one of the favorites to win the pole in NTT P1 Award qualifying at 2 p.m. (ET) today on the streets of Canada’s largest city (live on Peacock Premium, INDYCAR Radio Network).
NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship leader Marcus Ericsson was second at 1:00.2082 in the No. 8 Huski Chocolate Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Will Power, Ericsson’s closest pursuer in the points, was third at 1:00.3322 in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet.
Scott McLaughlin clocked in an impressive fourth during his first weekend on this challenging circuit with a top lap of 1:00.3389 in the No. 3 XPEL Team Penske Chevrolet.
Series rookie Christian Lundgaard also impressed by rounding out the top five at 1:00.3954 in the No. 30 HUB International Honda. That continued a resurgent event for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, as Graham Rahal was third quickest overall in Friday practice.
The session started 33 minutes late due to fence and fiber-optic damage from a crash during a support race session before the NTT INDYCAR SERIES practice. The eventful nature of the day continued during the 45-minute practice, as three drivers found the unforgiving concrete barriers lining the temporary circuit.
Reigning series champion Alex Palou, Romain Grosjean and Takuma Sato each hit the barriers in separate incidents, inflicting moderate damage to their respective cars and ending their sessions early. All the drivers were unhurt.
Two-time series champion Josef Newgarden only was on track for the first few minutes of the session in his No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet before he was called to the pits for a mechanical problem that required an engine change between this session and qualifying.
A warmup session and the 85-lap race are scheduled for Sunday. Live, exclusive coverage of the race starts at 3 p.m. on Peacock Premium – with limited commercial interruptions – and the INDYCAR Radio Network.