[media-credit name=”Johnathan Ferrey/Getty Images” align=”alignright” width=”304″]
[/media-credit]Three-time IZOD IndyCar Series Champion Dario Franchitti would lead the final practice for the Honda Indy Toronto at Toronto’s Exhibition Grounds. He would run a total of 11 laps for the session, leading with a lap of 1:00.2786 and an average speed of 104.813. The lap was six tenths quicker than the lap he ran to lead the opening session.
Rookie Simon Pagenaud would run second, a tenth off of Franchitti’s time. Franchitti’s Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon would be third, two tenths of a second off.
Following his practice one problems in turn eight followed by pit lane issues, Justin Wilson would bounce back to finish the second session fourth. However, the practice didn’t go without problems as he would make contact with the tire barrier in turn eight.
Penske Racing’s Ryan Briscoe rounded out the top five, followed by teammates Helio Castroneves and Will Power. Mike Conway was eighth, followed by Ryan Hunter-Reay and Takumo Sato.
Josef Newgarden would run into more problems this practice to go along with his first practice problems as the car would stop in turn four. Newgarden says that the team suffered a fuel issue problem, the same problem as experienced in the opening practice.
“Conditions should be quite a bit different for the rest of the race weekend though so hopefully we haven’t lost much,” he adds. “The team’s going to find the problem tonight and we’ll be ready to go tomorrow.”
Graham Rahal would also find trouble as he would spin in turn six.
“Overall, I would say, it’s been a tough day,” he says. “We’re struggling to find a balance in the car. This is a place we always run well, and I think we will get stronger tomorrow. I feel we just have a lot to improve on. We didn’t quite get a new tire-run in there at the end after we spun. It just kind of hurt the tires and we had to go from there.”
Hometown hero James Hinchcliffe would miss the second session following problems in the first session as he would have an engine failure. As a result, the team was forced to change motors and he will now suffer a 10-grid spot penalty come qualifying on Saturday.
“Unfortunately, today is a day to forget really,” Hinchcliffe says. “It’s too bad what happened in the second session because with the first session not going smoothly, we were really looking to make some gains.”
He added that he will look towards teammates Marco Andretti and Ryan Hunter-Reay’s notes to get ready for qualifying tomorrow. Despite the disappointment on the day, there is a positive thought….
“Last time we got an engine penalty we were able to come back and finished on the podium,” he comments. “So we may be down but we’re certainly not out.”
Also suffering a 10-grid spot penalty for unapproved motor changes are Simona De Silvestro and Tagliani.
