“What They’re Saying” from Honda Indy Toronto Practice
SIMON PAGENAUD (No. 1 DXC Technology Team Penske Chevrolet): “The car has been phenomenal all day. I feel very comfortable. It’s great to be back in Toronto. This track is so much fun to drive on because it’s different to other tracks. Here it’s very low grip, you slide around in the corners. The tarmac changes throughout the corner, and it’s giving you a great challenge. I really enjoy that, I really do. You need to change your driving corner-to-corner. It’s not boring, I can tell you that. I’m excited. Again, the DXC car is really good. The track is changing as all the series go on, so we’re going to need to follow the track. I think we’ve started right where we need to be. The difficult part from now is to find the magic setup on the car for the red (Firestone alternate) tires. Like Will (Power) said, there’s quite a bit of a difference on the balance from the black (Firestone primary) tires to the reds. We’ll see, I think we’re OK, but that’s going to be the tough part.”
CONOR DALY (No. 4 ABC Supply AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet): “Starting the session, the car was really good. There was a large improvement (over Practice 1), which is nice. It was crazy to have the small failure that we had (heim joint on rear suspension), but the track is very bumpy, so those things happen. I’m just glad it wasn’t any worse than it was and that we had the run off in Turn 1. We’re in a really good position for tomorrow, I think the car was a lot better and we still ended up in the top 15 even without running reds (Firestone alternate tires), so that’s good.”
MAX CHILTON (No. 8 Gallagher Honda): “We picked up three positions from first to second practice today in the Gallagher car, but there is still more work to be done. This series is so close and the times are so tight, which is a direct reflection of the competition in INDYCAR. You really have to be on your game each weekend and get the most out of the car to be near the front. We’ll take what we learned from today and adapt for tomorrow and hopefully get a spot in the Firestone Fast Six.”
SCOTT DIXON (No. 9 NTT Data Honda): “We still have some work to do, but I’m pleased with the start overall for the No. 9 NTT Data team. It’s still going to take a bit more to get to where the Penske cars are, but I’m confident in the team and the decisions we’ll make heading into Practice 3 and qualifying tomorrow.”
TONY KANAAN (No. 10 NTT Data Honda): “The track is just a completely different animal this year. It’s going to be a lot harder to pass in Turn 1 with how much bumpier it is, but with the repave in Turn 8, a new passing zone opened up to make up for the loss of passing in that first turn. We worked through a lot of different things today, so we’re looking forward to hopefully finding out exactly what works for qualifying tomorrow in the first practice. I think we have a good shot of putting the No. 10 NTT Data Honda into the Firestone Fast Six tomorrow.”
WILL POWER (No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet): “We got to try the red (Firestone alternate) tires, which actually aren’t that different from the blacks (Firestone primary tires) speed-wise, only a quarter of a second, maybe, three-tenths. It’s a tough track to get the balance right. The grip levels are so different all the way around. You’ve got some bumpy areas with no grip, and bumpy areas with grip and them completely smooth areas. It’s something else. Very tough to get it all right.”
CARLOS MUNOZ (No. 14 ABC Supply AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet): “Two 45-minute practice sessions go really fast. The car is competitive, for Practice 2 we made some good improvement over Practice 1. It’s a shame we couldn’t try the red (Firestone alternate) tires because we had some electrical issues with the engine but we’ll see what we have tomorrow. It’s really close at Toronto-one tenth can mean a lot of positions. Our engineers will analyze the data and see where can improve even more for tomorrow.”
GRAHAM RAHAL (No. 15 Rousseau Metal Honda): “We started right where we left off in Detroit and that setup seems to carry over pretty good. Obviously, the Rousseau Metal Honda is pretty competitive. We have a little bit of stuff to work on overnight to improve, though. We actually had a lap going that was significantly better than what ended up being our fastest, but I had to lift for someone in the runoff in Turn 8. I feel decent with where we are right now. I would like to improve overnight to be a little more confident, but we’re headed in the right direction.”
ESTEBAN GUTIERREZ (No. 18 UNIFIN Honda): “It’s not ideal because we lost track time, but sometimes as a driver you have to push and find the limit of the car, especially in my situation where I’m learning the car. We made some very positive changes from Practice 1 to Practice 2, and I think we can keep that positive momentum because I felt the car was pretty strong and I felt good in the car. I just tried a different line in Turn 1, which didn’t work out very well, but we have to look forward. I feel sorry for the team because we have a bit of work to do, but we’ll catch up tomorrow. I like the track because it’s very challenging with the different surfaces from asphalt to concrete in the corners. You basically turn the car in and as soon as you get to the concrete you have less grip, so you have to anticipate that and it’s difficult to judge the balance of the car. It’s good that I approached the weekend with a bit of experience and knowing what to expect. It’s obviously helping me to find my way through on the direction that we need to take. It’s also been really helpful to have Sebastien (Bourdais) here. The best driver coach I can have this weekend. He’s been helping a lot and we’re all happy he is here.”
ED JONES (No. 19 Boy Scouts of America Honda): “It was a good first practice. Getting up to speed was all right. It’s a challenging track, everyone seemed to be going off a bit. They smoothed out the track a lot which has helped, but in other areas the bumps have gotten a lot worse. This track is always difficult. We struggled with the balance in the car in the first session and in the second session it got a bit worse. We tried to fix it, but we didn’t make as much progress as we would’ve liked. It’s a shame, but we’ll look at everything and try to make changes for tomorrow.” (About the condition of his foot): “It hurts a lot, but I have a high pain tolerance, so I’ll be OK. I’m still able to brake without issues.”
SPENCER PIGOT (No. 20 Fuzzy’s Vodka Chevrolet): “We started off pretty good this morning and that continued on through this afternoon. We do need to find a little bit of balance on the red (Firestone alternate) tires, but we are encouraged by some different things we have seen in the data. We just need to look everything over to see where we can get better, then tackle those areas. ”
JR HILDEBRAND (No. 21 Preferred Freezer Service Chevrolet): “I’ve always liked Toronto. Even for a Friday, the energy level on Friday is super high. There were a ton of people out here, the autograph session was packed and you can see the grandstands filling in around the track. It was a pretty good first day for us. There were definitely some things to work on, but we know where can find some time. Now it is going to become about making some changes so we can go back out tomorrow and pick up that time. The Preferred Freezer guys are doing a really good job and hopefully we can continue to improve tomorrow.”
TAKUMA SATO (No. 26 Andretti Autosport Honda): “It was a good session and it’s so nice to be back in Toronto. The fans are always so enthusiastic here. I really appreciate all the support, everybody comes to see us. We had good weather today. The car is working well, too. I think it was a productive session and we learned a lot. We still need to work hard, but we have a little room to go faster tomorrow, so I’m quite looking forward to that.”
MARCO ANDRETTI (No. 27 Andretti Autosport Honda): “The UFD car was decent on reds (Firestone alternate tires). We still have a little to tweak to be further up than the top six. We’re not completely out of the ballpark, but we need to be a little better.”
RYAN HUNTER-REAY (No. 28 DHL Honda): “We finished practice today top 10 overall, which is an improvement over last year. We’re still not completely satisfied with the car. We know we have lot more potential in there. We still have a lot of work to do to challenge for the top six in tomorrow’s qualifying, and hopefully we can get the DHL machine a good starting position.”
CHARLIE KIMBALL (No. 83 Novo Nordisk Honda): “Honestly we’re just struggling for lap time at the moment. The car isn’t great, but we seem to make it better and not go a lot quicker. I’m pretty frustrated, but the nice thing is we’ve got Scott’s (Dixon) data to look at tonight. We’ll learn from that and make sure the No. 83 Novo Nordisk Honda is fast tomorrow.”
ALEXANDER ROSSI (No. 98 Andretti Autosport/Curb Honda): “It was a difficult Friday. We were just working to find a balance I liked. I think we have a good car most of the track, but we are really struggling in one particular area that the teammates aren’t. I think if we can resolve that, we have a top six to top 10 car – which is what we’ll obviously need to earn a decent starting spot tomorrow.”
Sources: Curt Cavin/Verizon IndyCar Series PR