Kirkwood fastest in opening Indy Toronto practice as track conditions challenge drivers

The 2025 Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto kicked off with Friday’s opening free practice and Kyle Kirkwood didn’t disappoint.

Piloting the No. 27 Andretti Global Honda, Kirkwood’s speed and precision around the bumpy, unpredictable streets of Exhibition Place set a clear opening Indy Toronto practice benchmark as IndyCar drivers struggled to find grip around slick patches and abrupt elevation changes.

The opening practice, always a key moment in the race weekend narrative, unfolded in classic Toronto style: challenging, incident-filled, and brimming with storylines among every driver and team on the temporary street circuit.

Exhibition Place, with its notorious concrete canyons and slick patches along Lakeshore Boulevard and through the historic Toronto fairgrounds, presented more of a technical challenge than ever before.

From the moment practice commenced, drivers quickly realized the importance of tyre management and careful adaptation to the constantly changing surface grip.

Early on, Alexander Rossi showcased his intent by setting initial top times, narrowly edging out rookie Kyffin Simpson and Christian Rasmussen as the field jostled for supremacy in the opening stages.

Momentum continued to ebb and flow among the front runners as Rasmussen briefly took charge with a 1:03.013.

The first twenty minutes of the session saw several drivers, including Linus Lundqvist and Santino Ferrucci, pushing the limit and occasionally exceeding it, as Ferrucci soared to the top of the charts with a stunning 1:02.849.

Christian Lundgaard had the session’s first contact with the wall—clipping the exit of Turn 11—but remarkably escaped without significant damage.

Meanwhile, Christian Rasmussen and Pato O’Ward found themselves deep in the turn eight run-off area, after brake miscalculations amid the challenging conditions.

As the field began switching to softer red-wall tires nearing the midpoint, expectations were high for a jump in lap times. The likes of Will Power, Josef Newgarden, and Colton Herta started moving quickly up the scoring tower as Power in particular flexed Penske team muscle by unleashing a 1:01.905, seizing provisional P1.

However, as the intense surface battles continued lock-ups at Turn 8 became all too common with multiple drivers—including O’Ward, Scott McLaughlin, and Herta—performing heroic saves through the run-off.

With approximately ten minutes to go, the front trio featured Will Power, Colton Herta, and Newgarden—while championship leader Alex Palou repeatedly flirted with the absolute limit, lighting up the timing sectors and visually showing the classic controlled chaos that has become his trademark.

The session’s closing moments were electrifying, with the soft tire peak and track evolution combining to set up a flurry of fast laps. Scott McLaughlin, consistently among the fastest in all practice sectors, briefly went top with a lap of 1:01.341.

Yet, as the time wound down Kyle Kirkwood responded with a stunning 1:01.205 during the final minutes, ultimately .

Behind Kirkwood, McLaughlin’s best was just a tenth and a half adrift, while Palou slotted into third at 1:01.599. Armstrong was fourth fastest while Will Power kept the Penske name in contention with lap good enough for fifth.

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2025 Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto Practice 1 Results

Pos	No	Driver	Engine	Time/Gap	Speed	Laps
1	27	Kyle Kirkwood	Honda	1m01.205s	105.050	20
2	3	Scott McLaughlin	Chevy	0.1357s	104.817	26
3	10	Alex Palou	Honda	0.3933s	104.379	22
4	66	Marcus Armstrong	Honda	0.4940s	104.208	23
5	12	Will Power	Chevy	0.5127s	103.948	26
6	90	Callum Ilott	Chevy	0.6931s	103.873	22
7	5	Pato O’ward	Chevy	0.7231s	103.823	22
8	4	David Malukas	Chevy	0.7515s	103.775	24
9	7	Christian Lundgaard	Chevy	0.7569s	103.766	20
10	26	Colton Herta	Honda	0.8165s	103.667	19
11	60	Felix Rosenqvist	Honda	0.8758s	103.568	21
12	21	Christian Rasmussen	Chevy	0.8869s	103.549	21
13	9	Scott Dixon	Honda	0.9003s	103.527	23
14	18	Rinus Veekay	Honda	0.9356s	103.468	24
15	2	Josef Newgarden	Chevy	0.9495s	103.445	16
16	15	Graham Rahal	Honda	0.9676s	103.415	24
17	20	Alexander Rossi	Chevy	1.0178s	103.331	25
18	45	Louis Foster	Honda	1.0575s	103.265	29
19	83	Robert Shwartzman	Chevy	1.0696s	103.245	33
20	14	Santino Ferrucci	Chevy	1.1744s	103.072	23
21	28	Marcus Ericsson	Honda	1.1836s	103.057	20
22	6	Nolan Siegel	Chevy	1.2465s	102.953	26
23	8	Kyffin Simpson	Honda	1.2735s	102.908	31
24	51	Jacob Abel	Honda	1.3423s	102.795	27
25	30	Devlin DeFrancesco	Honda	1.5330s	102.173	26
26	77	Sting Ray Robb	Chevy	2.0368s	101.666	20
27	76	Conor Daly	Chevy	1.8926s	100.862	23