Kirkwood rolls with the bumps to lead opening Toronto IndyCar practice

Bumps and track evolution were the centerpiece of Friday’s opening practice session for the NTT IndyCar Series on the streets of Toronto.

Chip Ganassi Racing’s Marcus Armstrong was the early pacesetter with a 1m03.5s lap around the 1.8-mile circuit, and with 75 minutes made available to teams and drivers to adapt to the bone-jarring course and its increasingly severe surface, Andretti Autosport’s Kyle Kirkwood lowered the best lap to a 1m01.8 on Firestone’s primary tires.

Once the field switched to the faster green-banded alternate rubber in the final 15 minutes of the lone outing for the day, Kirkwood fired in the top lap of the session with a remarkable 1m00.8075s tour in the No. 27 Honda to lead a strong 1-2 for Andretti with Romain Grosjean’s No. 28 Honda close behind (+0.05s).

Welcome back to the Streets of Toronto, @KKirkwoodRacing.