Kirkwood tops Friday’s IndyCar practice in Toronto

TORONTO (WISH) — Andretti Autosport’s Kyle Kirkwood was fastest on Friday during the NTT IndyCar Series’ practice session on the streets of Toronto.

Kirkwood’s fastest lap was 1 minute, .8075 of a second (105.737 mph) on the 11-turn, 1.786-mile temporary street circuit.

He was one of three Andretti Autosport drivers in the top four Friday.

“It went phenomenal for us,” Kirkwood said in a news release. “We kind of led the whole session. Andretti Autosport does a fantastic job at setting up these street-course cars, specifically. Fingers crossed. You expect to see some more of that. It’s a good start for us, but we’ve got to keep the thing going.”

Kirkwood has found success already this season on a street course, having won the Acura Long Beach Grand Prix back in April.

Andretti Autosport’s Romain Grosjean was second-fastest on Friday, followed by Arrow McLaren’s Felix Rosenqvist and Andretti Autosport’s Colton Herta.

Championship leader Alex Palou finished the session 12th-fastest, turning a fast lap of 1:01.3233. Palou is hoping to become the sixth driver since 1970 to win four consecutive IndyCar Series races. The most recent driver to accomplish that feat was Sebastien Bourdais in 2006.

Another practice session for the Honda Indy Toronto will take place on Saturday morning before qualifying takes place at 2:50 p.m. EDT.

Sunday’s race will begin at 1:30 p.m.