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Indianapolis 500 winner Pagenaud tops practice for IndyCar Toronto

Team Penske-Chevrolet's Simon Pagenaud went fastest in second practice for Honda Indy Toronto, just beating Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda's Felix Rosenqvist

The 2019 Indianapolis 500 winner set a time of 59.8708s around the 1.786-mile street course with Rosenqvist a mere 0.0603s behind him.

Pagenaud, who claimed pole at the Toronto circuit in '17, had a clear edge over his Penske team-mates - eclipsing Josef Newgarden and Will Power by over half a second, with the drivers trialling Firestone alternate compound tires for the only time before qualifying.

Sebastien Bourdais was barely more than a tenth off top spot for Dayle Coyne Racing, also setting a time under the 1-minute barrier, while Spencer Pigot had a very encouraging run to fourth for Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevy to beat the second Ganassi car of practice one pacesetter Scott Dixon by a tenth.

Graham Rahal and Marco Andretti each took sixth and seventh respectively ahead of Newgarden, Andretti Autosport's Ryan Hunter-Reay and Power.

Road America winner Alexander Rossi had a scrappy session, clattering the final turn with his rightside rear and front wheels, and then losing five minutes for stopping on track with a bent left-front wheel after scraping it on the wall at the inside of Turn 9.

Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports' rookie Marcus Ericsson also endured a messy practice, smacking the final turn wall with his right-rear, bouncing off the outside wall at Turn 5, visiting an escape road and then having a near miss with another tire barrier.

Unsurprisingly, Ericsson was last, as series returnee Sage Karam made gains on the understanding of his Carlin-Chevrolet and drew well within two seconds of Pagenaud's pacesetting time.

First free practice results

Pos Driver Team Car Time Gap
1 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda 1m01.0723s -
2 Josef Newgarden Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 1m01.2138s 0.1415s
3 Felix Rosenqvist Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda 1m01.2395s 0.1672s
4 Alexander Rossi Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 1m01.3843s 0.3120s
5 Simon Pagenaud Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 1m01.4969s 0.4246s
6 Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 1m01.6702s 0.5979s
7 Will Power Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 1m01.6841s 0.6118s
8 Sebastien Bourdais Dale Coyne Racing Dallara/Honda 1m01.7180s 0.6457s
9 Takuma Sato Rahal Letterman Lanigan Dallara/Honda 1m01.8080s 0.7357s
10 Spencer Pigot Ed Carpenter Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 1m01.8286s 0.7563s
11 Marco Andretti Andretti Herta Dallara/Honda 1m01.8747s 0.8024s
12 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Dallara/Honda 1m01.8883s 0.8160s
13 James Hinchcliffe Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Dallara/Honda 1m01.9302s 0.8579s
14 Ed Jones Ed Carpenter Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 1m02.0513s 0.9790s
15 Colton Herta Harding Racing Dallara/Honda 1m02.0979s 1.0256s
16 Max Chilton Carlin Dallara/Chevrolet 1m02.2369s 1.1646s
17 Zach Veach Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 1m02.4007s 1.3284s
18 Santino Ferrucci Dale Coyne Racing Dallara/Honda 1m02.4735s 1.4012s
19 Marcus Ericsson Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Dallara/Honda 1m02.6955s 1.6232s
20 Tony Kanaan AJ Foyt Enterprises Dallara/Chevrolet 1m02.9165s 1.8442s
21 Matheus Leist AJ Foyt Enterprises Dallara/Chevrolet 1m03.0755s 2.0032s
22 Sage Karam Carlin Dallara/Chevrolet 1m03.9765s 2.9042s

Second free practice results

Pos Driver Team Car Time Gap
1 Simon Pagenaud Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 59.8708s -
2 Felix Rosenqvist Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda 59.9311s 0.0603s
3 Sebastien Bourdais Dale Coyne Racing Dallara/Honda 59.9866s 0.1158s
4 Spencer Pigot Ed Carpenter Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 1m00.0401s 0.1693s
5 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda 1m00.1445s 0.2737s
6 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Dallara/Honda 1m00.4091s 0.5383s
7 Marco Andretti Andretti Herta Dallara/Honda 1m00.4435s 0.5727s
8 Josef Newgarden Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 1m00.4509s 0.5801s
9 Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 1m00.4696s 0.5988s
10 Will Power Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 1m00.4981s 0.6273s
11 James Hinchcliffe Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Dallara/Honda 1m00.6106s 0.7398s
12 Colton Herta Harding Racing Dallara/Honda 1m00.6756s 0.8048s
13 Ed Jones Ed Carpenter Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 1m00.7419s 0.8711s
14 Alexander Rossi Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 1m00.8161s 0.9453s
15 Max Chilton Carlin Dallara/Chevrolet 1m00.8572s 0.9864s
16 Zach Veach Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 1m00.9907s 1.1199s
17 Santino Ferrucci Dale Coyne Racing Dallara/Honda 1m01.0845s 1.2137s
18 Tony Kanaan AJ Foyt Enterprises Dallara/Chevrolet 1m01.1068s 1.2360s
19 Takuma Sato Rahal Letterman Lanigan Dallara/Honda 1m01.3290s 1.4582s
20 Matheus Leist AJ Foyt Enterprises Dallara/Chevrolet 1m01.4316s 1.5608s
21 Sage Karam Carlin Dallara/Chevrolet 1m01.6066s 1.7358s
22 Marcus Ericsson Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Dallara/Honda 1m01.6437s 1.7729s

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