Photo Credit: Chris Jones/IndyCar
Team Penske has been fast since unloading their cars in the paddock on Friday, and the team has continued their speed as Saturday has rolled on.
Simon Pagenaud, last year’s Verizon IndyCar Series champion, led the way late in the final practice for the team before qualifying.
Pagenaud has quietly been a model of consistency throughout the season thus far with only three finishes outside the top-five. He only has one win so far this season at Phoenix International Raceway in April, but he’s put himself in position to contend for the title yet again.
“I’m excited. I think, again, the DXC car is really good. Obviously the track is changing as all the series go on, so we’re going to need to follow the track, but I think we’ve started right where we need to be,” Pagenaud said on Friday. “Obviously the difficult part from now on is to find the magic setup on the car for the red tires, and like Will said, there’s quite a bit of a difference on the balance from the black tires to the reds. We’ll see. I think we’re okay, but I think that’s going to be the tough part.”
The Frenchman was followed in practice by teammates Helio Castroneves, Josef Newgarden and Will Power. Ryan Hunter-Reay closed out the top-five in practice. Graham Rahal, Alexander Rossi, Takuma Sato, hometown driver James Hinchcliffe and Carlos Munoz rounded out the top-10 drivers.
IndyCar qualifying will kick off from the Streets of Toronto at 2:15 p.m. ET.
