The temperature was rising and the pressure ramping up at the Indy Toronto. Fun and games on Friday gave way to serious competition on Saturday, as the qualifying order is so important at a street circuit like Toronto.
Top teams like McLaren, Ganassi and Penske had a quiet confidence heading into 2:00 pm quali, while the crew at Dayle Coyne Racing scrambled to put of Jacob Abel’s car back together after he clouted the wall in morning warm-up.
Drivers are split into two random groups, with the fastest from each advancing to the Fast 12. Team Penske’s Will Power in the No. 12 was looking strong, transferring from the Fast 12 to the Fast 6 which would set the grid on Sunday morning. His teammates Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin didn’t fare as well, and the hopes of Team Penske, and the fans at Demaras Racing, were firmly on Power’s shoulders.
IndyCar qualifying is always exciting, as the drivers push harder and closer to the concrete walls to extract more lao time. Toronto’s street circuit is a bumpy mess, with transitions from old to new asphalt and then concrete. There’s no predictability and no two laps are the same.
Our hero Will Power gave it his all, but could only manage outside, second row. Pole position was taken by Colton Herta of the Andretti squad for a second year in a row, with championship leader Alex Palou filling out the front row.
McLaren’s ace driver Patricioo O’Ward is starting three rows behind Power, but with McLaren CEO Zack Brown in Toronto for the event, Pato he will surely want to impress the big boss. The fight to the first corner should be epic.
The green flag drops just after 12:00 noon on Sunday, which is uncharacteristically early for a start time. The race is being broadcast on FOX so make sure to tune in to see if Will Power can win for the 45th time in his career, and bring Team Penske its first win of the year,