IndyCar set for weekend of uncertainty in tricky Toronto

Credit: Julia Bissessar

While Friday should provide some of the most valuable lessons for a race weekend, IndyCar’s teams have come away from the longest practice session of this weekend’s Indy Toronto with the feeling that they have barely learned a thing.

The opening track running of the weekend was plagued by an extremely slippery surface, with maybe a dose of fortune that the biggest moments of incident were mere brushes of the wall and cars finding the runoff.

“That’s probably the lowest amount of grip I’ve driven in IndyCar in a very long time,” said Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood, who set the quickest time of the session. “That’s just due to the fact that we don’t have a bunch of support series here. 

“We don’t have Indy [NXT] that are running on Firestone helping build up the grip. We were sweeping, in a sense, for the rest of the session and for the rest of the weekend.”

Both Kirkwood and Team Penske’s Will Power, who topped the all-car segment and Group 1 of the split 12-minute sessions, both observed that lap times - in the low 61-second range - essentially matched those from opening practice in Toronto last year. But the absence of reliable grip is what has sent teams away from the session scratching their heads.

“I don’t think we learned anything for Sunday, if I’m being honest,” Kirkwood said. “It’s so low grip, you’re just killing the tyre out there. Actually, we did learn that the [alternate] greens were soft - they grained really bad. That will likely be the case in the race.”

Talk of alternate tyres degrading has been prevalent on street course weekends in 2025, with drivers often wanting to ditch the softer compound as soon as possible in races due to a near-immediate drop-off in performance. Early signs are that it is no different in Toronto.

Credit: Dominic Loyer

“I think everybody saw that alternate tyres looked like they grained really, really bad,” Kirkwood said after practice. “That’s why you saw a lot of people going faster on [harder primaries]. Interesting how that shakes out for the rest of the weekend. 

“Not sure why it was like that. We clearly had a very soft street course tyres. Given the nature of that session where it was pretty low grip, maybe that just has something to do. Nonetheless, it’s on our minds for the rest of the weekend and obviously for the race.”

Power found that the alternate compound only had enough performance in it for a preparation lap and one push lap in a qualifying simulation. This may even force some teams and drivers to risk running the harder tyres at points in qualifying on Saturday.

“They’re just too soft. I think incredibly soft,” Power said of the alternate tyres. “It will actually be interesting in qualifying, what compound you use. Throw on new primes, you’d be [right there or faster].”

Power believes the 90-lap race is almost nailed-on to be a three-stop affair and expects teams would ideally like to keep three sets of new primary tyres for the race. But there may well be teams who mull over sacrificing a set for the sake of a better starting spot.

“If they were faster,” Kirkwood said, “that would be very interesting.”

Another feature of practice was drivers complaining about, in the words of Power, “a massive new bump at the end of the straight” on the entry into Turn 3. It has taken a toll physically already and could jeopardise racing if a solution is not found, the drivers suggest.

“It actually hurts. Right in the braking zone: boom,” Power said. “Man, it’s nasty. Gave me a headache, it was that hard. 

“I think they honestly need to grind it tonight. It will hurt racing. Very apprehensive to go up the inside. They should grind it.”

Credit: Dominic Loyer

Kirkwood felt the bump too but admitted it “wasn’t extremely hard” for him as Andretti continue to excel on bumpy street tracks. The Floridian has won the last two street races - Long Beach and Detroit - for which he and teammate Colton Herta shared the poles.

“It’s bumps, man,” Kirkwood said of why Andretti excel on street courses. “For whatever reason, our car makes really good grip over the bumps. The more bumpy the better. Detroit, here… most bumpy street courses. 

“In the past, these have been our best. Not to say that’s going to be the case this weekend. So far looking decent [by topping practice].”

Andretti locked out the front row in Toronto last year, with Herta leading Kirkwood and the pair finishing the race in that order. After topping every session en-route to victory in Toronto last year, Herta was 15th and last in his group in opening practice this year but 10th on the combined time sheets, owing to his lap in the all-skate session.

The American duo entered the weekend as the favourites but Kirkwood asserted some caution after opening practice.

“I’d say there’s more uncertainty, for sure, which in some ways might be able to pull away a little bit of our confidence,” he said. “If you see some difference, you can only try and look at that as a positive and hope that your team as a whole can overcome these obstacles better. It definitely is different than last year.”

Another big takeaway from Friday was the attendance at the track for a practice day on which IndyCar only runs once. It was a welcome sight after criticisms over attendance figures at last weekend’s Iowa Speedway doubleheader.

“It helps that today is free and they ask for just a donation to get people out here,” Kirkwood said. “Nonetheless, we still have fans in Canada clearly because this weekend is always booming. I looked up at the stands… man, those stands are full. 

“Just proves we’re in a high-performance, high-stakes sport that people like watching, right? Re-proves that to you.”

Credit: Julia Bissessar

IndyCar’s only current weekend outside of the United States is frequently one of the most popular over the course of the season. And to Power, this only proves further that racing beyond the borders of the US can be a resounding success.

“Absolutely [it can work],” he said. “I think we’d be very well-received in Europe. Japan, we always get a massive crowd. Went to Australia. Could totally do it. Got to make sense financially. But yeah, I think they’d be surprised. 

“When we raced in Europe in Champ Car in ’07... People were very interested in open-wheel cars over there. It would be very good markets for us, I believe. Obviously they’re trying to nail it over here, North America. 

“I’ve just seen the series grow and improve. I’ve been in it 19-20 years. Only got better every year.”