Palou was the first driver into the 61sec bracket, a 61.8398sec which he then trimmed to 61.4782, which equates to 104.583mph around the 1.786-mile course. Two-time Toronto pole-winner Will Power trimmed his advantage to 0.22sec, then delivered a 61.3240 to go top for Team Penske-Chevrolet.
His former teammate Simon Pagenaud, a master of the bumpy street course, got within 0.0758sec in his Meyer Shank Racing-Honda, before Andretti Autosport-Honda’s Alexander Rossi edged 0.0172sec ahead of Power to claim P1.
With 42mins left, Felix Rosenqvist vaulted into first for Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolet, by just 0.0053sec, right before the red flag flew for an inspection of a drain cover at Turn 2.
Callum Ilott struck the wall at Turn 1 with his front-left corner 30mins after overcorrecting a slide, the subsequent second red flag coming moments after Graham Rahal – the 2009 polesitter here – sent his #15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan-Honda to the top. His 61.2189sec effort was the first lap over 105mph.
Soon after the session restarted, Jimmie Johnson spun his Carvana Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda while trying his softer Firestone alternate compound tires, and although he stalled, he had minimized damage to just his right-front wing.
AMR Safety Team’s recovery of the #48 was swift, and following the green flag, Palou hit the track with a set of Foalternates, and most drivers followed suit, for this was the only chance to try the alternates before tomorrow afternoon’s qualifying session.
Helio Castroneves of Meyer Shank was the first to make it count, moving into second place, while Scott McLaughlin who had zero experience of the track prior to this weekend landed fifth. Then Palou went fastest with a 61.1376sec lap, while teammate Scott Dixon slotted into second, 0.07sec adrift.
While teammate Pato O’Ward overshot Turn 1, Rosenqvist moved to the top with a 60.7936sec lap, but that was quickly shaded by Alexander Rossi (60.6090sec), Rahal, championship leader Marcus Ericsson and Josef Newgarden.
Pagenaud’s best flyer was a 60.6991sec, enough to put him second with 5mins to go, but then his teammate Castroneves and Dixon went off at Turn 8, the Ganassi driver skating straight on, spinning around and returning to the course, but the MSR car nosed into the tires and needed retrieval.
With too many people then hitting the track with 2mins to go, there wasn’t enough time for anyone to improve, so that Rossi emerged from the session on top ahead of Pagenaud, Rahal, Ericsson, Newgarden and Rosenqvist. This sextet was covered by a mere 0.1846sec.
Power had his best lap hindered inadvertently by Rossi, and wound up ninth, splitting Dixon and Palou – the latter being the best of the drivers who had never previously tried this track. Rahal’s teammate Christian Lundgaard was an impressive 11th.
| Cla | Driver | Team | Laps | Time | Gap | Mph |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Alexander Rossi | Andretti Autosport | 23 | 1'00.6090 | 106.083 | |
| 2 |  Simon Pagenaud | Meyer Shank Racing | 24 | 1'00.6991 | 0.0901 | 105.926 |
| 3 | Graham Rahal | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | 27 | 1'00.7031 | 0.0941 | 105.919 |
| 4 |  Marcus Ericsson | Chip Ganassi Racing | 27 | 1'00.7262 | 0.1172 | 105.879 |
| 5 | Josef Newgarden | Team Penske | 29 | 1'00.7650 | 0.1560 | 105.811 |
| 6 | Felix Rosenqvist | Arrow McLaren SP | 23 | 1'00.7936 | 0.1846 | 105.761 |
| 7 | Colton Herta | Andretti Autosport | 24 | 1'00.8689 | 0.2599 | 105.630 |
| 8 |  Scott Dixon | Chip Ganassi Racing | 24 | 1'00.9854 | 0.3764 | 105.429 |
| 9 |  Will Power | Team Penske | 28 | 1'00.9932 | 0.3842 | 105.415 |
| 10 |  Alex Palou | Chip Ganassi Racing | 33 | 1'01.0522 | 0.4432 | 105.313 |
| 11 |  Christian Lundgaard | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | 31 | 1'01.1749 | 0.5659 | 105.102 |
| 12 |  Helio Castroneves | Meyer Shank Racing | 19 | 1'01.2454 | 0.6364 | 104.981 |
| 13 |  Takuma Sato | Dale Coyne Racing | 30 | 1'01.2604 | 0.6514 | 104.955 |
| 14 | David Malukas | Dale Coyne Racing with HMD | 25 | 1'01.2627 | 0.6537 | 104.951 |
| 15 | Scott McLaughlin | Team Penske | 31 | 1'01.3171 | 0.7081 | 104.858 |
| 16 | Romain Grosjean | Andretti Autosport | 30 | 1'01.3535 | 0.7445 | 104.796 |
| 17 |  Devlin DeFrancesco | Andretti Autosport | 31 | 1'01.5252 | 0.9162 | 104.504 |
| 18 |  Jack Harvey | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | 32 | 1'01.6580 | 1.0490 | 104.278 |
| 19 |  Rinus van Kalmthout | Ed Carpenter Racing | 25 | 1'01.6766 | 1.0676 | 104.247 |
| 20 |  Patricio O'Ward | Arrow McLaren SP | 26 | 1'01.6906 | 1.0816 | 104.223 |
| 21 | Kyle Kirkwood | A.J. Foyt Enterprises | 27 | 1'01.8350 | 1.2260 | 103.980 |
| 22 | Conor Daly | Ed Carpenter Racing | 25 | 1'02.1501 | 1.5411 | 103.453 |
| 23 | Callum Ilott | Juncos Hollinger Racing | 19 | 1'02.6874 | 2.0784 | 102.566 |
| 24 | Jimmie Johnson | Chip Ganassi Racing | 37 | 1'03.0238 | 2.4148 | 102.019 |
| 25 | Dalton Kellett | A.J. Foyt Enterprises | 29 | 1'03.0873 | 2.4783 | 101.916 |
| View full results | ||||||
