Ryan Hunter-Reay remains one of the drivers to beat when the IZOD IndyCar Series visits a temporary street circuit.
The Andretti Autosport driver, who won the last time the series visited a street course—at Long Beach in mid-April—raced to the top of the time chart with a lap of 1:02.1433 (101.668 mph) late in the second practice session as IZOD IndyCar Series teams opened preparations for the Honda Indy Toronto on the 1.75-mile, 11-turn circuit at Toronto’s Exhibition Place.
Justin Wilson, driving the No. 22 Z-Line Designs car for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, was second quick (1:02.1839; 101.602) and Helio Castroneves in the No. 3 Team Penske car was third (1:02.2550; 101.486).
It’s another tightly packed field as the top 13 cars were separated by less than a second.
DAY 1 NOTEBOOK:
Honda overtake assist
Overtake assist was introduced to the series in August 2009 and will make its debut on the streets of Toronto in the Honda Indy Toronto.
The system employed by Honda Performance Development is an ECU software alteration. It is activated by the driver via a button on the steering wheel and provides an extra 200 RPM (about 10 horsepower) to the Honda Indy V-8 engine. Parameters are updated before each race weekend to meet the circuit layout.
For the 1.75-mile, 11-turn Exhibition Place course:
15 uses
16 seconds duration each use
10-second recharge period between uses
Aero package
Toronto is in the road course/short oval category of aero packages for the IZOD IndyCar Series. Here are mandatory and optional items for teams:
Rear wings: Tire ramps and sidepod extensions are optional.
Front wings: Wing flaps are open development area. Maximum of two elements per side is permitted and a divider is mandatory.
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