Dario Franchitti (Ganassi) was quickest in the opening free practice session in Toronto ahead of the IndyCar Series' return to street racing this weekend. The reigning champion put in a 1m01.568s lap right at the end of the morning to edge out Penske's Helio Castroneves by 0.0640sec.
The extremely close session saw four different teams in the top four, as Andretti Autosport's Ryan Hunter-Reay and Dreyer & Reinbold's Justin Wilson followed Franchitti and Castroneves. Wilson had been fastest in the opening 45 minutes, which were reserved for drivers outside the top 10 in the championship.
Will Power (Penske) and Scott Dixon (Ganassi) also had spells on top before ending up fifth and sixth, ahead of top Canadian Alex Tagliani in the Sam Schmidt car. KV's Takuma Sato and Tony Kanaan were next up, followed by Mike Conway's Andretti car. The other Canadians in the entry – Newman/Haas driver James Hinchcliffe and Paul Tracy in the Dragon car – were 11th and 12th.
The session passed without significant incident and no full course yellows, with misdemeanors confined to trips down the escape road by various drivers.