The Sam Schmidt Motorsports trio of Esteban Guerrieri, Josef Newgarden and Conor Daly swept the top spots Friday in opening practice for the Firestone Indy Lights' Grand Prix of Trois-Rivieres.
Guerrieri recorded a fastest lap of 58.3372 seconds during the 45-minute practice session in preparation for Saturday's qualifying session. Firestone Indy Lights championship points leader Newgarden followed, clocking his best lap at 58.5050sec.
Daly, who claimed the Star Mazda pole last year in the GP3R, clocked in at 58.5668. Stefan Wilson of Andretti Autosport was fourth at 58.7261 and Team Moore Racing's Gustavo Yacaman claimed the fifth fastest lap at 58.8928.
"So far it's looking quite good; you can't do better than being first," Guerrieri said. "I cannot complain, but we have a bit to do with the car and I think that we're going to find more time with the car tomorrow when it's a bit grippier. So I'm quite happy with where we are standing but we still have some work to do."
Guerrieri, competing in his first year in Firestone Indy Lights, could set a record for consecutive front-row starts should he start on the front row at Trois Rivieres. Guerrieri currently shares the mark with 2004 champion Thiago Medeiros with five straight front row starts that dates to Milwaukee.
"I didn't know about it," Guerrieri said of the record. "It's good to leave some mark on the Firestone Indy Lights series. If I can, even better, but it's not my original goal. If I do it, it's like an extra cherry on top of the cake. Let's go for it."