The debut race weekend in the NTT IndyCar Series for Tom Blomqvist got off to a predictably rough start on the bumpy streets of downtown Toronto.
Blomqvist, the two-time Rolex 24 at Daytona winner for Meyer Shank Racing who is making his debut in place of the recovering Simon Pagenaud, was the 26th fastest of 27 drivers in the first practice session for the Honda Indy Toronto. The No. 60 Dallara-Honda covered the 11-turn, 1.786-mile circuit in 1 minute, 3.7979 seconds, a pace that was nearly 3 seconds off the fastest lap (1:00.8075) set by Kyle Kirkwood.
INDYCAR IN TORONTO: Schedule, details for watching this weekend on Peacock
FRIDAY PRACTICE: Speeds from the first session
Romain Grosjean was second fastest (1:00.8575), followed by Felix Rosenqvist (1:00.8607) in the No. 6 Arrow McLaren Dallara-Chevrolet. Colton Herta was next (1:00.9135) as Andretti Autosport’s Hondas took three of the top four spots, and Scott McLaughlin was fifth. Points leader Alex Palou, who is making only his second start at Toronto, was 12th quickest.
‘@KKirkwoodRacing leads the way in opening practice. #INDYCAR
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Saturday, 10:35ET: practice 2
2:50: qualifying
All on @peacock. pic.twitter.com/6X4MMWWghS
Despite being off the pace, Blomqvist found some relief in that “the biggest goal for me was just to survive this session, try and get as many laps as possible.
“Yeah, it was an intense session,” Blomqvist told NBC Sports’ Dillon Welch. “Man, I felt so lost out there. But hey, it’s expected. I just wanted to take it easy to get an understanding of the car and the track to know my way around. The car’s so different than what I’m used to. I remember the last time when I drove, it took a while to get your head around it.”
Prior to Friday’s 75-minute session, Blomqvist had only a day of testing an MSR IndyCar at Sebring International Raceway last October. He said the biggest adjustment was adapting to the physicality of IndyCar, which offers no power steering.
“I’ve driven tracks bumpy as this,” he said. “I don’t feel that bad out there in terms of bumps. The car seems to handle not too bad. So that wasn’t such a concern. There’s some tricky bumps through here. It’s just more the way the car reacts to those bumps with a bit more higher speed on it. The slower speed’s OK. It’s just manipulating the car and feeling the car. I’m not there yet. It’s super physical with these cars, and that’s maybe my biggest hurdle.”
Huge task for @tom_blomqvist.
— INDYCAR on NBC (@IndyCaronNBC) July 14, 2023
He's making his @IndyCar debut this weekend, substituting for his @IMSA teammate @simonpagenaud. pic.twitter.com/p06Da4viUR
In the course of making 39 laps (three more than any other driver), Blomqvist noticed that as speed increased, “the load through the wheel is so much greater” than the No. 60 ARX-06 LMDh that he drives in the Grand Touring Prototype category of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (where he won with co-driver Colin Braun in the series’ most recent race an hour north of Toronto at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park last weekend).
“To feel the car becomes a little bit more difficult for me because I’m not used to” the lack of power steering, he said. “The braking of the car is really, really good compared to what I’m used to. I feel quite comfortable there.
“We need to turn a bit off the brakes to find the limit of the car, floating it into the apex, all that stuff is what I need to improve a lot. That whole last section was really tough for me. I’ve got to get my head around that for tomorrow.”
Who else is crossing their fingers for @KKirkwoodRacing?
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Hear more from the Practice 1 leader. ⁰⁰#INDYCAR // #IndyTO pic.twitter.com/0nUuEd2ilg
If it’s any consolation, many veterans were struggling with surface changes in the final three corners where Blomqvist felt he had left the biggest margins.
Rosenqvist said there were tricky new sections of tarmac in Turns 9 and 11 that “reminds me a bit of rally driving. You set the car up before the jump and then you have to land in the right place. It’s a rally approach but way less jumping. It’s rare to have that in IndyCar. It’s a new challenge for sure.”
‘I WOULD LOVE TO GIVE IT A GO’: Blomqvist’s IndyCar aspirations
The challenge will continue Saturday for Blomqvist with a 10:35 a.m. practice before his first qualifying session. But he already had accomplished his first goal – surviving Friday with as many laps as possible.
“I knew what to expect in a way because I have driven the car,” he said. “It takes a while to get your head around it. It was just steady steps. I didn’t make any huge leaps and bounds in the session, so hopefully I can do that overnight.
“I just don’t want to embarrass myself.”
