MARKHAM, On. – Louis Foster continued to impress on the brand-new Streets of Markham, leading the second NTT INDYCAR SERIES practice session ahead of the inaugural Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham.
Foster put Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing at the top of the timesheets with a lap of 1:14.1793 in the No. 45 Honda, narrowly edging Marcus Ericsson in the No. 28 Andretti Global Honda by just 0.0140 seconds. David Malukas in the No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet was third, only another 0.0007 seconds behind Ericsson, in a session that saw the competitive order tighten considerably.
Practice 2 Results
The pace was significantly quicker than the morning’s opening practice. Foster’s benchmark was more than eight-tenths of a second faster than Alex Palou’s Practice 1-leading time, underscoring how quickly drivers and teams were getting comfortable with the 12-turn, 2.19-mile temporary street circuit.
Kyle Kirkwood in the No. 27 Andretti Global Honda was fourth at 1:14.2498, followed by Rookie Mick Schumacher, Scott McLaughlin and Palou. Rookies Dennis Hauger, Caio Collet and Rinus VeeKay completed the top 10.
But the biggest story of the session came late, when veteran Will Power crashed heavily and brought out the red flag.
Power lost control of his No. 26 Andretti Global Honda and made significant contact with the barriers, ending his session early. The incident was particularly costly with qualifying scheduled for later Saturday afternoon, leaving Power’s crew facing a race against the clock to repair the car.
Power later took responsibility for the incident, calling it “my mistake.”
“The car went wide through (Turn) 9 and got wide – I kept missing the turn there, and you get on the dust, which probably got dust on the tires – and then I was a bit shallow in (Turn) 10. I still wasn’t up to speed … wasn’t even going for a (fast) lap. Very unfortunate.”
The crash highlighted the unforgiving nature of Markham’s new street course. With drivers still learning the circuit and pushing for qualifying simulations, the narrow margins between finding speed and finding the wall became increasingly apparent.
For Foster, however, the session continued what had already been a strong first day at Markham. The second-year driver had finished third in the opening practice and then improved to the fastest time in Practice 2, giving RLL Racing considerable momentum heading into qualifying.
The improvement in lap times also suggested that track evolution would be a major factor throughout the inaugural weekend. With more rubber going down and drivers gaining confidence, the circuit continued to produce faster laps as the session progressed.
That left Foster with the headline time, but little separated the leading contenders. The top three were separated by just 0.0147 seconds, while seven drivers finished within roughly four-tenths of Foster’s benchmark.
The condensed schedule made the session even more important. Friday’s planned INDYCAR activity was canceled after delays in completing the temporary circuit, forcing Practice 1, Practice 2 and qualifying into Saturday.
Now, with the field having completed its final practice laps, attention turns to qualifying and the battle for the first pole position in Markham.
One thing is already clear: Louis Foster has emerged as an early threat, but on a street course this new and unforgiving, nobody can afford to blink as he aims for his second career NTT INDYCAR SERIES pole
Up Next: NTT P1 Award qualifying, 7 PM/ET
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