The action continued in Toronto on Saturday afternoon for IndyCar qualifying, and a familiar face ended up in pole.
Colton Herta Will Lead The Field To Green At Honda Indy Toronto
During Practice 2, Colton Herta finished at the top of the leaderboard with a time of 1 minute 0.0578 seconds.
Herta’s Andretti teammate, Kyle Kirkwood, was expected to be at the top given the previously recorded practice results. Kirkwood had a strong set of laps during the beginning stages of qualifying. He advanced to the Firestone Fast Six, where unfortunately, he was unable to record a proper lap time.
Kirkwood was sent out late to save a set of tires for Sunday’s race. At one point, Kirkwood locked up and had to regain control of his car to complete his lap quickly.
This will be Herta’s third time starting on pole in the last four years. He earned pole position in 2022, 2024, and 2025. Last year, Herta led all sessions and won the 2024 Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto from pole.
Armstrong Rounds out the top three:
Coming in third place was Meyer Shank Racing’s own Marcus Armstrong. Armstrong finished fourth in Practice 1 while his teammate, Felix Rosenqvist, came in 11th. During Practice 2, he finished 13th.
Armstrong set a lap time of 1 minute 0.3535. He matches his own best finish, which was achieved just last weekend during the double-header in Iowa.
This is Armstrong’s first year racing with Meyer Shank, and while the season got off to a slow start, he’s shown progress and consistency in the past few races.
Meyer Shank’s performance in Toronto has been up and down, but the 66 car has been promising with David Malukas taking it to a P6 finish during last year’s race.
Read More: Four Takeaways From The Honda Indy Toronto Practices
Alex Palou Continues to Fight at the top:
Even though Palou won’t be starting from first on the grid, he still managed to snag a place on the front row. He’ll be starting from P2 tomorrow afternoon.
Despite all the success he’s had in past seasons and in 2025, where he continues to dominate, Palau hasn’t had the best of luck in Toronto. This year marks the first time the Chip Ganassi Racing driver has made it to the Fast Six in Toronto.
One of the key components to avoiding getting caught in a wreck in Toronto is to start closer to the front of the grid, which works in Palou’s favour.
After Qualifying, Palou put emphasis on tire strategy, saying he believes that tomorrow the race will have to focus more on tire management instead of fuel.
When asked to share some of his thoughts on the differences between Friday’s practice and Saturday’s practice session and qualifying, he said his main focus was finding more confidence in the car.
“It’s not super hard to get a fast car for one lap, but I think to be comfortable and to be able to be consistent, especially from turn eight to turn 11 over those bumps, is important,” said Palou.
Additionally, drivers Will Power, Graham Rahal finished in fourth and fifth, respectively.
The Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto starts on Sunday at noon EST and will be streamed on FOX. As always, LWOS will share details regarding the race.
Main Photo: Joe Skibinski, Penske Entertainment
Recording Date: 7/19/2025
