Bourdais leads final practice for Honda Indy Toronto - MotorSportsTalk

Sebastien Bourdais closed out practice for the Honda Indy Toronto at the top of the timesheets as drivers continued to dial in ahead of qualifying later today.

Race officials made minor changes to the track overnight, moving the wall at Turn 8 back six feet to give drivers more room and sandblasting Turns 1 and 9 to provide more consistent grip through the corners.

The changes would quickly improve lap times, and the potential of a sub-1-minute lap is possible if there’s a big enough delta gain from the Firestone black primaries to the softer red alternates.

Official update from @indycar on slight track changes is below. #IndyTO pic.twitter.com/CwjPNkIdjk

— INDYCAR on NBCSN (@IndyCaronNBCSN) July 16, 2016

Simon Pagenaud’s benchmark of 1:01.7 from Friday was quickly dwarfed, the Frenchman leading the way early on before teammate Will Power shot to the front.

Power was the first to dip below the 1:01 barrier, with Helio Castroneves following suit soon after in second place as the Penske drivers dominated much of the session.

With 13 minutes remaining, Bourdais produced a lap of 1:00.6035 to edge out Power by three-tenths of a second, laying down the gauntlet for the Australian in the final stages of the session.

Pagenaud popped up into second place, two-tenths shy of Bourdais’ time before the session was red flagged after Mikhail Aleshin hit the wall at Turn 5.

Although Aleshin was able to return to the pits under his own power, a swift clean-up was required under the red flag before the session resumed with less than two minutes remaining.

Bourdais led at the checkered flag ahead of the Penske trio of Pagenaud, Power and Castroneves, the fourth car of Juan Pablo Montoya limited to just 13 laps as the team continued to work on his engine amid ongoing problems.

Scott Dixon finished the session fifth for Chip Ganassi Racing ahead of Jack Hawksworth and Graham Rahal, while teammate Charlie Kimball rallied to P8. Aleshin and Tony Kanaan rounded out the top 10.

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With three multiple winners now vying for the championship, the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series heads to Round 11 at Lumen Field in Seattle, Washington.

Chase Sexton earned his second victory of the season in Detroit when Aaron Plessinger fell on the final lap. Though he was penalized seven points for disobeying a flag, Sexton is third in the championship race. The Honda rider trails leader Cooper Webb (two victories) by 17 points, and defending series champion Eli Tomac (five wins) is three points behind Webb in second with seven races remaining.

Tomac won last year in Seattle on the way to his second season title.

Honda riders have a Supercross-leading 20 victories in the Seattle event but none at Lumen Field since Justin Barcia in 2013. Tomac and Barcia are the only past 450 Seattke winners entered in Saturday’s event.

Here are the pertinent details for watching Round 11 of the 2023 Supercross season in Seattle:

(All times are ET)

BROADCAST/STREAMING SCHEDULE: TV coverage of Round 11 will begin Saturday at 10 p.m. ET streaming on Peacock with a re-air Monday at 1 a.m. ET on CNBC. The Race Day Live show (including qualifying) will begin on Peacock at 4:30 p.m. ET Saturday.

NBC Sports will have exclusive live coverage of races, qualifiers and heats for the record 31 events in SuperMotocross. The main events will be presented on Peacock, NBC, USA Network, CNBC, and NBC Sports digital platforms.

Peacock will become the home of the SuperMotocross World Championship series in 2023 with live coverage of all races, qualifying, and heats from January to October. There will be 23 races livestreamed exclusively on Peacock, including a SuperMotocross World Championship Playoff event. The platform also will provide on-demand replays of every race. Click here for the full schedule.

POINTS STANDINGS: 450 division l 250 division

ENTRY LISTS: 450 division l 250 division

EVENT SCHEDULE (all times ET):

Here are the start times for Saturday’s Supercross Round 11 in Seattle, according to the Monster Energy Supercross schedule from the AMA:

4:50 p.m.: 250SX Group B Qualifying 1
5:05 p.m.: 250SX Group A Qualifying 1
5:20 p.m.: 450SX Group A Qualifying 1
5:35 p.m.: 450SX Group B Qualifying 1
6:25 p.m.: 250SX Group B Qualifying 2
6:40 p.m.: 250SX Group A Qualifying 2
7:55 p.m.: 450SX Group A Qualifying 2
8:10 p.m.: 450SX Group B Qualifying 2
10:06 p.m.: 250SX Heat 1
10:20 p.m.: 250SX Heat 2
10:34 p.m.: 450SX Heat 1
10:48 p.m.: 450SX Heat 2
11:22 p.m.: 250SX Last Chance Qualifier
11:34 p.m.: 450SX Last Chance Qualifier
11:54 p.m.: 250SX Main Event
12:28 a.m.: 450SX Main Event