Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Takuma Sato continued what has been a strong weekend so far for Honda by topping Practice 3 for Sunday’s Honda Indy Toronto (3:00 p.m. ET, NBCSN).
Sato’s quick lap of 58.677 seconds is also an unnofficial track record - Simon Pagenaud set the mark last year at 58.91 - possibly setting a precursor ahead of Saturday’s qualifying. Honda has also topped every session so far, with Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon leading both of Friday’s practices as well.
.@TakumaSatoRacer unofficially has the new track record with a ⏱️of 58.6777 seconds! 😱
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) July 14, 2018
Current record: 58.9124
💻 LIVE on https://t.co/Otk9DbwGqx
📈 https://t.co/SAdeSxSfa7
📲 @verizon INDYCAR Mobile
📻 @AdvanceAuto @IndyCarRadio Network#INDYCAR // #IndyTO pic.twitter.com/MApkrwSea2
Josef Newgarden was second quickest with a time of 58.775, but also saw his session come to an end just before time expired in what was the lone incident of session.
Robert Wickens slid wide exiting Turn 8 and nosed his No. 6 Lucas Oil Honda for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports gently into the tire barrier. Newgarden, in the aftermath, then spun into the same tire barrier.
While the incident brought out a red flag and ended the session a few seconds shy of its full 45 minutes, neither car appeared to be damaged badly.
Practice 3 ends under red flag. 🏁
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) July 14, 2018
🎥 REPLAY: @robertwickens and @josefnewgarden into the tires.
💻 LIVE on https://t.co/Otk9DbwGqx
📈 https://t.co/SAdeSxSfa7
📲 @verizon INDYCAR Mobile
📻 @AdvanceAuto @IndyCarRadio Network#INDYCAR // #IndyTO pic.twitter.com/lscrp4TppG
Will Power, Alexander Rossi, and Spencer Pigot rounded out the top five.
Times are below. Qualifying rolls off at 1:55 p.m. ET and airs on NBCSN at 5:00 p.m. ET.