Courtesy of the Verizon IndyCar Series

TORONTO – Simon Pagenaud says his fortune has not been that good in the past at the Honda Indy Toronto, so the reigning Verizon IndyCar Series champion looks at being fastest in today’s practices as a positive sign.

Simon Pagenaud getting ready for practice on Friday of the Honda Indy Toronto. Photo by Shawn Gritzmacher

Pagenaud turned the quick lap of the day in this afternoon’s 45-minute session on the streets of Exhibition Place. Driving the No. 1 DXC Technology Team Penske Chevrolet, Pagenaud circled the 1.786-mile temporary circuit in 1 minute, 0.2573 of a second (106.702 mph).

HONDA INDY TORONTO: Practice 1 results; Practice 2 results; Combined practice results

In eight previous Toronto races, Pagenaud has never qualified better than second or finished better than fourth. The 33-year-old Frenchman wants to improve in both areas in this weekend’s 33rd Indy car race at Toronto since 1986.

Simon Pagenaud rolls out of Turn 5 during practice for the Honda Indy Toronto. Photo by Chris Jones

“The car has been phenomenal all day,” Pagenaud said. “I feel very comfortable. It’s great to be back in Toronto. This track is so much fun to drive on because it’s different to other tracks.

“Here it’s very low grip; you slide around in the corners. The tarmac changes throughout the corner and it’s giving you a great challenge. I really enjoy that, I really do. Every corner’s different and you need to change your driving corner to corner. It’s not boring, I can tell you that.”

Will Power, driving the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, was second fastest today at 1:00.4844 (106.302 mph). The 2016 Honda Indy Toronto winner is the active driver with the most Toronto victories (three), but said getting a read on the ever-changing circuit makes it difficult.

Simon Pagenaud rolls past the Princes’ Gate into Turn 1 during practice for the Honda Indy Toronto. Photo by Chris Jones

“It’s a tough track to get the balance right,” Power said. “The grip levels are so difficult all the way around. You’ve got some bumpy areas with no grip and bumpy areas with grip, then completely smooth areas. Turn 9 goes from a lot of grip to absolutely nothing. It’s something else. Very tough to get it all right.”

Scott Dixon, the four-time Verizon IndyCar Series champion and 2017 points leader after 11 races, was third today with a lap of 1:00.6253 (106.055 mph) in the No. 9 NTT Data Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing. Helio Castroneves, eight points behind Dixon after winning the Iowa Corn 300 on July 9, ranked fifth on the time sheet with a lap of 1:00.6485 (106.014 mph) in the No. 3 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet.

Sebastian Saavedra, named Thursday to drive the No. 7 Lucas Oil Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda in place of Mikhail Aleshin, was in an Indy car on a street course today for the first time in two years. The 27-year-old Colombian carefully worked his way up to speed with a best lap of 1:02.1493 (103.454 mph), that ranked 21st for the day.

“It’s a little bit of a last-minute scenario, which leaves very little time to prepare,” Saavedra said. “We went out there and tried to get familiar with this Honda-powered machine. This is my first time in a Honda-powered car with this aero kit, so definitely there’s a lot to learn, but altogether very positive.”

Practice resumes at 10 a.m. ET Saturday, ahead of knockout qualifying at 2:15 p.m. Both sessions will stream live on RaceControl.IndyCar.com. NBCSN also has a delayed qualifying telecast airing at 6:30 p.m.

Sunday’s 85-lap race airs live on CNBC and the Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network at 3 p.m. An encore race telecast starts at 7 p.m. on NBCSN.

Bourdais comes to Toronto to advise teammates

Sebastien Bourdais has had great success racing in Toronto, which made the decision to attend this weekend’s event as a spectator more difficult. At the behest of Craig Hampson, his friend and race engineer at Dale Coyne Racing, Bourdais is on hand to lend advice to the team’s rookie drivers, Esteban Gutierrez and Ed Jones, as he recovers from hip and pelvis fractures sustained in a crash during an Indianapolis 500 qualifying attempt.

“Mixed feelings, obviously. I’m not a good spectator, so it’s going to be a tough weekend for me,” admitted Bourdais, who won the Toronto race in 2005 and 2014 (Race 1). “It’s a place where I was looking forward to come and race, so, yeah, bittersweet, but in the meantime, it could have been a lot worse and I could not be walking.”

Since the crash on May 20, the 38-year-old Bourdais has been obsessed with returning to the cockpit of his No. 18 Honda before the end of the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series season. He has been pleased with the progress made in rehabilitation.

“It’s been a bit of a long process, but we knew that going in,” said Bourdais, who won the season opener in his adopted hometown of St. Petersburg to collect career win No. 36 and move alone into sixth place on the all-time Indy car list. “The good thing is obviously things are heading in the right direction. There’s no setbacks or bad surprises, so it’s just a game of patience.”

Ideally, Bourdais would be cleared to test an Indy car in early August with the intent of racing in the final two events of the season – the INDYCAR Grand Prix at The Glen from Sept. 1-3 and the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma from Sept. 15-17.

“Unless that test goes not well and I’m really uncomfortable or not feeling up for it physically,” he said, “I should be able to make it back for the last two (races).”