13.JUL
Report from the Toronto Practice Sessions

Practice for this weekend's Molson Indy in the streets around Toronto's Exhibition Place was a straightforward affair. 

Driver Max Wilson and owner Larry Blair share a light moment prior to the start of final practice for this weekend's Molson Indy Toronto. Check out the weekend's Slide Show

Max Wilson and the Arciero-Blair team concentrated on getting the car set up for qualifying and the race. 

Prior to practice Max walked and rode his bike around it, familiarizing himself with the 11 turn, 1.721 mile temporary street circuit. 

The circuit is very bumpy and knowing where to place the car-sometimes off the traditional racing line-is important. Lined with concrete walls and offering little runoff room, the Toronto circuit can be very tricky to negotiate. 

In the Friday morning session Max ran a total of 48 laps in his winnerB2B Ford Cosworth/Lola, with a best time of 60.224 seconds, for an average fastest speed of 107.908 mph. 

Later that afternoon he ran another 29 laps, dropping his time to 59.941s. and upping his fastest average speed to 105.404 mph. Max ran another 34 laps in the Saturday morning practice. Continuing his form, he lowered his time to 59.517s., with an improvement to 106.155 mph. 

Max set that time approximately 30 minutes into the session, which at that point was the second fastest time of the session. 

It was obvious that Max had learned his way around the difficult circuit and he and the team had found a good setup for qualifying. They were looking to qualify at least in the top 15, perhaps in the top 10.