PREMA Racing showed a good turn of pace in qualifying for the NTT INDYCAR Series event on the Streets of Toronto, with Callum Ilott securing a top 12 spot.
The final street course qualifying of the season, taking place around the narrow 2.874-kilometre layout, began with the PREMA Racing drivers of Ilott and Robert Shwartzman in different groups.
Ilott was in the first group, and he was in the mix throughout his segment. His penultimate lap, a 1:00.164-second lap time, was good enough for fourth position and was transferred him into the top 12.
The second group featured Shwartzman, who was similarly in the mix from the off. On his second set of the green-sidewalled Firestone tires, he placed 10th in his segment with a time of 1:00.380, just over half a tenth from making it through in a very competitive group.
Ilott faced some misfortune in the Top 12 session. He reported traffic throughout the segment, which limited his best time to 1:01.883 and last of the 12 runners. However, due to a penalty for another car, he will start the race from 11th.
The team will now take stock and prepare for the 90-lap race on Sunday, with the green flag flying at 12:22 Eastern time.
#83 ROBERT SHWARTZMAN
"The qualifying unfortunately was extremely tight. Overall I'm quite happy with how the car felt, I had just one moment in Turn One where I lost the car at the rear. I tried my best to get in and transferring was within two tenths. I felt like we could have potentially been there, but it was super tight. I think the qualifying went well and the car felt good. We all did a pretty good job. Without this slight mistake with the snap on the rear, I think we could have had a really good chance, but it is what it is. We're going to start from P20 and tomorrow I will do my best to go forwards through the field to get towards the top end."
#90 CALLUM ILOTT
"A bit of a high and low. The first part of qualifying was great; it was a really good lap that got us in despite it being a tight session. In the second part of qualifying, we just couldn’t get any momentum on a single lap. We got a chance at the end but it was not a session in the way it was meant to be, which is a shame after Q1. It will be really good to see what we can do for the race, and it’s not a bad starting position. We will be boosted up to 11th, but it would be nice to have had a fairer shot today."