TORONTO—On the streets of Toronto’s Exhibition Place, Matheus ”Matt” Leist posted his best qualifying run in the No. 4 ABC Supply Chevrolet since the Indianapolis 500. He will start 12th in the Honda Indy Toronto.
Leist advanced out of Round 1, and in a bit of strategy that almost worked in Round 2, the team started their qualifying run early on new reds because rain was imminent. Indeed with just four minutes to go, Leist had popped up to third. However, the effort resulted in his sitting out the final two minutes because his tires were used up. He dropped to last in his group before the rain came -- three minutes after the round ended.
Although the gamble didn't pay off, Leist seemed satisfied with the effort.
“Pretty good qualifying,” said the 19-year-old rookie who will be making his 12th start in the Verizon IndyCar Series. “I have to say thanks to my team. We kept working hard since the first practice and we kept developing and improving the car. We made it to the top 12 which I was not expecting. I’m pretty happy to be honest, I think we might have a great car for the race too and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
Tony Kanaan wasn’t as happy with his run which will see him start 15th in the No. 14 ABC Supply Chevrolet. “We had a dry setup on and then with the rain, I don’t think we responded accordingly so we paid the price,” Kanaan said. “Tomorrow is the race so we’ll try to make something out of it.”
Kanaan is satisfied with his dry track setup and did not want to change it for tomorrow's late morning warmup, a 30-minute practice session for the teams’ final tweaks to their race setups.
Josef Newgarden snared the pole from Scott Dixon in the final seconds of the final round of qualifying. Rounding out the Firestone Fast 6 were: Simon Pagenaud, Will Power, Alex Rossi and Ryan Hunter-Reay.
The race will be broadcast live on NBC Sports Network starting at 3 p.m. ET.