David Malukas set the pace during practice at the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy event in Markham. Malukas clocked a time of 1:14.194 in the second practice session of the day, with qualifying scheduled for later in the evening. Following closely, Alex Palou secured the second-best time with 1:14.560, while Dennis Hauger claimed the third spot with a time of 1:14.592 around the Markham downtown road course.
The event faced a setback as organizers had to cancel the first day of track sessions due to incomplete course construction and pending safety inspections.
This year marks Markham’s debut as the host city for the race, following its move from Toronto’s Exhibition Place, where it had been held since its inception in 1986. Notably, Palou had earlier topped the time charts in the morning’s initial practice session, completing the circuit in 1:14.9915.