Foster Fifth Fastest in Practice 1 for the OnlyBulls GP of Portland; Rahal and Schumacher 17th and 19th

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
OnlyBulls Grand Prix of Portland
NTT INDYCAR SERIES
PRACTICE NOTES / QUOTES – August 7, 2026

FOSTER FIFTH FASTEST IN PRACTICE 1 FOR THE ONLYBULLS GRAND PRIX OF PORTLAND; RAHAL AND SCHUMACHER 17TH AND 19TH

1)         Alex Palou                58.5716 / 120.714 mph
5)         Louis Foster             58.9274 / 119.985 mph
17)       Graham Rahal          59.2454 / 119.341 mph
19)       Mick Schumacher    59.2883 / 119.255 mph

GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 Mi-Jack Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “On blacks (primary Firestone tires), we were good, I think. And it felt like on the rerun on blacks, we were very good. But on alternate tires, the car just turned to hell. I don’t know exactly why although our group went a lot slower — the whole second group, so I’m not really sure what to say there, but it certainly didn’t feel great. So we’ve got some work to do.”

• FAST FACTS: It will be the 11th overall race for Graham at PIR and ninth in the headline event. His highest INDYCAR start here is POLE in 2023, his highest finish is fifth in 2022, and he has led a total of 67 laps here the past five years (2021 – 36; 2023 – 21; 2025 – 10). Portland was the site of Rahal’s top finish in 2025 where he led three times for a total of 10 laps and finished fourth after starting 22nd. In 2024, he qualified sixth but had a six-spot grid penalty for an unapproved engine change and started 12th. He lost two spots at the start but gained them back before a caution came out for Dixon, who had an incident with Kirkwood, which led to contact with Fittipaldi. He moved into ninth before his first of three stops and ultimately finished there. More results are available upon request.… Has SIX IndyCar Series wins (2008 – St. Pete street course; 2015 – Fontana Super Speedway, Mid-Ohio road course; 2016 – Texas Super Speedway; 2017 Detroit Race 1, Detroit Race 2) and FIVE poles (2009 – St. Pete street course, Kansas oval; 2017 – Detroit Race 1 street; 2023 – IMS road course, Portland road)… Rahal is ranked 12th in series point  standings with a total of 229.

LOUIS FOSTER, No. 45 Droplight Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “The guys saw an issue with the car on the install lap so we ran a second install lap just to make sure it was okay. And that confirmed it was not okay for us so we had to come back to the tent and fix the car so we didn’t get any laps at all in the first session and we barely made it out for the second one. We got some running to be fair. We got a good six push laps, I would say, maybe five which is enough, really, to get some information from. But I think we had good pace with how the car felt. It was decent. I think there’s definitely room to improve, but again, it was ‘Go out there and drive hard immediately’ and there was no buildup to it. I just had to drive it hard so it wasn’t the best driving from me because I wasn’t able to really finesse it properly. So, there’s definitely more time in it just was actually having some runtime. It’s a bit of a shame that we weren’t able to run the whole session because I think we would have learned quite a lot if we were able to. And we would have been able to do a proper run on the red tires, and not have to rush through it. All our procedures got messed up. But I think it looks like a decent start. The car has got pace in it, which is all that really matters.”

• FAST FACTS: Only ran 1 lap in the full-field group session due to a fuel pressure issue. The team found a loose fuel line and was able to get back out for the split group session…  Will make his second INDYCAR start at Portland. Last year he qualified 17th and started 14th after three cars in the field served a 6-spot grid penalty for various reasons. At the start of the race, he was hit by Simpson, who received an avoidable contact penalty and was sent to the back of the field where Foster was. He tried to capitolize on strategy and ultimately inished 13th. He earned career-best finishes of seventh place on the IMS road course and Detroit street course this year and hopes to carry over that success to Portland… He competed at PIR in INDY NXT and the USF Pro 2000 series and has four podiums in five events. In INDY NXT, he won from pole in 2023 and finished second from pole in 2024. In the three races at PIR in the 2022 USF Pro 2000 series, he won from pole in Race 1, finished second after starting second in Race 2 and finished sixth after starting second in Race 3… Is ranked in 18th place in the point standings with 173.

MICK SCHUMACHER, No. 47 NEREUS™ Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It’s a fun track; very high commitment. Obviously, the car wasn’t ideal. We were fighting with some instability issues and at a high commitment track like here, that’s obviously not ideal. But I’m sure we’ll run through everything tonight and have a good plan for tomorrow. I’m hopeful on that side. Louis had some good, decent laps. Graham had some really good laps out there, so I’m sure we’ll be able to cook something up together and hopefully be in a better position tomorrow to go into qualifying.”

• FAST FACTS: It will be his first race here. He earned his best INDYCAR career finish at the previous race at Nashville Superspeedway (oval) with eighth place and is aiming to better that mark this weekend on a road course.  He is in 24th place in series point standings with 132 points. 

RAHAL LETTERMAN LANIGAN RACING AT PORTLAND … The event will mark the 20th time for RLL to compete in an INDYCAR race here. The team’s best starting position of pole here was by Bryan Herta in 1998, Max Papis in 2001 and Graham Rahal in 2023 and best finish of first place came in 2018 by Takuma Sato and in 2001 by Max Papis. RLL has earned a total of four podium finishes here (3rd – B. Rahal 1995, Herta 1998) and has led a total of 182 laps (1998: Herta, 20; 2001 Papis, 69; 2018: Sato, 25; 2021: Rahal, 36; 2023: Rahal, 21; 2025: Rahal, 10). In addition, the team competed in the Toyota Atlantic races here in 2003 (Danica Patrick, Jon Fogerty) and 2004 (Patrick and Chris Festa).

NEXT UP: Practice 2 will take place Saturday from 1:05 – 2:25 p.m., qualifying will take place from 7:05 – 8:25 p.m. and the warm-up will be 1:05 – 1:35 p.m. All times are eastern with live coverage on FS1 or FOX (race). The OnlyBulls Grand Prix of Portland will be televised live on FOX beginning at 4 PM ET Sunday, August 9.