IMSA WEATHERTECH SERIES
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Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Pre-Race Notes
Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix – Streets of Detroit
Round 8 of 18 in the 2026 NTT INDYCAR SERIES
DATE: May 29 – 31, 2026
PRACTICE BROADCASTS: Live on FS2 on Friday from 3:00–4:30 p.m. ET, live on FS1 on Saturday from 9:00–10:30 a.m. ET and live on FS1 on Sunday from 9:30–10:30 a.m. ET. Also live on the INDYCAR Radio Network (IRN) and www.indycar.com (timing & scoring + live analysis).
QUALIFYING BROADCAST: Live on FS1, the IRN and www.indycar.com (timing & scoring + live analysis) from 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. ET Saturday.
RACE BROADCAST: Live on FOX Sunday, May 31 from 12:30-3:00 p.m. ET. And also on IRN and Sirius XM INDYCAR Nation 218.
TRACK LAYOUT: 1.7-mile, 9-turn temporary street course
RACE LENGTH: 100 laps / 170 miles
2025 WINNER: Kyle Kirkwood
2025 POLESITTER: Kyle Kirkwood (95.901 mph)
RAHAL’S BEST DETROIT START / FINISH: 1st in 2017 in Race 1 / 1st in Race 1 and Race 2 in 2017 – both at Belle Isle; will be his 22nd race in Detroit
RAHAL’S HIGHEST SERIES START / FINISH: 5 poles – Pole at St. Pete (street) 2009, Kansas (oval) 2009, Detroit Race 1 (street) 2017, IMS (road) 2023 August, Portland (road) / 6 wins – 1st in St. Pete in 2008, Fontana & Mid-Ohio 2015, Texas 2016, Detroit Race 1 & Race 2 2017
FOSTER’S BEST DETROIT START / FINISH: 14th / DNF’d in 22nd (crash after failure); second race here
FOSTER’S BEST SERIES START / FINISH: Pole at Road America 2025 / 11th (Indy GP and Road America 2025)
SCHUMACHERS BEST START / FINISH AT DETROIT: Will be his first race here
SCHUMACHER’S BEST SERIES START / FINISH: 4th – Phoenix (oval) 2026 / 17th in Long Beach
RLL’S BEST START / FINISH AT DETROIT: 1st – Graham Rahal (2017, Race 1) / 3 wins: Bobby Rahal (1992 inaugural Belle Isle event), Graham Rahal (2017, Race 1 & Race 2)
NEWS & NOTES:
DETROIT DOMINATION IN 2017 & PODIUM FINISHES
The 2026 Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix will mark the NTT INDYCAR SERIES’ 16th visit to Detroit, and the 14th since 2008. The Motor City hosted Indy car racing from 1989-91 in Downtown Detroit. The race moved to Belle Isle Park from 1992-2001 and 2007-2008 and returned from 2012-2022. The 2022 event marked the 22nd year for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) to compete at the Raceway at Belle Isle Park. This will be the team’s fourth year to compete downtown and their 34th race in Detroit overall. IMSA’s GTP and GTD PRO classes were added to the event schedule in 2024 so it will again be a doubleheader weekend for RLL, who also competed here in 2024-2025 with two cars in the GTP class as BMW M Team RLL. This year, the team has a car entered as RLL Team McLaren in the GTD PRO class.
The team’s highest Indy car start of pole came in 2017 with Graham Rahal. Bobby and Graham Rahal have earned a combined total of three wins for the team here. Bobby won the inaugural race on Belle Isle in 1992, and Graham is the only driver to have won both races on the same weekend, which he did in 2017. In total, the team has earned eight podiums (2nd – G. Rahal 2014, Jakes 2013 & Max Papis 2000), (3rd – G. Rahal 2015, Takuma Sato 2019) 12 top five finishes and 24 top-10’s here (chart available). Prior to 2026, the team prepared a total of 54 entries for drivers such as Bobby Rahal (1992-1998), Mike Groff (1993-94), Raul Boesel (1995), Bryan Herta (1996-99), Max Papis (1999-2001), Kenny Brack (2000-01), Ryan Hunter-Reay (2007-08) Takuma Sato (2012, 2018-2019. ‘21), Graham Rahal (2013-2019, ’21-25), James Jakes (2013), Oriol Servia (2017), Santino Ferrucci (’21), Jack Harvey (’22-23), Christian Lundgaard (’22-24), Pietro Fittipaldi (2024) and Devlin DeFrancesco (2025). The No. 15 Fifth Third Bank Honda entry for Graham Rahal, the No. 45 Droplight Honda for Louis Foster and the No. 47 ENVE Honda entry will bring that total to 57 in 2025.
GRAHAM AIMS FOR THIRD WIN IN DETROIT
The event will mark Graham Rahal’s 22nd race in Detroit. His father, Bobby, won the inaugural race on Belle Isle in 1992 and Graham won the doubleheader there in 2017. In 2025, he qualified fifth but had to serve a six-grid penalty and started 11th. He moved up to third place by Lap 13 as different pit strategies came into play. A caution came out from Laps 14-16 and he moved into second place on Lap 15 and held the position for 17 laps before he made his first stop on Lap 32. Once he got back on track, he radioed the crew to ask if there was an issue with his right rear tie and was called back into the pits. A nut had not tightened on his previous stop and was jammed, which took time to remove before he could take on a new one and dropped him laps down before he returned on the track. He ultimately finished 20th. Highlights in Detroit include two fifth place finishes in the doubleheader in 2021 and in 2019, he earned two seventh place finishes. Rahal’s more successful INDYCAR race weekend came in Detroit in 2017. In Dual 1 in 2017, Rahal earned his first pole since Kansas 2009 and led a dominating 55 of 70 laps en route to his fifth series victory and first ever from pole. He handily held the lead with the exception of pit cycles and built a gap of more than 13 seconds at one point before he ultimately won by a six-second margin over Scott Dixon. For Dual 2, Rahal set the second fastest time in his qualiyfing Group 2 to Sato to start third. In the race, he passed Hunter-Reay on Lap 8 and closed the gap to pole sitter and leader Sato but could not pass. Sato pit one lap earlier than Rahal, who took the lead on Lap 23 before he made his first of two stops on Lap 24 and returned to the track behind Newgarden who was on a three-stop strategy. Oce newgarden pit on Lap 29, Rahal took over the lead and steadily built his gap to second place to 16 seconds over Sato before his second and final stop on Lap 47. He then proceeded to build an 18 second gap over second place before he caught traffic. That reduced his lead to new second place runner Newgarden to 5.5 seconds before a red flag came out for the car of Pigot, who experiences a smoky end. All race cars were stopped in pit lane for approximately 10 minutes while the track was cleared and an attempt to remove marbles was made. The race resumed with a two-lap shootout and Rahal utilized his 57 seconds of Push to Pass over Newgarden’s 36 to keep the lead on the restart before he was able to pull a slight gap before the checkered flag to become the first winner of both races in Detroit. In total, he led 41 of 70 laps. His other podiums in the race came in 2014 with second place in Dual 1 and third place in Dual 2 in 2015. Overall, he has two wins, four podiums and one pole in 21 races here. He has two third place podium finishes this season in Alabama and the Indy Grand Prix. He would like to keep his momentum on road and street courses going in Detroit.
“Two years ago, we weren’t very good in Detroit, and then last year we qualified in the top five and really put on a good display, and unfortunately, we had a wheel nut issue in the race that put us towards the back. I’m excited for Detroit. While I’m still a bigger fan of the Belle Isle track, the downtown area is still a great venue to go to. Obviously, you’ve got so much automotive history in that area so yeah, I love it and I’m excited to get back there for sure. I think that the team’s done a wonderful job all year. While our street course package has not been our highlight. We had a pretty good result in Long Beach. And hopefully we can carry some of that over to Detroit.”
FOSTER’S POLE STRING IN DETROIT
Foster’s INDYCAR debut in Detroit didn’t go as planned. He qualified 14th and started 13th due to grid penalties. He moved up to fifth by Lap 13 in the race as different pit strategies played out. A caution came out from Laps 14-16 and he moved into fourth on Lap 16. He took over third on Lap 19 and held it until Lap 32 when second place runner Rahal pit and he took over second. He made his first stop on Lap 37 and set his fastest lap of the race on Lap 41/100 while seventh. After his final stop, he ran 15th when a car part failed and he hit the wall going into Turn 3. He was taken to INDYCAR Medical and was seen and released as was Felix Rosenqvist who was hit by Foster. He was ultimately scored in 22nd place. On Saturday, he was a mere -0.008 of a second from transferring to Round 2, with a seventh-place rank in Round 1, Group 2 and qualified 14th. Louis has competed in three INDY NXT races on the downtown streets of Detroit and started from pole in all three. In 2024, he won the race from pole. And in Race 1 of a doubleheader weekend in Detroit in 2023, he started from pole but contact limited his finish to 19th.. In Race 2, he finished third after starting from pole. He is hoping to have another chance to run in the top-five of the race in Detroit.
“I’m looking forward to Detroit. We had a decent qualifying effort last year and had a good race going before an unlucky part failure during the race that caused us to retire. But I think it’s a place where we can improve on. Our street course performances this year have been a bit iffy. A bit up and down, but I’m sure that we’ve figured some things out to improve and I’m sure that we’ll go into it with a much better mindset and I’m sure be quick.”
SCHUMACHER MAKES HIS MOTOR CITY DEBUT
The Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix will mark Mick’s fourth street race of the season and eighth series event. His best street course start this season is 17th in Arlington and his best street course finish is 17th in Long Beach. After being named the Fastest Rookie after Indy 500 qualifying and the Indy 500 Rookie of the Year, he is ready to return to turning left and right on course. Schumacher has raced on many street courses around the world and aims to come to grips with another challenging one in downtown Detroit this weekend.
“I feel like I’ve gotten the hang of very bumpy tracks now. I hear Detroit is one of the bumpier ones so I think once we’re done with Detroit, I will have the full experience. After Detroit we have St. Louis, where we tested, so that’s great. I’m just ready to keep chipping away at the triple header after a long two weeks on the oval at IMS and I’m sure the team is ready for it too. It’s going to be tough, I’m sure. It’s never easy to come off a big event and go straight into the next race but we’re just going to work together and make sure we make no mistakes and hopefully continue to improve our street course package from what we had at the first three street course races.”
SECOND PLACE IN FIRESTONE PIT CREW STANDINGS
The 15 crew is second in pit crew standings after six of 18 races. They are 13 points behind Chip Ganasi Racing’s 9 crew (226-213).
THE POINT STANDINGS
Graham Rahal is ranked 11th in the series standings with 151 points. Louis Foster is 19th with 95 points and Mick Schumacher is ranked 24th with 66 points.
