Foster Earned His Top Firestone Grand Prix of St. Pete Starting Spot with Ninth Place; Rahal to Start 18th and Schumacher 21st

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
NTT INDYCAR SERIES
QUALIFYING NOTES / QUOTES – February 28, 2026

Foster Earns His Top Starting Spot at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg With Ninth Place; Rahal to Start 18th and Schumacher 21st

1)   Scott McLaughlin           1:00.5426 / 107.032 mph       (Group x, Round 3)
9)    Louis Foster                  1:00.9472 / 106.322 mph       (Group 1, Round 2)
18)  Graham Rahal               1:01.2257 / 105.838 mph       (Group 2, Round 1)
21)  Mick Schumacher         1:01.3983 / 105.540 mph       (Group 1, Round 1)

GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 Fifth Third Bank Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “I thought we made some good changes between practice and qualifying for sure. We were on a (lap time) number good enough to advance but in Turn 9 I just got a big oversteer moment and that cost me. I was on a 61 flat and in my group to advance was a 61.17 so I didn’t even need a tenth over what I did to advance so I had plenty in the bag and I’m just disappointed that it didn’t stick and ultimately in qualifying that’s what you’re chasing. You’re chasing every last little bit; being a little more aggressive with throttle pick up, a little more aggressive in brake zones, more rolling speeds and all these things. I think I’m most bummed because of that. Frankly we had enough (to advance to the next round) and instead of starting 18^th versus six to eight positions higher, I’m bummed. I don’t think we had enough to get to the Fast Six but it’s still six or eight positions better.
(On the mandate of running two sets of alternate tires in the race impacting the outcome:) ”It depends on how long these tires last. If they make it then everyone is going to be in a similar position but obviously too, we just need to stay out of the trouble at the start. That’s going to be pretty key for us. It may be a mess at the start and probably a three-stop race — last year it was a two — so it may be a little different in that regard, but we’ll see. We’re going to move the Fifth Third Bank Honda up as far as we can in the race.”

• FAST FACTS: Will make his 19th start at the track from 18th place… His best start here is pole in 2009 and best finish is a win in 2008 in his IndyCar Series debut – both history-making moments at the time as he became the youngest race winner in series history (2008), and youngest pole winner in series history (2009). Both records were eclipsed in 2019 by Colton Herta but he held them for 10 and 11 years, respectively.  Overall, he has earned one top-five and seven top-10 starts here and has two top-five and seven top-10 finishes, including sixth place here in 2023. Year-by-year details 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; 2023 – IMS road, Portland road) and FIVE POLES (2009 – St. Pete street course, Kansas oval; 2017 – Detroit Race 1 street; 2023 – IMS road, Portland road) and his highest series season-ending standing is fourth place in 2015.

LOUIS FOSTER, No. 45 Droplight Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “I think generally it was so far a good weekend. I think there was maybe a bit more on the table in qualifying, but I think a P9 start, at the start of the year, is a good place to be. I’m happy with that, especially with the issues yesterday and the lack of running this morning in Practice 2. All things considered, I’m pretty happy with that result.  It’s a great place to start for the first race of the year. I’ve always loved this track and I’m looking forward to finally, hopefully, getting a St. Pete race.
“It will be an interesting race for sure. I think there’s going to be some stints where we’re going to be driving slowly to make the tires last for as long as we need to make them last without making an extra stop. It’s going to be an interesting race for sure. I don’t know how it’s going to play out but it might be a bit like Detroit last year where we were trying to make a tire last for X amount of laps, which is going to be difficult. We’ll just wait to see how it plays out.”

• FAST FACTS: The 2024 INDY NXT Champion earned the 2025 Rookie of the Year honors last year and will begin his sophomore season in 2026. He made his NTT INDYCAR SERIES debut here in St. Pete last year from a 16th place qualifying position but was collected in an opening lap incident that also forced the retirement of 11th place starter Nolan Siegel and 13th place Will Power so he is looking to get a full INDYCAR race under his belt this weekend. In INDY NXT, Foster started on pole in St. Pete in 2023 and finished 14th and started fourth and earned a third-place podium finish in 2024. Prior to that, he competed in the Indy Pro 2000 doubleheader here in 2022 with a third-place finish in Race 1 and a second-place finish in Race 2.

MICK SCHUMACHER, No. 47 ENVE Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “Honestly, we had a really good car. We’ve done some big changes to it and all of them kind of pointed in the right direction. I guess we saw that on the first tire. Obviously a lot of other people went on blacks but we went on reds (alternates) directly so there a certain time delta in there but unfortunately on the second set we had some big traffic in the first lap, which was already good enough to advance and unfortunately there was no real action being taken about that so I have to understand that a little bit better.
(On two stints with the alternate tires): ”I have no pre-thoughts about it because I have no experience so for me it’s going to be quite normal. I’m excited the reds felt really good on our car so hopefully we’ll be able to pull that through into the race and make our way forward. We have Scott Dixon there, in the back with us so hopefully we’ll be able to hook myself to his gearbox and just follow his through. He’s pretty good at getting everything sorted and I think he understands the race really well so I can learn something from him there. I’m really happy about the job we did all weekend already so far. Now we’ve got to put the frosting on the cake with a good race result even from where we are now and get a race result. I think we, as a group, can get there.”

• FAST FACTS: Will make his NTT INDYCAR SERIES debut in St. Pete from a 21st place start. His first experience in an Indy car took place at the IMS road course on October 13, 2025 and he was announced as an RLL driver for 2026 on November 24. The month of February has been an intense one for Schumacher who performed his first test on an oval at Homestead-Miami Speedway on February 4, followed that up with his first test with the full INDYCAR field at the Sebring road course on February 9-10 and participated in his first INDYCAR Open Test on the Phoenix International Raceway oval, February 17-18. The Swiss-born son of legendary seven-time Formula One champion, Michael Schumacher, brings with him an impressive resume that includes 43 Formula One starts and a best finish of sixth place, along with three podiums in WEC competition, where he competed in 2024 and 2025 for Alpine.

NEXT UP:  Warm-up will take place from 9:05 – 9:35 a.m. ET tomorrow (FS1). The Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg will be televised live on FOX beginning at 12:00 PM ET on Sunday, March 1.