Foster Made Third Fast Six Appearance of His Career With a Sixth Place Start in the Honda Indy 200; Rahal and DeFrancesco to Start 20th and 23rd

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course

NTT INDYCAR SERIES

QUALIFYING NOTES / QUOTES – July 5, 2025

FOSTER MADE HIS THIRD FIRESTONE FAST SIX APPEARANCE AND WILL START SIXTH IN THE HONDA INDY 200 AT MID-OHIO; RAHAL AND DEFRANCESCO TO START 20TH AND 23RD

1) Alex Palou 1:05.0215 / 125.017 mph (Group 2, Round 3)

6) Louis Foster 1:06.2398 / 122.718 mph (Group 2, Round 3)

20) Graham Rahal 1:05.6728 / 123.777 mph (Group 2, Round 1)

23) Devlin DeFrancesco 1:06.0593 / 123.053 mph (Group 1, Round 1)

GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 Fifth Third Bank Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It was a frustrating session. We knew we didn’t have enough fuel in the car to do four laps on the first run and were on reds and went out with the whole group, who was on a four-lap plan. After gapping for a fast lap, I made a mistake in Turn 11 on that lap and the car swapped ends and we didn’t have the fuel to do another lap so we basically got nothing out of that run. Then went into the final run with a lot of question marks and the same thing happened. We were in a lot of traffic and behind Newgarden and he kept backing up (to the car ahead). I just couldn’t get the tire temp up to do the lap I needed to and came up short.”

FAST FACTS: The 2025 Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio will mark Rahal’s 19th Indy car race at his home track, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, the site of one of his career highlights — his win in 2015 when he led a race high 23 laps en route to victory with a 3.4-second margin over Justin Wilson. His best start is second in 2023 and 2017. He has finished in the top-five, six times in his past 11 races here. In total, he has one win (2015), two podiums (2017), six top-five and 11 top-10 finishes in his 18 races here including a pair of fourth place finishes in the doubleheader in 2020. In 2024, he set the second fastest time in Practice 2 and qualified 19th. The team utilized a three-stop strategy in the race but it didn’t play out as an advantage and he ultimately finished 18th in a race that saw the only caution take place on the first two laps due to Dixon’s hybrid failure. In 2023, he lost pole by a mere four-hundredths of a second to Herta and matched his best INDYCAR start at home of second place. He led the race two times for two laps total and finished seventh after a slow fuel probe plug in on his first stop and an issue getting his inside rear tire on in his second. Year-by-year recaps are available upon request. He has also competed in many other series at his “home track.” In addition to Indy car races here, at the age of 16 in 2005, Rahal became the youngest to claim the SCCA National Formula Atlantic championship at the SCCA National Championship Runoffs here by a dominant 43-seconds. He also competed in the Star Mazda race here in 2005 (S/F 4/9) and tested a Grand Am car here in 2007. After qualifying performance on road courses of second (IMS) and sixth (Road America) at the previous two, he is optimistic of s strong weekend. Has SIX INDYCAR SERIES wins (2008 – St. Pete street course; 2015 – Fontana Super Speedway, Mid-Ohio road course; 2016 – Texas Motor 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/August, Portland road)… He is 18th in series point standings with a total of 133.

DEVLIN DEFRANCESCO, No. 30 EVTEC Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “We made our first run and were P1, ahead of everyone else who ran red/red (tires). I think we were easily going to transfer to Round 2 on the next run and then had an engine-related issue and had no power to fight with and it couldn’t be fixed before the session ended. It’s been a painful few weeks but generally we’ve been strong everywhere we’ve gone and that’s partly why it’s so frustrating because the pace is there. If we were slow or off pace it would be another deal, but we’ve been competitive.”

FAST FACTS: The Honda Indy 200 will mark Devlin DeFrancesco’s third INDYCAR race at Mid-Ohio. His highest start is 20th in 2022, and highest finish is 14th in 2023 – both with Andretti Steinbrenner Racing. After matching his best series start of fifth at the IMS road course in 2023 and 2025, and frequenting the top of the time sheets in practice on the road course at Road America but having his fastest qualifying lap hindered, he is aiming to show his potential at Mid-Ohio… He is 25th in series standings with 89.

LOUIS FOSTER, No. 45 Droplight Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “We managed to qualify sixth which is good but it was a little disappointing to not have new tires there at the end because I definitely felt like we could have had the pace for pole so it’s a little bittersweet. At the end of the day if it’s bittersweet to be P6 then it’s a good sign. Massive thank you to RLL and Droplight for the support this weekend. We’re starting from the third row, which is a good place to start at Mid-Ohio.”

FAST FACTS: Made his third Firestone Fast Six appearance of the season and qualified sixth for the Honda 200 at Mid-Ohio… He gained valuable experience in the previous race as the polesitter at Road America, but five cautions contributed to multiple fuel and tire strategies, and he finished 11th which matched his career best finish from the grand prix at IMS in May. In his two previous INDY NXT races here, he won in 2023 from a second-place start and started/finished second in 2024. He will aim to back up his strong performance from Road America and continue to gain valuable experience in his rookie season this weekend… He is ranked 23rd in the point standings with 102.

RAHAL LETTERMAN LANIGAN RACING AT MID-OHIO … The 2025 Honda Indy 200 will mark the 29th Indy car event for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) at Mid-Ohio Sports Car course, near the team’s original base of Hilliard, Ohio. The team also competed in the Atlantic Series race in 2003 with Danica Patrick and has competed in ALMS races here in 2007 and from 2009-2012 and IMSA races since 2018 when the team competed in the GTLM class. The team has earned four podiums (1st – G. Rahal 2015; 3rd – B. Rahal 1997, 1998, G. Rahal 2017), 16 top-five’s and 27 top-10 finishes at the track and the highest start is pole (Herta 1997). Other front row starts came in 1999 (Herta 2nd), 2017 and 2023 (Rahal 2nd).

RECENT TEAM PERFORMANCE ON ROAD AND STREET COURSES

In the previous three events on road and street courses, RLL was the only team to have all three cars in the Fast Six at the Sonsio Grand Prix at IMS (2nd – Rahal; 3rd – Foster; 5th – DeFrancesco), were represented in the Fast Six on the streets of Detroit when Rahal qualified fifth and were the only team to put multiple cars in the Fast Six at Road America when Foster won his maiden pole and Rahal qualified sixth.

NEXT UP: Warm-up will take place tomorrow from 9:32 – 9:57 a.m. ET and air on FS1. The 90-lap Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio will air live on FOX beginning at 1 PM ET.