Foster, Rahal and Schumacher Pleased with Potential After Practice 1 of the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix – Streets of Downtown Detroit

NTT INDYCAR SERIES

PRACTICE NOTES / QUOTES – May 29, 2026

FOSTER, RAHAL AND SCHUMACHER PLEASED WITH POTENTIAL AFTER PRACTICE 1 OF THE CHEVROLET DETROIT GRAND PRIX

1) Alex Palou 1:02.7722 / 94.341 mph

14) Louis Foster 1:03.7806 / 92.850 mph

15) Graham Rahal 1:03.7927 / 92.832 mph

23) Mick Schumacher 1:04.7297 / 91.488 mph

GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 Fifth Third Bank Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “We were on black tires originally and were pretty competitive. I think overall we’re good, but we need to find some time for sure. There are a couple of guys that are quite a bit ahead. On alternate tires, I never really got a lap, unfortunately. We actually put them on earlier than a lot of guys did. We thought that it would be early enough, but with two red flags reds in a 12-minute session, we couldn’t really get a rhythm going, couldn’t really do much. So, I don’t really know what to expect on the reds (alternate tires). I feel like the grip was starting to come in, but I never really got to see it through. We’ll have to have to see tomorrow.”

FAST FACTS: The event will mark 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. 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 Indy road course, Portland road course) and his highest series season-ending standing is fourth place in 2015… He is ranked 11th in series standings with 151 points.

LOUIS FOSTER, No. 45 Droplight Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It was a decent session. I think the car is in a very similar window to last year right now. I’m pretty happy with the balance of it but there is definitely a lot of time to find still. Realistically, to the guys that are the fastest and have got a good chance, we are a good second away. But, you know, there is time here and there we can get, and I’m sure once we get back together and look at the data, we’ll try and see where some drivers are fast and others in our team, and the Honda data share. But it feels good to me, the brake feel great to me but we just need to work a little bit more on turning the car. It would be great to improve that.”

FAST FACTS: Will be his second INDYCAR race here. His 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… He is 19th in the series point standings with 95.

MICK SCHUMACHER, No. 47 ENVE Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “In terms of bumpiness of the track, it’s not that bad. I think what is more challenging is the difference between the surfaces; how different they are in terms of grip. I obviously had no prior experience on this track or in the sim (simulator) so it obviously took me a couple laps to get into the groove, and I think the team and I did the best we could in terms of making sure we run as much as possible. And I think that was really the main goal for us. We ran through a couple of different set up changes so we’ve got some good data to look at tonight. Hopefully having a night of sleep will put us in the right mindset and the right position for tomorrow.”

FAST FACTS: This marks 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. He is third in the Rookie of the Year standings with 66 points and has an overall rank of 24th place.

RAHAL LETTERMAN LANIGAN RACING AT DETROIT: The 2026 event will mark the 26th year for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) to compete in Detroit after 22 years of competition at the Raceway at Belle Isle Park. It is the team’s 35th race here. The team’s highest start of pole came in 2017 with Graham Rahal earning his first pole since 2009 in Race 1. 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).

NEXT UP: Qualifying will take place tomorrow from 1:00-2:30 p.m. ET and will be broadcast live on FS1. It will also air live on the INDYCAR Radio Network and www.indycar.com (timing & scoring + live analysis). The Chevrolet Grand Prix of Detroit will be televised live on FOX beginning at 12:30 PM ET Sunday, May 31.