QUALIFYING REPORT: The Bommarito Automotive Group 500

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway
NTT INDYCAR SERIES
QUALIFYING NOTES / QUOTES – June 14, 2025

DEFRANCESCO, FOSTER AND RAHAL QUALIFIED 17TH, 21ST AND 22ND FOR THE BOMMARITO AUTOMOTIVE GROUP 500; WET CONDITIONS POSTPONED TODAY’S START

POLE: Will Power                    2-lap avg. speed of 180.329 mph       (L1: 180.577, L2: 180.081 mph)
17th:     Devlin DeFrancesco   2-lap avg. speed of 176.288 mph        (L1: 176.538, L2: 176.038 mph)
21st:     Louis Foster                2-lap avg. speed of 174.907 mph        (L1: 174.448, L2: 175.367 mph)
22nd:    Graham Rahal             2-lap avg. speed of 174.687 mph       (L1: 174.846, L2: 174.528 mph)

GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 One Cure Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “The One Cure car is not bad, it just doesn’t seem to be tied together (front and back end) and super fast. We got the gearing a lot closer there; I think fifth gear was still probably a little long. We really need to be flat in Turns 3 and 4; there were little burbles because of the amount of understeer I had. The balance was much more calm than what I had in practice early, I just didn’t maximize it. Obviously, Devlin is quite a bit quicker than Louis and I so we need to go back and understand that. We’ve got to get this high line working. I think its critical for the race tomorrow. We’ll keep working on the car tonight and continue to dial it in.”

• FAST FACTS: The 2025 race will be Rahal’s 10th at the track and 300^th INDYCAR career start. His highest start here is seventh place in 2018 and highest finish is 10th – in 2018 and 2022. In 2024, he qualified 16th and started 14th due to Rosenqvist and Palou having a grid penalty. Before the halfway mark, HRC discovered an issue with Rahal’s engine and he was initially able to continue but ultimately retired in 23rd place after 161 of 260 laps. 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, Portland road) and his highest series season-ending standing is fourth place in 2015… Rahal is ranked 15th in series point standings with a total of 115.

DEVLIN DEFRANCESCO, 30 Mi-Jack Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “We made a good step from practice to qualifying. I’m generally happy with our run and happy with our car. In reality, maybe we could have trimmed a little more but all in all the step we made from this morning is very big so we’ve got to be happy with that. It’s going to be fun racing under the lights.”

• FAST FACTS: It will be Devlin’s third INDYCAR race at WWTR. In 2022, he earned his best start here of 9th and best finish of 12th with Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport. He qualified 18th in 2023 and finished 19th with the same team. He led 17 laps in the Indy 500 on the IMS superspeedway in May but his pit strategy didn’t play out after he earned his top Indy 500 qualifying position of 16th for his third Indy 500. In the race, he earned his top series finish to date of 11th place… He is ranked 25th in series point standings with a total of 71.

LOUIS FOSTER, No. 45 Droplight / Desnuda Tequila Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “The main thing is the difference in straight line speed (between the INDY NXT cars and the INDYCAR). We’re approaching these corners quite a lot faster but it’s a different beast to drive and I’m still coming to grips with it. The extra weight that it has makes it a very, very different car for sure. We made gains since practice. We rolled off the truck not where we’d hoped but we’ve improved. I just didn’t have the confidence in knowing what I would have in qualifying because we changed a decent amount of things since practice. I think we could have gone faster but I also think the races here are pretty long and the most important thing is being fast tomorrow.”

• FAST FACTS: It will be Foster’s first INDYCAR race here but he competed twice at WWTR in the INDY NXT series where he started on pole last year and led all 75 laps en route to victory. In 2023, he qualified fifth and finished second. He participated in a rookie test at the track on April 16 and has built on his preferred oval setup since then at the Indy 500, where he was the highest finishing rookie in 12th place. He is ranked 24th place in the point standings with a total of 76.

NEXT UP: FOX will begin live coverage of the 260-lap Bommarito Automotive Group 500 on Sunday beginning at 8 p.m. ET.