Qualifying Report – The Thermal Club INDYCAR Grand Prix

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

The Thermal Club INDYCAR Grand Prix – Thermal, California

NTT INDYCAR SERIES

QUALIFYING NOTES/QUOTES – Saturday, March 22, 2025

FOSTER, RAHAL, AND DEFRANCESCO TO START 10TH, 16TH AND 26TH IN THE THERMAL CLUB INDYCAR GRAND PRIX

1) Pato O’Ward 1:39.9567 / 110.460 mph (Group 2; Round 3)

10) Louis Foster 1:41.2256 / 109.075 mph (Group 2; Round 2)

18) Graham Rahal 1:40.8433 / 109.489 mph (Group 2; Round 1)

26) Devlin DeFrancesco 1:41.9859 / 108.262 mph (Group 2; Round 1)

GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 Mobil 1 Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “I dropped a wheel at the exit of Turn 6 which probably cost me about two-and-one half-tenths (of a second) total. I should have just advanced – P6 – I wasn’t quite as fast as Louis. Maybe a quarter to one-half a tenth off of Louis, but just barely enough to advance. But we didn’t and I’m frustrated to miss it by that little, particularly when the time was clearly there and I didn’t feel like I really made an error. I just touched the curb like I normally do but what happened is the car, because of being on the softer red tires kind of bottomed out and when it bottomed out, it pulled me. But you’ve got to go in qualifying. The tires dictate your run and that (bottoming) turned the hybrid off so all down the back straight I had no hybrid boost and that was two-ish tenths (of a second.”

FAST FACTS: This will mark Rahal’s second event at The Thermal Club. Last year, he qualified third for his Heat Race (2) and finished there to earn a fifth place start in the All-Star race. Early on in the 12-car race. he began to struggle with a stuck throttle and dropped to seventh. From there, he dropped to 12th place and had to return to the pits with two laps to go for safety reasons… 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; 2024 IMS road course 2, Portland and his highest series season-ending standing is fourth place in 2015.

DEVLIN DEFRANCESCO, No. 30 Mi-Jack Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “We rolled off quite strong in Practice 2 this morning and I thought we were in a good window going into qualifying, but we put the alternate tires on and it just wasn’t there. We seemed to have a lot of understeer, right through the range of low, medium and high speed and it was a big struggle. The No. 30 Mi-Jack crew will look through the data, work hard overnight and see what we can do tomorrow.”

FAST FACTS: DeFrancesco participated in the February 2023 pre-season open test at The Thermal Club but did not race in the series event in 2024 although he was watching from afar. He qualified 14th in the St. Pete season opener and was on target for a top 10 finish there until a punctured tire forced him to pit and lose valuable positions. He ultimately finished 22nd in the race… His best career start to date is fifth at the IMS road course (August 2023) and his best career finish is 12th at WWTR (2022) and Detroit (2023).

LOUIS FOSTER, No. 45 Mi-Jack Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “The team has done an amazing job. They have brought me up to speed really fast. The 45 car rolled off the truck super-fast. It’s just kind of been building each session. Getting into the Fast Six would have been difficult because we didn’t have new alternate tires; we used two sets of new tires in the first round but the time that I did do in the first round would have put me in the Fast Six so we just had a discussion about saving a set in the future when we think we’re going to be strong. I’m super happy. It’s been an amazing weekend so far and hopefully we can make it past Turn 3 on the start this weekend.”

FAST FACTS: Earned his top series start of 10th place for tomorrow’s race… The 2024 INDY NXT champion has made one INDYCAR SERIES with his debut at St. Pete although he was collected in an opening lap incident after qualifying 16th. It is his first event at The Thermal Club.

NEXT UP: Warm-up will take place from 11:02 – 11:27 a.m. ET tomorrow and air on FS1. The Thermal Club INDYCAR Grand Prix will be televised live on FOX beginning at 3:00 PM ET on Sunday, March 23.