RACE ADVANCE: Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

Pre-Race Notes

Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix – Barber Motorsports Park, Leeds, Alabama

Round 4 of 17 in the 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES

DATE: Friday – Sunday, May 2-4, 2025

PRACTICE BROADCASTS: Live on FS2 on Friday from 3:30–5:00 p.m. ET, live on FS1 on Saturday from 11:30–12:30 p.m. ET and live on FS1 on Sunday from 10:00–10:30 a.m. ET. Also live on the INDYCAR Radio Network (IRN) and www.indycar.com (timing & scoring + live analysis).

QUALIFYING BROADCAST: Live on FS1, the IRN and www.indycar.com (timing & scoring + live analysis) from 2:30 – 4:00 p.m. ET Saturday.

RACE BROADCAST: Live on FOX Sunday, March 2 from 1:30-4:00 p.m. ET. And also on IRN and Sirius XM 160.

TRACK LAYOUT: 2.38-mile, 17-turn road course

RACE LENGTH: 90 laps / 207 miles

2024 WINNER: Scott McLaughlin

2024 POLESITTER: Scott McLaughlin (125.552 mph)

RLL TOP START / FINISH AT BARBER: 1st by Sato in 2019 / 1st by Sato in 2019; 12 events

RAHAL’S BEST START / FINISH AT BARBER: 2nd in 2019 / 2nd in 2015 and 2016 – Both with RLL; will be his 15th race here

RAHAL’S BEST SERIES START / FINISH: 5 Poles – St. Pete (street) 2009, Kansas (oval) 2009, Detroit (street) 2017, IMS (road) 2023, Portland (road) 2023 / 6 Wins – St. Pete 2008, Fontana (oval; 500 miles) 2015, Mid-Ohio (road) 2015, Texas (oval) 2016; Detroit Race 1 (street) 2017, Detroit Race 2 2017

DEFRANCESCO’S BEST START / FINISH AT BARBER: 18th in 2023 / 17th in 2022; will be his third start here

DEFRANCESCO’S HIGHEST SERIES START / FINISH: 5th at the IMS road course (August 2023) / 12th at WWTR (2022) and Detroit (2023)

FOSTER’S BEST START / FINISH AT BARBER: First INDYCAR race here; his top INDY NXT start is 3rd in 2023 and top finish is 5th in 2024

FOSTER’S BEST SERIES START / FINISH: 10th at Thermal 2025 / 24th at Thermal

NEWS & NOTES:

RAHAL LETTERMAN LANIGAN RACING AT BARBER MOTORSPORTS PARK

The 2025 Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix (CAIGP) will mark the 13th INDYCAR SERIES race for the team at Barber Motorsports Park (BMP). Team highlights include a 1-2 start in 2019 with Sato and Rahal and a victory by Sato. For 2025, RLL has entered the No. 15 Hendrickson Honda for Graham Rahal, the No. 30 EVTEC Honda for Devlin DeFrancesco and the No. 45 Mi-Jack Honda for Louis Foster which brings the total to 26 entries for RLL for this event.

GRAHAM AT BARBER MOTORSPORTS PARK

Rahal’s best start at BMP is second in 2019 and his best finish is second, two times (2015-2016) in his previous 14 races here. In 2024, he started seventh on a two-stop strategy, ran in the top five hoping the timing of the caution periods would play into the team’s favor but they did not, and he ultimately finished 11th. In 2023, he started 19th, and the team planned for a two-stop strategy but the timing of a caution led them to opt to jump in the pits to switch to the primary tires as a caution looked likely to happen. Track position and other factors contributed to a 17th place finish. A race-by-race description of previous years, including his two, second-place finishes, is available upon request. The “Augusta of Motorsports” is one of his favorite track of the season and he’s looking for a strong result.

            “I’m looking forward to going to Barber. It’s always one of my favorite races of the year; it’s just a beautiful place to go and compete. We’ve been good at Barber over the years and have had lots of close calls. I had a good test down there so I’m eager to get back and see if we’ve got the pace that we so desire and see if we can go faster and qualify well. That’s critical for us right now. I think our race pace is quite good in most places but qualifying continues to be the Achilles heel for the team. We continue to work on that and improve on that but overall, I’m excited about the prospects here this weekend. I think we’re going to be very competitive, and I think we have a good opportunity ahead of us. Fingers crossed we made all the right decisions and changes since the test until now to be more competitive.”

DEFRANCESCO BACK IN THE EVTEC HONDA AT BARBER

The Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix of Alabama will mark DeFrancesco’s third INDYCAR race here. His top start is 18th in 2023 and his top finish is 17th in 2022. He also competed in two INDY NXT races here in 2021 and finished third two times. After testing here on March 11, DeFrancesco is looking forward to picking up where the team left off and getting a good start in May.

            “I’m hugely excited to get back in the No. 30 EVTEC Honda at Barber. We tested there recently and were quite competitive. Everyone on the team has been putting in quite a lot of work back at the shop preparing for the next couple of months that we have coming up and we all deserve a good result. I’m looking forward to racing at Barber. This event is a good one to kick off the month of May in the right way and on the right foot.”

FOSTER RETURNS TO ONE OF HIS FAVORITE RACES

Foster has competed at Barber in two INDY NXT races with a best finish of fifth place. In 2023, he qualified third but retired in 14th place after contact after completing 25 of 35 laps. His top finish of fifth came in 2024 after starting last in the field in 21st due to electrical issues. His top INDYCAR start of the season is 10th place at Thermal and his top finish of 16th at Long Beach, which is also the highest start/finish for a rookie this year. Barber Motorsports Park is one of the few road course he will have tested an INDYCAR on before race weekend after a March 11 test.

            “In the 2023 INDY NXT race, I was running for a podium and my throttle got stuck open and I crashed because of that. And then in 2024 we had electrical issues with the car that lasted throughout practice and qualifying so I wasn’t able to qualify nor practice. I think I only registered a couple of laps in all those sessions combined but I managed to get powered for the race and then went from 21st to fifth which is pretty hard in an INDY NXT car, on that track is pretty hard so that’s one of my favorite races — not my favorite weekend because we didn’t get great points — but it was a good race. I also competed in Indy Pro.

           “Honestly, Barber is a track that is feel like I struggle at, but I’ve also had a lot of bad luck at, so it’s difficult to say for sure. It’s really fun circuit, it’s very different and it’s very fast. I like it, but I just haven’t yet been able to get a good result there so hopefully we can turn the tide this weekend on that. The most challenging part of the course for sure is the last sector. It’s fast and very high commitment. The test was good, we learned a lot of things pace-wise. We weren’t as strong as we wanted to be but we think we know why and hopefully we can adjust and turn up with a good car. We’ve only been on one road course so far this year so it’s early and I’m still learning a lot. I think we had a good speed at Thermal and I hope that carries over to Barber. I think it’s going to be a tough challenge. Obviously, a lot of laps have been run at Barber and people know the track really well and I’ve got to try to catch up to some of the guys who have been in the series for a few years. I will continue to learn and hopefully get a good qualifying and race result. I think the No. 45 Mi-Jack team needs to have a strong race and qualifying result all in one weekend which we have yet to do. I think if we can do those two things together, then I think we should have a good result by the end of the weekend.”