RACE ADVANCE: The XPEL Grand Prix at Road America

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

XPEL Grand Prix of Road America – Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wisc.

Pre-Race Notes

Round 9 of 17 in the 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES

DATE: June 20-22, 2025

PRACTICE BROADCAST: Live on FS2 on Friday from 4:30 – 6:00 p.m. ET, on FS1 on Saturday from 11:00 – 12:00 p.m. and 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 on Sunday, June 22 from 1:30 – 4:00 p.m. ET. And also on IRN, Sirius XM

INDYCAR Nation 218.

TRACK LAYOUT: 4.048-mile, 14-turn permanent road course

RACE LENGTH: 55 laps / 222.6 miles

2024 WINNER: Will Power

2024 POLESITTER: Linus Lundqvist (1:45.1519 / 137.424 mph)

RAHAL’S BEST ROAD AMERICA START / FINISH: 4th in 2007 (NHLR) and 2020 (RLL; Race 1) / 3rd in 2007 & 2016; will be his 12th Indy car race here

RAHAL’S HIGHEST SERIES START / FINISH: 5 poles – Pole at St. Pete (street) 2009, Kansas (oval) 2009, Detroit Race 1 (street) 2017, IMS (road) 2023 August, Portland (road) / 6 wins – 1st in St. Pete in 2008, Fontana & Mid-Ohio 2015, Texas 2016, Detroit Race 1 & Race 2 2017

DEFRANCESCO’S BEST ROAD AMERICA START / FINISH: 12th in 2023 / 18th in 2022; will be his third INDYCAR race here

DEFRANCESCO’S HIGHEST SERIES START / FINISH: 5th at the IMS road course (August 2023, 2025) / 11th at Indy 500 (2025)

FOSTER’S BEST ROAD AMERICA START / FINISH: First INDYCAR race here; 2nd / 2nd – both in 2024 INDY NXT races (2 total)

FOSTER’S BEST SERIES START / FINISH: 3rd / 11th – both at the Indy GP 2025

RLL’S BEST START / FINISH AT ROAD AMERICA: 1st – Kenny Brack (2001) / 2nd – Bobby Rahal (1996); 23 races here

NEWS & NOTES:

RAHAL LETTERMAN LANIGAN RACING AT ROAD AMERICA

The 2025 XPEL Grand Prix at Road America will mark the 23rd time for Rahal Letterman Lanigan (RLL) Racing to compete in an Indy car race here. The team competed in CART and Champ Car-sanctioned races here from 1992-2003 and again since 2016 with a best starting position of pole by Kenny Brack in 2001 and best finish of second place by Bobby Rahal in 1996. The team has earned a total of five podium finishes here (2nd – B. Rahal 1996; 3rd – B. Rahal 1992-1993, Kenny Brack 2000, Graham Rahal 2016).

Prior to 2025, the team prepared a total of 43 Indy car entries for drivers such as Bobby Rahal (1992-1998), Mike Groff (1993-94), Raul Boesel (1995), Bryan Herta (1996-99), Max Papis (1999-2001), Kenny Brack (2000-01), Jimmy Vasser (2002), Michel Jourdain (2002-2003), Graham Rahal (2016-2020; two races in ’20. ’21-24), Takuma Sato (2018-2020; two races in ’20, ‘21), Jack Harvey (’22-23), Christian Lundgaard (’22-24) and Pietro Fittipaldi (2024). The team will enter the No. 15 Hendrickson Honda for Graham Rahal, the No. 30 Manitou Honda for Devlin DeFrancesco and the No 45 Droplight / Desnuda Tequila Honda for Louis Foster to bring that total to 46 in 2025.

GRAHAM RETURNS TO FAMILY FAVORITE ROAD AMERICA

The XPEL Grand Prix at Road America will be Graham Rahal’s 12th Champ or Indy car race here and 16th overall. In 2024, he drove to a 10th-place finish from a 24th place start. He started on the alternate tire and planned to take an early caution to switch to the more durable primary tires. That opportunity came after a Lap 1, Turn 1 incident set off by the top-three cars which contributed to other contact through the field, include Ghiotto hitting Rahal and putting him in the gravel. Ghiotto was given an avoidable contact penalty for the action. Once Rahal got back on track, he pitted to replace his damaged tires. After a total of four stops and three caution periods, Rahal took the checkered flag in 10th place and was presented with the Josten’s Biggest Mover award for gaining 14 positions. In 11 Indy car races here, his highlights include two third place finishes (2007, 2016), a fourth place (2019), sixth (2018), two eighth places (2017, 2022) and 10th (2024). In 2023, he started 14th, ran as high as 10th and finished 11th in the race. On his first of three stops, fuel sprayed from the top of the fuel rig and extended his stop, which cost him multiple positions. He worked his way back up the field and finished 11th. In 2022, he started 22nd and used an alternate pit strategy to run as high as second and gain valuable track position. He was running seventh in the final restart with three laps to go and lost a spot to McLaughlin and took the checkered flag in eighth place. In 2021, he ran at the front in each session, with the exception of qualifying and the race. After starting 14th, he cycled as high as fourth before his first stop but struggled with the handling of his race car at various times throughout the race and finished 11th. In 2020, he matched his best start of fourth place for Race 1 and passed second place starter Harvey for third by Turn 1. He held the position and set his fastest lap of the race on Lap 8 when he passed Hunter-Reay for second. He started pursuit of leader Newgarden and closed the gap by 0.4 seconds as the pit window began to open between laps 12-14. He ran between 2.2-2.5-seconds behind Newgarden and took over the lead on Lap 13 when he pit. When he made his first of three stops on the following lap, he held a 4.3-second lead on Ferrucci. There was a problem with the fueling and the extended seconds in the pit dropped him to 11th place and 21-seconds behind the leader when he returned to the track. By the time the second pit stops started to take place, he cycled up to sixth before making his second stop on Lap 27 of 55. He settled into eighth place and moved into seventh when Harvey appeared to have a car issue that brought out the full course caution. The field made their third stop once the pits opened. Rahal held seventh through the restart and was unable to hold off a last lap charge by Ericsson, who had more Push-to-Pass, but then spun off course and Rahal took the checkered flag in seventh to keep his top-10 finish streak at the track alive. Rahal planned to realize the potential of a fast car on one of his favorite tracks in Race 2 but didn’t make it past the opening lap after qualifying fifth when he was hit by Will Power in Turn 3. The hard hit sent him off course and into two different concrete walls in Turn 3. Power had previously made contact with Hunter-Reay in Turn 1 and was penalized for “avoidable contact” and had to go to the back of the field for the restart. After competitive runs on road and street courses, Graham is looking forward to getting back to his favorite road course.

“I think the Hendricksen team will be very competitive at Road America. We have high expectations and hopes after the Indy Grand Prix where we saw the changes we’ve made to get better there come to fruition on track. My hope is we’ll be able to continue down that path and be really strong at Road America. It’s the first time we will race the hybrid there and it should make quite a difference on the straightaways to be frank, at least on the acceleration side. It will be interesting to see how that plays into this race. We’re all quite used to it now so it shouldn’t be anything out of the norm. I’m looking forward to getting back on a road course.”

DEFRANCESCO AT ROAD AMERICA

It will be Devlin’s third INDYCAR race at Road America. His best INDYCAR start is 12th in 2023 and his best finish is 18th in 2022 – both with Andretti Steinbrenner Racing. He matched his best career start of fifth place at the Sonsio Grand Prix at IMS in May and is hoping to make another return to the Firestone Fast Six in qualifying at Road America to set he and the team up for a good finish in the race.

“I’m excited to go back to Road America. I look at it as the American version of Spa. I think it’s the coolest road course on the calendar personally. I’ve had some decent results there in the past. Our road course car has been very strong this year so it will come down to having a cleanly executed weekend and if we can do that, we should be running up front. Commitment in the high-speed parts of the track is very important there. Not only being committed and being able to attack all the high-speed corners, the place is very ‘exit-sensitive’ as all the straights are so long. A lot of people over complicate that place but you have to be able to charge in (to a corner) but also be able to get the (corner) exit needed to carry you down the straightaways.”

FOSTER AIMS TO BOUNCE BACK AT ROAD AMERICA

During Foster’s two seasons in the INDY NXT series, his best start and finish at Road America came last year when he started and finished second. He qualified fifth and finished sixth in his rookie season. His best INDYCAR start this season came on the IMS road course of third and he is hoping to carry over that performance to Road America.

“I like Road America, I think it’s a great facility and it’s great for racing. There are long straights which allow for overtaking. We had two difficult races in a row (Detroit and WWTR) and we’re looking to bounce back from those. I had great pace in both but just wasn’t able to capitalize and finish off both of those races. From a pace perspective, we’re trending up but we need to start solidifying those results for sure.

“It’s a very, very long track which means that there are a lot of chances to make mistakes but also a lot of chances to get it right. It’s a circuit where it’s extremely technical because of how long the straights are, of how long the track is. Being absolutely precise is a massive gain in lap time. There is usually a lot bigger gaps between lap times just because of how long the circuit is. It’s a challenging track but it’s also a lot of fun.

“I won at the track in Indy Pro 2000. I did two races in INDYY NXT and finished second there last year. It’s a track that I haven’t had insane success at, but I also haven’t been bad, just okay. I’m not sure what to expect; we will just take it one session at a time. We’ve got to roll out and see what we’ve got and do our best to roll up to Road America with a great car and make sure we get it right for qualifying. That’s always the target, to chase the guys at the front and try to close that gap. I think we should have a good weekend. RLL has had strong cars here in the past and we hope to continue that on.”

POINT STANDINGS AFTER 8 OF 17 RACES

Heading into Round 9, Rahal has a total of 123 points and is ranked 18th overall. Foster is 24th with 81 points and DeFrancesco is 25th with 78.