Rahal Earned Best Street Course Qualifying Spot Since ’19 With 5th But Starts 11th in Detroit Due to Engine Penalty; Foster & DeFrancesco 12th & 23rd

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix – Streets of Downtown Detroit
NTT INDYCAR SERIES
QUALIFYING NOTES / QUOTES – May 31, 2025

RAHAL EARNED HIS BEST STREET COURSE QUALIFYING POSITION SINCE 2019 WITH FIFTH BUT WILL START 11TH DUE TO ENGINE CHANGE PENALTY; FOSTER AND DEFRANCESCO TO START 12TH AND 23RD

1)         Kyle Kirkwood             1:01.7509 / 95.901 mph       (Group 2, Round 3)
5)         Graham Rahal              1:01.0651 / 96.978 mph       (Group 2, Round 3)    Starting 11th
14)       Louis Foster                1:01.2089 / 96.751 mph       (Group 2, Round 2)     Starting 12th
23)       Devlin DeFrancesco    1:01.6040 / 96.130 mph       (Group 1, Round 1)

GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 JJ Curran Crane Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “I feel pretty good with a fifth-place qualifying position, even with the grid penalty. The car has been shockingly good this weekend, and I say that because we’ve struggled at this track and what the boys have brought here is way more forgiving and a car that I can attack with. And that doesn’t even compare with what we’ve had here before, so I’m pleased with it. I feel like we’re getting better and are a team on the rise. I feel like this is a sign this weekend because Louis and I, and Dev also have been quite fast here. We didn’t have a new set of (Firestone) reds to battle with like most of the guys in the Fast Six but that’s okay; it’s a good sign overall. I honestly feel like we have a car that I can attack with so I like that, particularly in the race if you’ve got to get your elbows out and be a little aggressive. I feel like I can, and that the JJ Curran Crane car gives me a little window of opportunity.”

• FAST FACTS: His fifth-place qualifying position is his highest on the downtown course and best start on a street course since a sixth-place result in Long Beach in 2019. He will serve a six-grid engine change penalty as will Scott Dixon. The event will mark Graham Rahal’s 21st race in Detroit. His father Bobby won the inaugural race on Belle Isle in 1992 and Graham won the doubleheader there in 2017. In 2024, he qualified 14th, served a six-grid engine penalty and started 20th. He gained five spots on the opening lap to run 15th after a multi-car crash blocked part of the track. Alternate tire strategies and mixed conditions due to medium-to-heavy sprinkles midway through the race, coupled with eight caution periods made for an eventful day and he ultimately finished 15th. Highlights in Detroit include two fifth place finishes in the doubleheader in 2021 and in 2019, he earned two seventh place finishes. Rahal’s most 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 qualifying 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. Once 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 experienced a smoky end. All race cars were stopped in pit lant 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 20 races here. He qualified second for the Sonsio Grand Prix at IMS — the previous races on a road or street course… 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 12th in series standings with 105 points.

DEVLIN DEFRANCESCO, EVTEC Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “The morning practice went well but it just didn’t translate to qualifying. We clearly were not very good. I haven’t really been able to be as good on power down and getting off the corners as Gaham all weekend and it’s been that way from Practice 1 We’ve got to keep working on that and hope to be better tomorrow.”

• FAST FACTS: Will be his third race here. Prior to finishing 11th in Sunday’s 2025 Indy 500, Devlin’s best previous career best finish was 12th at Detroit in 2023. He has competed in two INDYCAR races in Detroit – in 2023, he raced on the new circuit in downtown where he started 17th and finished 12th and the 2022 race on Belle Isle where he started 21st and finished 18th. After matching his best career start of fifth at the Sonsio Grand Prix on May 10, he is looking forward to seeing how much of that performance will carry over to Detroit… He is 24th in series standings with 64 points. 

LOUIS FOSTER, No. 45 Mi-Jack Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “I feel good with that result. The Mi-Jack car felt really good. I knew what the transfer time was going to be, and I knew it was going to be low compared to what we were doing in practice. And the car felt good, and that’s the most frustrating part for me. We were so close, but we just didn’t have the raw pace to improve on that. Graham put in an amazing time so I’m definitely going to check his data and see what he did and see how we can tune the car up. We just missed it, it was close. I think that even if we did transfer then honestly we didn’t have a lot more. I maximized the lap but for my first time here in an INDYCAR to be rolling off where I am, I’m pretty happy with that.”

• FAST FACTS: He was -0.008 of a second from transferring to Group 3, with a seventh-place rank in Group 2. Will be his first INDYCAR race here. He 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 earned his best INDYCAR start of third place at the Sonsio GP at IMS... He is 11th in the series point standings with 102.

RAHAL LETTERMAN LANIGAN RACING AT DETROIT: The 2025 event will mark the 25th 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 34th 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: Warm-up will take place tomorrow from 9:32-9:57 a.m. ET and will be broadcast live on FS1 beginning at 9:30. 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, June 1.