Rahal, Foster and Schumacher Aim to Carry Street Course Competitiveness to the Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Pre-Race Notes
Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C. – Streets around Washington, D.C.’s National Mall
Round 15 of 18 in the 2026 NTT INDYCAR SERIES

DATE:     August 22-23, 2026

PRACTICE BROADCAST:     Live on FS1 on Saturday from 9:00-10:30 a.m. ET and on FS2 from 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. ET. And on Sunday on FS1 from 9:00 – 10:00 a.m. ET. Also live on the INDYCAR Radio Network (IRN) and www.indycar.com (timing & scoring + live analysis).

QUALIFYING BROADCAST:     Live on FS2, the IRN and www.indycar.com (timing & scoring + live analysis) from 5:00-6:30 p.m. ET Saturday.

PRE-RACE SHOW:     A special pre-race show will air on FOX from 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. on Sunday.

RACE BROADCAST:     Live on FOX on Sunday from 1:00 – 3:30 p.m. ET. And also on the IRN, Sirius XM INDYCAR Nation 218 and the INDYCAR App.

TRACK LAYOUT:     1.7-mile, 7-turn street course
RACE LENGTH:     147 laps / 249.9 miles
2025 WINNER / POLESITTER:     Inaugural event

RAHAL’S BEST STREET COURSE START / FINISH:     2 Poles – St. Pete (2009), Detroit (2017) / 3 Wins – St. Pete (2009), Detroit – Race 1 (2017), Detroit Race 2 (2017)
RAHAL’S HIGHEST SERIES START / FINISH:     5 Poles – St. Pete (street) 2009, Kansas (oval) 2009, Detroit (street) 2017, IMS (road) 2023, Portland 2023 / 6 Wins – St. Pete 2008, Fontana (oval; 500 miles) 2015, Mid-Ohio (road) 2015, Texas (oval) 2016; Detroit Race 1 2017, Detroit Race 2 2017

FOSTER’S BEST STREET COURSE START / FINISH:     1st in Markham (2026) / 7th in Detroit (2026)
FOSTER’S BEST SERIES START / FINISH:     Pole at Road America 2025 and Markham 2026 / 7th (Indy GP and Detroit 2027)

SCHUMACHER’S BEST STREET COURSE START / FINISH:     10 – Markham (2026) / 17 – Long Beach (2026)
SCHUMACHER’S BEST SERIES START / FINISH:     4th (Phoenix oval 2026) / 8th (Nashville oval 2026)

NEWS & NOTES:

RAHAL LETTERMAN LANIGAN RACING IN WASHINGTON, D.C.
The inaugural Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C. is the third new venue for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES this year, following events in Arlington, Texas and Markham, Ontario, Canado. Set against the backdrop of the National Mall, the Freedom 250 Grand Prix will mark the first-ever NTT INDYCAR SERIES race on the streets of Washington, D.C., serving as a centerpiece of the national celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

The 1.7-mile, seven-turn Freedom 250 Grand Prix course will circle the National Mall with cars racing alongside some of the most iconic landmarks in the world. The street circuit will feature a high-speed 0.4-mile run down Pennsylvania Avenue, dramatically framed by the Washington Monument and the U.S. Capitol. Pit lane will sit just off the straight between Turns 1 and 2, keeping the crews and cars at the center of the action. The drivers will speed past landmarks including the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, the National Gallery of Art and the National Archives, creating a course that blends technical challenge with an unmistakable and historic backdrop. The team will prepare the No. 15 Gaylor Electric Honda entry for Graham Rahal, the No. 45 Desnuda Organic Tequila Honda entry for Louis Foster and the No. 47 NEREUS™ Honda entry for Mick Schumacher for this race.

GRAHAM RAHAL IN THE NATION’S CAPITOL
Calling Graham Rahal a proud American could be deemed an understatement. On race weekends, Rahal can be seen featuring his American heritage on the parts of his uniform that each driver utilizes to show their personality — the helmet, shoes and gloves. He is understandably excited to get back to D.C. after a quick visit to the area in July with Honda where he was also able to meet President Trump with his father, Bobby Rahal.
“The track looks pretty good; I think it’s going to be quite wide and we’ll see what the bumps are like when we get there. I don’t think anybody has a full understanding of that quite yet. There are a lot of 90-degree left hand corners and one right. Overall, we’re just hoping we can build on some speed from Markham in Washington, D.C. It’s a huge event for us and a huge event from the sponsor perspective with being able to bring in Gaylor Electric for this race. I’m looking forward to it. I can’t wait to get there.”

FOSTER AIMS TO CARRY OVER POLE-WINNING COMPETITIVENESS
Louis Foster earned his second career INDYCAR pole last Saturday in Markham, Ontario, Canada by an impressive margin of four-tenths of a second over second place qualifier Lundgaard.  He led what became a race-high 32 laps before he was one of the last two drivers to make his first stop, doing so under caution following an incident for Armstrong. Foster charged from ninth to third place before he made contact with the wall after he took over second place from eventual winner Ericsson and ultimately retired after completing 42/90 laps. He is hopeful of carrying that competitiveness into another new street course.
“I’m looking forward to racing in Washington, D.C. It’s going to be a great event for everyone involved. There has been a lot of hard work to get this event sorted so hopefully it exceeds our expectations. We were fast at Markham, which was a debut street course like the one in D.C. so we’ve just got to make sure we keep working hard and hopefully we can turn up again this weekend with a really solid car, and a solid platform to work from and try and replicate the pace we had in Markham. Some of the things we learned in Markham can carry over to D.C. We’ve just got to make sure the car is in a good spot, and if it is, I’ll go out there and be in the same spot.
“We did a bit of sim work for the D.C. course. There was no laser scanning data so the bumps weren’t there, so it was a very flat circuit on the simulator, which won’t be the case in real life. As for the corner radius’s and things, we kind of got a good feel for it so I’ve got good understanding of where everything is going to land.
“It’s obviously a super cool celebration for the 250th anniversary of America. There will be a lot of new companies there, a lot of people involved and a lot of fans. It’s going to bring a lot of attention to the sport and to all of our partners which is super important for us. We’re looking forward to sharing this experience with all our partners, especially Droplight.”

SCHUMACHER READY FOR ANOTHER STREET COURSE
Schumacher ran in the top-10 at the previous street race in Markham and is looking forward to applying that experience in D.C. He was in ninth place in the race when he brought out the first of six cautions after he made contact with the Turn 4 wall on Lap 14/90. His chances of making it to his first Firestone Fast Six were looking good but the timing of a red flag limited his opportunity. He is hoping for another competitive run in Washington, D.C.
“Obviously, the end of the Markham race was disappointing as a whole. The performance was so good and we didn’t utilize it and make gains so we’ve got to look forward to DC now.  The D.C. track is one of those tracks where nobody knows what to expect so I think that will come in handy for us. But also for the next couple of tracks. Milwaukee is one of those where we’ve all tested there so I think that’ll be more of a usual outcome, I suspect. We’ve been strong on ovals, so for sure we have the potential there to do good things. And the road course in Laguna where I tested previously, so I think that will come in very handy as a team too. Only two teams have tested there, ourselves and A.J. Foyt, so we will definitely take a certain type of advantage with us into that weekend. We’ve seen previously with tracks where we went – like WWTR for example – where we straight away had a really strong debut to that event so hopefully we can maximize those opportunities.
“I’m excited about the next race to come. I think we have definitely shown great potential and great pace in Markham, I think it was one of those tracks where the more risk you were taking, the better it was in some ways. Hopefully we’ll be able to translate some of that performance into D.C. It’s a special race so I’m sure it’s going to be crazy for everybody and again one of those tracks where people will go probably towards the riskier side of things when trying to impress. I don’t know much about the track, other than there are a lot of left corners and very few right hand so my knowledge is very little. I haven’t done any SIM work. Barely anyone has, I think, so It’ll be an interesting one putting everything together in fewer laps, but it will be fun.”

POINT STANDINGS AFTER 14 OF 18 RACES
Heading into Round 16, Rahal is ranked 13th overall with 258 points, 38 points out of the top-10. Foster is 19th with 200 points and Schumacher is 24th with 151.