Rahal, Foster and Schumacher Head to the Pacific Northwest for the OnlyBulls GP of Portland

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Pre-Race Notes
OnlyBulls Grand Prix of Portland – Portland International Raceway
Round 13 of 18 in the 2026 NTT INDYCAR SERIES

DATE:     August 7-9, 2026

PRACTICE BROADCAST:     Live on FS1 on Friday from 5:30–7:00 p.m. ET, on Saturday from 1:00-2:30 p.m. ET and on Sunday from 1:00 – 2:00 p.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 7:00-8:30 p.m. ET Saturday.

RACE BROADCAST:     Live on FOX on Sunday, August 9 from 4:00 – 6:30 p.m. ET. And also on the IRN, Sirius XM INDYCAR Nation 218 and the INDYCAR App.

TRACK LAYOUT:     1.964-mile, 12-turn permanent road course
RACE LENGTH:     110 laps / 216.04 miles
2025 WINNER:     Will Power
2025 POLESITTER:     Christian Lundgaard (58.3939 / 121.081 mph)

RAHAL’S BEST PORTLAND START / FINISH:     1st in 2023 / 5th in 2022; will be his 9th Indy car race here & 11th overall
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 PORTLAND START / FINISH:     17th / 13th – both in 2025; second INDYCAR race here
FOSTER’S BEST SERIES START / FINISH:     Pole at Road America 2025 / 7th (Indy GP and Detroit 2027)

SCHUMACHER’S BEST PORTLAND START / FINISH:     Will be his first race here
SCHUMACHER’S BEST SERIES START / FINISH:     4th (Phoenix oval 2026) / 8th (Nashville oval 2026)

RLL’S BEST START / FINISH AT PORTLAND:     1st – Bryan Herta (1998), Max Papis (2001), Graham Rahal (2023) / 1st – Papis (2001) & Takuma Sato (2018); 18th race here

NEWS & NOTES:

RAHAL LETTERMAN LANIGAN RACING AT PORTLAND – POLE IN 2023
The 2026 event will mark the 20th 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 with a best starting position of pole by Bryan Herta in 1998, Max Papis in 2001 and Graham Rahal in 2023 and best finish of first place in 2018 by Takuma Sato and in 2001 by Max Papis. RLL has earned a total of four podium finishes here (3rd – B. Rahal 1995, Herta 1998) and has led a total of 182 laps (1998: Herta, 20; 2001 Papis, 69; 2018: Sato, 25; 2021: Rahal, 36; 2023: Rahal, 21; 2025: Rahal, 10). In addition, the team competed in the Toyota Atlantic races here in 2003 (Danica Patrick, Jon Fogerty) and 2004 (Patrick and Chris Festa).

Prior to 2026, the team prepared a total of 42 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 (2018-19, 21-24), Takuma Sato (2018-19, 21), Oliver Askew (2021), Christian Lundgaard (2022-24), Jack Harvey (2022), Pietro Fittipaldi (2024), Juri Vips (2023-24) and Devlin DeFrancesco (2025). The No. 15 Mi-Jack Honda entry for Graham Rahal, the No. 45 Droplight Honda entry for Louis Foster and the No. 47 NEREUS™ Honda entry for Mick Schumacher will bring that total to 45 in 2026.

GRAHAM IN PORTLAND
It will be the 11th overall race for Graham at PIR and ninth in the main event. His best start in Portland is pole in 2023, his best finish is fifth in 2022, and he has led a total of 67 laps here the past five years (2021 – 36; 2023 – 21; 2025 – 10).Portland was the site of Rahal’s top finish in 2025 where he led three times for a total of 10 laps and finished fourth after starting 22nd. In 2024, he qualified sixth but had a six-spot grid penalty for an unapproved engine change and started 12th. He lost two spots at the start but gained them back before a caution came out for Dixon, who had an incident with Kirkwood, which led to contact with Fittipaldi. He moved into ninth before his first of three stops and ultimately finished there. In 2023, he started from his fifth career series pole on alternate tires and led the first 21 laps before his first stop to switch to the preferred primary tires, that he won pole on. Once he pit, fifth place starter and eventual winner Palou, who started on primary black tires and performed an “overcut” pit strategy, cycled into the lead and held it for the majority of the remaining laps (led 69/110 laps) while Rahal repeatedly struggled with track position and traffic as well as a fueling issue on his final stop and finished 12th. Other race recaps are available upon request. In 2005, he earned his first professional win at PIR in the Star Mazda race after starting fourth and winning by a margin of 0.0317 seconds. After some strong races here, he hopes to add to his three podiums this season at Barber (road), the IMS road course and Detroit street course.
“Last year we struggled in qualifying, but we were able to put a good strategy together in the race and had some really good pace so when we needed to run, we were able to run and get away from some guys and ended up P4 with good spot, and a good gap. Overall, I was pleased with that, I thought we executed well last year coming from the back. Obviously, we’ve had good speed on the road and street courses this year, road courses mainly. We feel like Portland is a place we’ve been quick at. We were on pole a couple of years ago, finished in the top five last year and hopefully we can keep that sort of momentum going. I’d love to get a win or another podium as we round out this year and try to get ourselves back in the top 10 in points. I think that’s a realistic goal, but we need to gain as many points as we can over the next few weeks and see how things work out towards the end of the year.”

FOSTER IN PORTLAND
Louis will make his second INDYCAR start at Portland. Last year, he qualified 17th and started 14th after three cars in the field served 6-spot grid penalties for various reasons. At the start of the race, he was hit by Simpson, who received an avoidable contact penalty and was sent to the back of the field, where Foster was. He tried to capitalize on strategy and ultimately finished 13th. He earned career-best finishes of seventh place on the IMS road course and Detroit street course this year and hopes to carry over that success to Portland.
“I like the track; it’s fun and fast and short as well so it’s enjoyable. With two road course races left in the season, we want to capitalize on the gains we’ve made. We need to improve our qualifying performance, but we have been very strong in the races. If we can put the two together, we can have a good race.”

SCHUMACHER’S FIRST EXPERIENCE IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
The event will mark Schumacher’s first time in the Pacific Northwest. He earned his best INDYCAR career finish at the previous race at Nashville Superspeedway (oval) with eighth place and is aiming to better that mark this weekend on a road course. He was back in the race car last Thursday, July 30 at Laguna Seca and while he doesn’t believe that track knowledge will be applicable in Portland, he feels seat time is always a benefit.
“We had a good day in the simulator for Portland a couple of weeks ago so hopefully we’re ready to roll off and get going pretty quickly. At the end of the day, I think that really that’s the most important part in INDYCAR is just to have a good starting set up where you don’t have to really change much to get better or to improve. I think that was very much the case in Nashville and so hopefully we’ll be able to have some of that, and if not, obviously we will work for it.
“It’s a pretty tricky track. It’s bumpy in places and pretty flowy in some others like the triple right, plus the left and another right so it gets handsy so you have to be able to make sure that they’re all interlinked at the end of the day to make sure you get everything out of it. So hopefully we will be in a good place.
“The Laguna test went well. It’s a pretty low grip track I’ve learned and it’s just simply one of those places where you’ve got to understand the high speeds, the low speeds and altitude changes, such as the corkscrew and other places like Turn 6, which are pretty tough places to race. There is still a lot to learn there. I don’t think there are a lot of things that are applicable for Portland but nevertheless, any day in the car and any time in the car is beneficial for me. I‘m still learning new places and Portland is going to be one of them so we’re getting into a good place here. I have not been to Portland before so I’m excited to explore it.”

POINT STANDINGS AFTER 12 OF 18 RACES
Heading into Round 13, Rahal is ranked 12th overall with 229 points, only eight points out of the top 10. Foster is 18th with 173 points and Schumacher is 24th with 132.

THIRD PLACE – FIRESTONE PIT STOP CHALLENGE
After the conclusion of the Nashville race, the No. 15 crew maintained third in the Firestone Pit Stop Standings to Scott McLaughlin’s Team Penske No. 3 crew with 335 points and Scott Dixon’s No. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing crew, 334. They are only 9 points from the lead with 326 points after 12 of 18 races.