Rahal, Foster and Schumacher Powered Through a Hot and Humid Practice 1 for the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio – Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course

NTT INDYCAR SERIES

PRACTICE NOTES / QUOTES – July 3, 2026

RAHAL, FOSTER AND SCHUMACHER POWERED THROUGH A HOT AND STEAMY PRACTICE 1 FOR THE HONDA INDY 200 AT MID-OHIO

1) Will Power 1:05.5540 / 124.002 mph

16) Graham Rahal 1:06.5381 / 122.168 mph

21) Louis Foster 1:06.8349 / 121.625 mph

22) Mick Schumacher 1:07.0835 / 121.174 mph

GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 Ariel Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It wasn’t a great session for us. I felt like the car was really lazy. It wasn’t bad, but I think around here the car’s got to be more responsive, quicker to react to be faster. And I think, on both primes (primary tires) and alts (alternate tires), we just didn’t have the pace. On the run on the alternate tire, I didn’t feel like I nailed to be honest. I went out and I pushed hard, did it on my first lap and I think I needed to bring it in for a lap and then go. But the primes for me, we didn’t really get a good first run because of the red flag so I did my fast lap on my third run actually, which wasn’t terrible from a deg (degradation) perspective, but I didn’t feel like the car was quite in the window, so we definitely have some work to do tomorrow. It is hot, really hot. It’s definitely in the top couple of times of the hottest I’ve ever been in the car, for sure. And, if it stays like this. It will be an absolute bruiser on Sunday. I’ll bet you if it’s like this, there are guys that don’t finish the race. It’s that hot, so we’ll see.”

FAST FACTS: The 2026 Honda Indy 200 will mark Rahal’s 20th Indy car race at his home track, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, the site of one of his career highlights — his win in 2015 when he led a race high 23 laps en route to victory with a 3.4-second margin over Justin Wilson. His best start is second place in 2023. He has finished in the top five, six times in his past 12 races here. In total, he has one win (2015), two podiums (2017), six top five and 11 top-10 finishes in his 19 races here including a pair of fourth place finishes in the doubleheader in 2020. In 2025, he started 20th but was collected by Newgarden when he spun on the opening lap which sent both into the gravel. He went a lap down by the time he was pulled out and received a new front wing in the pits. He ultimately finished 24th. In 2024, he set the second fastest time in Practice 2 and qualified 19th. The team utilized a three-stop strategy in the race, but it didn’t play out as an advantage and he ultimately finished 18th in a race that saw the only caution take place on the first two laps due to Dixon’s hybrid failure. In 2023, he lost pole by a mere four-hundredths of a second to Herta and matched his best INDYCAR start at home of second place. He led the race two times for two laps total and finished seventh after a slow fuel probe plug in on his first atop and an issue getting his inside rear tire on in his second. Year-by-year recaps are available upon request. He has also competed in many other series at his “home track.” In addition to Indy car races here, at the age of 16 in 2005, Rahal became the youngest to claim the SCCA National Formula Atlantic championship at the SCCA National Championship Runoffs here by a dominant 43-seconds. He also competed in the Star Mazda race here in 2005 (S/F 4/9) and tested a Grand Am car here in 2007. Since Round 4 at Barber Motorsports Park, Rahal had finished third in every other race held and was only two turns away from continuing that at Round 10 at Road America until contact with Power relegated him to a 23rd place rank. He’s hoping to regain that momentum at his home race this weekend.

LOUIS FOSTER, No. 45 Droplight Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “The car felt alright, we just don’t have a ton of pace right now. We need to understand why we’re just lacking a bit of grip. But, you know, its only FP1 (practice 1). Tomorrow is a new day, we’ll see how she goes.”

FAST FACTS: Foster will make his second INDYCAR start at this track. Last year, he made his third Firestone Fast Six appearance of the season and qualified sixth for the Honda 200 at Mid-Ohio. He held sixth place until his first stop. The field was split with some on a two-stop strategy like eventual winner Dixon, and others on a three-stop strategy. Foster stalled his car on his final stop, which lost him approx. five seconds and limited his finish to 14th place. In his two INDY NXT races here, he won in 2023 from a second-place start and started/finished second in 2024. His highest start of sixth place this season came at the Sonsio Grand Prix road course event at IMS and his highest finishes of seventh place came at the Sonsio GP and Detroit street race. He is hoping to continue that trend and earn his best finish of the season this weekend. He is ranked 18th in the point standings with 147.

MICK SCHUMACHER, No. 47 ENVE Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “Its my first time here so I’m just gaining knowledge and I’m excited about what the weekend can hold. I think we as a team need to find a little bit. I think we’re a bit further away than what we would like to be. Last year the (team’s) performance was pretty good, so hopefully we can utilize that information and put something together for tomorrow. The weather looks not amazing and it looks like it’s going to rain, so, hey, maybe we’ll get our first wet driving, which would be okay for me.”

FAST FACTS: The Honda Indy 200 will mark Mick Schumacher’s fourth road course race in the INDYCAR SERIES. His overall top finish in the series is 16th place on the oval at WWTR and his top road or street course result this season is 17th at Long Beach and Road America. He is looking forward to experiencing a place that is so special to the Rahal family…. He is 24th in series standings with 102.

RECENT PERFORMANCE ON ROAD AND STREET COURSES

In the past five road and street courses dating back to Barber Motorsports Park in March, Graham Rahal has earned three third place finishes and was two turns away from another before contact limited him to a 23rd place rank at Road America. Foster earned career best finishes of seventh place at the Sonsio Grand Prix at IMS and the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix in May. While Schumacher’s best series finish is 16th on the WWTR oval, he has two 17th place finishes at Long Beach and Road America in his rookie season. All three drivers are looking forward to another road course race this weekend.

SECOND PLACE – FIRESTONE PIT STOP CHALLENGE

After the conclusion of the Road America race, the No. 15 crew maintained its second-place rank in the Firestone Pit Stop Standings to Scott Dixon’s No. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing crew but the gap increased from one point to 21 (289-268) after 10 of 18 races.

NEXT UP: Practice 2 will take place tomorrow from 10:05 – 11:25 a.m. ET and qualifying will be 2:35 – 4:00. Both will air on FS1. Timing and Scoring information is available for all sessions from www.indycar.com and includes commentary by the INDYCAR Radio Network.