Rahal, Sato, Foster and Schumacher Gained Valuable Knowledge on Opening Day for the Indy 500

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

110th Running of the Indianapolis 500

NTT INDYCAR SERIES

OPENING DAY NOTES / QUOTES – May 12, 2026

RAHAL, SATO, FOSTER AND SCHUMACHER GAINED VALUABLE KNOWLEDGE ON OPENING DAY FOR THE 110TH INDY 500

1) Alex Palou 225.937 mph 16th on the no tow chart

6) Graham Rahal 224.769 mph 17th on the no tow chart

14) Takuma Sato 223.426 mph 20th on the no tow chart

31) Louis Foster 220.819 mph 15th on the no tow chart

32) Mick Schumacher 220.280 mph 31st on the no tow chart

GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 United Rentals Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “Overall it was a good day. I thought the car has pretty good speed. In the race running, we’ve got to get the car better for sure. I didn’t feel very strong there, but I don’t think I would have been able to do that last year no matter how hard I tried. And I didn’t frankly try very hard today. Overall, I’m pleased with the gains that we made, but we’ve just got to wait and see.”

FAST FACTS: Will be his 19th Indy 500. His best qualifying position in the Indy 500 is fourth in 2009 with Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing and best finish is third with Service Central Chip Ganassi Racing in 2011 and RLL in 2020. Detailed information is available upon request… 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 – IMS road, Portland) and his highest series season-ending standing is fourth place in 2015… He is 9th in INDYCAR SERIES point standings with 141.

LOUIS FOSTER, No. 45 Droplight Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “I think it was a good start today. We got through a lot of things we wanted to get through, learned and clarified some things. There are no prizes for today, but it’s a good start.”

FAST FACTS: Will be Foster’s second Indy 500. In 2025, he qualified 20th and finished 12th. His best series start to date is pole at Road America in 2025 and his best finish came at the previous race — the Sonsio Grand Prix – of seventh place… He is ranked in 19th place in the point standings with 86.

MICK SCHUMACHER, No. 47 ENVE Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It was an entertaining day. For sure, we had a lot of stuff going on throughout the day. We hoped we would end up with a better feeling but it was just not there. We will regroup and come back tomorrow with hopefully, a better understanding of what we need to do. Overall, I’m still happy to be able to run and I really appreciate the hard work everybody puts in. Its great having Andy (Brown) on the car and everybody on the on the 47 crew is doing an amazing job throughout the season. I’m very excited for this month and everything I am experiencing.

(On his Indy 500 helmet:) “I was watching Cars one and when I saw the makeover Lightning McQueen got, I thought ‘That actually looks really fun, and really nice and looks great.’ And I was thinking, ‘We’re in America, why not do something similar to that?’ And red is a beautiful color for me. My dad obviously had that for the longest of time and I just wanted to do something special and felt like going down that route.”

FAST FACTS: This will be his first Indy 500. His best INDYCAR start came on the Phoenix oval with 4th place and his best series finish also came there with 18th place despite having an issue with a wheel gun on a pit stop. He is ranked third in the Rookie of the Year standings and 25th in series standings with 54 points.

TAKUMA SATO, No. 75 AMADA Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It was not as smooth as we planned and expected. We experienced a couple of mechanical issues that kept us from running more. So the items we wanted to try today, we’re quite a bit behind on. But I think we gathered good data today, and we will have a look at it overnight and have a fresh morning tomorrow.”

FAST FACTS: The two-time Indy 500 champion earned his second front-row start for the team (third overall, after 2020) with a career-best starting position of second. He led the first 51 of 88 laps — the most in the race — before a pit error dropped him to a ninth-place finish. Despite the setback, he was the highest-qualifying Honda-powered driver among the 15 Honda entries, starting second. In 2024, he started 10th for his 15th Indy 500 and finished 14th. He competed for RLL full time in 2012 and from 2018-2021 and won the Indy 500 with RLL in 2020. He has earned six NTT INDYCAR SERIES wins, four of which have come with RLL, including the team’s second Indy 500 win in 2020. Sato competed in oval races with Chip Ganassi Racing in 2023. Other Indy 500 highlights with RLL include the 2012 where he was alongside eventual winner Franchitti in Turn 1 on the final lap but his race ended due to contact after he was squeezed down on the apron and lost control of his race car. He also finished third for RLL in 2019 and was a contender in the final laps… Has SIX INDYCAR SERIES wins (2013 – Long Beach street course, 2017 – Indy 500 oval, 2018 – Portland road, 2019 – Barber road, Gateway oval; 2020 Indy 500 ) and 10 poles (2011 Iowa oval, Edmonton street; 2013 Houston Race 1 street; 2014 St. Pete street, Detroit Race 2 street; 2017 Detroit Race 2, Pocono oval; 2019 Barber road, Texas oval; 2020 St. Louis – Race 2).

NEXT UP: Practice will resume tomorrow from 12-6 p.m. ET. FOX Sports 2 will carry coverage between 12-4 p.m. ET and FOX Sports 1 will carry coverage from 4–6 ET.