Rahal Seventh in Toronto Honda Indy; Foster Ran in Podium Contention Until Damage Led to 21st Place & DeFrancesco 22nd After Being Collected in Crash

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto – Streets around Exhibition Place

NTT INDYCAR SERIES

RACE NOTES / QUOTES – Sunday, July 20, 2025

RAHAL FINISHED SEVENTH IN THE HONDA DEALERS INDY TORONTO; FOSTER RAN IN PODIUM CONTENTION UNTIL DAMAGE RESULTED IN 21ST PLACE; DEFRANCESCO 22ND AFTER UNABLE TO AVOID CRASHED CARS

GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 United Rentals Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “The United Rentals crew did an awesome job in the pits and we had a good strategy, and a little bit of luck too. We certainly had the pace and ran with the Andretti cars all day, and they’ve shown they have pace. Pato had a lightning restart and was able to work through the field and past some of the lappers that I couldn’t so we lost a little distance to him. Overall, it was a solid day for us. I struggled with the rear of the car a lot this weekend and we weren’t as fast as we needed to be in the race but we managed the situation and made it home. We’ll take P7.”

FAST FACTS: He earned his second consecutive fifth place start on a street course after also qualifying fifth in Detroit. The race saw multiple strategies due to tire selection which impacted pit strategy in a race that saw five caution periods. Rahal pit during the first caution for McLaughlin, utilized a three-stop strategy and ultimately finished seventh. The United Rentals crew ranked fourth quickest in the pits… This was Graham’s 18th Indy car race here and 19th overall (Atlantic 2006) here. In his previous 17 Indy car races, his best start of second came in 2017 with RLL and best finish of fourth came in 2022. He has three, top-five starts and eight, top-10 finishes. In 2024, he started eighth and dropped to ninth after being passed by Power on the opening lap. On Lap 25/85, he reported an issue with his steering wheel that would go blank intermittently. The device also controls shifting. The team pit early to change steering wheels but the problem persisted. He was 15th when the red flag was brought out and moved up to 13th after cars were penalized. Once the race resumed, he moved up to 10th and held the position until the checkered flag. In 2023, wet conditions in qualifying led to contact and derailed the top starting spot Rahal was on target for according to computer data, but he started 27th after losing his two fastest laps as a penalty for bringing out the red flag after hitting the wall. In the race, he avoided an opening lap crash and drove through a runoff area to avoid an impassable track to catch up to the field. Persistence paid off and he climbed to a ninth-place finish. Full results are available upon request. Rahal has qualified in the Fast Six for four of the past five road/street course races and is aiming to continue that at Laguna Seca… 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; IMS (road) 2023 August, Portland (road) 2023) and his highest series season-ending standing is fourth place in 2015… He has a total of 195 points and is ranked 20th overall.

DEVLIN DEFRANCESCO, 30 HUB International Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “The start seemed fine, the first stint seemed fine. We got hurt a bit on that first restart, just not able to fire up the tires, but generally the car was okay; it was in a pretty good window. After the second stop, we just got hit—I think by Callum—there was a big check-up at Turn 1 and he just drilled me. What can I say? It happens. On to Laguna. We should be good there.”

FAST FACTS: He started 26th and ran as high as ninth place in a race that saw multiple tire and fuel strategies. His race outcome was limited when rookie Abel lost control of his race car on Lap 37/90 and he collected Newgarden. DeFrancesco drove around a corner to the crash site and was hit from behind by Ilott as the field backed up in an attempt to avoid others. He was able to get to the pits for repairs, which were extensive and later rejoined the race. He ultimately retired in 22nd place, 33 laps down…. This marked his third INDYCAR race here. Of his two races in 2022 and 2023, his best start and finish came in his rookie season in 2022 when he qualified 12th and finished 18th. The Toronto native was born 15 weeks premature and spent the first four months of his life in an incubator at Toronto’s Sunnybrook Hospital. He was issued last rites on multiple occasions in the event he didn’t survive. Now he and his family regularly support the hospital. He is ranked 26th in series point standings with 123.

LOUIS FOSTER, No. 45 Droplight Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “The start was good; we held on for the most part. We got overtaken by a few cars as expected while on the alternates (tires). We held on decently well. When everyone pitted, we closed the gap back up, got overtaken again, and was running P3. It was a decent race at that point; nothing amazing but it was a solid race up until that point. Then, I went for a move on Abel, and he turned in on me. I was already past him, but he turned in and hit my rear left. It was as small as a touch is but it did enough to clearly kill the left rear (A arm) and ruin our race and then that was it for us.”

FAST FACTS: Started seventh and dropped to eight on the opening lap when eventual second place finisher Veekay passed him. Multiple strategies came into play when a caution came out for McLaughlin on Lap 3 and Foster moved up to third on his primary tires. He ran as high as second for seven laps and was passed by Malukas. His race outcome was limited when rookie Abel lost control of his car on Lap 37/90 and Abel collected Newgarden. Foster had appeared to avoid being collected but the left rear of his car sustained contact that would later cause him to pit for repairs on Lap 44/90. It took a while to replace his lower left A-arm before he rejoined the race. He ultimately was scored with a 21st place finish, 23 laps down.. Foster previously competed on the streets of Toronto two times in the USF Pro 2000 series, both in 2022. In the doubleheader, Foster won both poles, set the fastest lap in both races and won both races en route to the championship in his rookie season. He was in the Firestone Fast Six shootout three of the last four times where he netted his first series pole at Road America (road), a third place start at the grand prix at IMS and sixth at Mid-Ohio and narrowly missed it in Toronto with the seventh fastest lap in Round 2. He is in 23rd place in series point standings with 159.

NEXT UP: The series will head to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca next weekend for the Java House Grand Prix of Monterey.