The Java House Grand Prix of Monterey Got Underway with Practice 1; Track Conditions and the Addition of the Hybrid Impacted Lap Times

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

Java House Grand Prix of Monterey

NTT INDYCAR SERIES

PRACTICE NOTES / QUOTES – July 25, 2025

THE JAVA HOUSE GRAND PRIX OF MONTEREY GOT UNDERWAY WITH THE FIRST PRACTICE SESSION OF THE WEEKEND; TRACK CONDITIONS AND THE ADDITION OF THE HYBRID IMPACT LAP TIMES

1) Pato O’Ward 1:09.2069 / 116.416 mph

9) Louis Foster 1:09.9877 / 115.117 mph

21) Graham Rahal 1:10.8030 / 113.792 mph

25) Devlin DeFrancesco 1:11.2379 / 113.097 mph

GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 WWEX Group Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “I struggled with the car a lot during the session. I wanted to unload better but we have another session to work on the WWEX Honda to get it right before qualifying. I think we’re in the phase with the track that it’s aging again. It feels like they put new patching down, that is really high grip and there are a lot of areas that are really low grip. It’s hard to be consistent.”

FAST FACTS: This will mark the sixth race for Graham Rahal at the track. After competitive runs on road and street courses this season, Rahal is to turn his luck around at Laguna Seca after ending the past two races here early. In 2024, he started 19th and was in 16th on Lap 86/95 when Canapino hit Simpson, who was turned sideways on the track right in front of Rahal, who had no choice but to T-bone him. In 2023, he was collected in an opening lap incident and retired in 27th place after starting 10th. In qualifying, he was seventh fastest in his group and failed to progress to Round 2 by less than 1/10th of a second. Four cars ahead of Rahal served a grid penalty so he started 10th. In 2022, he started on primary tires from 19th place and steadily climbed his way up the field. A pivotal decision came when the team opted to take on used alternate tires on his second stop compared to Lundgaard, who took on primary tires and ultimately finished fifth. The two had been running together with Rahal ahead in seventh place initially but the two swapped positions on Lap 57/95 and he fell four positions before the team elected to stop again for primary tires on Lap 61. He ultimately finished 18th, one lap down to the leaders. In 2021, Rahal started 12th and ran as high as fourth before his first stop on Lap 18/95. The handling of his race car was better halfway through his second stint, and he gained a few spots before he made his second stop from third place on Lap 40. He pit from second place for his third stop on Lap 67 and was able to leapfrog O’Ward by staying out longer. He held third place for 11 laps before Grosjean, whose tires had six less laps on them, passed him on Lap 84/95 and he held on to finish fourth. In 2019, he started eighth and lost two positions on the start to Hunter-Reay and Ferrucci. He dropped to 11th on Lap 5 when Rosenqvist passed him and cycled as high as fifth place before his second pit stop on Lap 39. He ran 10th for the majority of his next stint before his third and final stop and came out 11th. He later lost a position to Hunter-Reay on Lap 68 of 90 and ultimately took the checkered flag 12th. He has qualified in the Firestone Fast Six five out of the previous six opportunities this season… 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/August, Portland road)… He is 20th in series standings with a total of 195.

DEVLIN DEFRANCESCO, No. 30 Mi-Jack Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “The grip is super low and I just lost it out of Turn 4, dropped a wheel and then I was a passenger in the dirt. I think the track is wearing away quickly and there are some patches that are quite grippy. Conditions change quite a bit. I’m just bummed for that to happen early on. The conditions are tricky but the good news is our No. 30 car is fast. I think we’re in the hunt.”

FAST FACTS: Will make his third INDYCAR SERIES start at Laguna Seca. His highest starting position here is 20th in 2022, and his highest finish is 15th in the same year. He also ran an Indy Lights doubleheader there in 2021 where his best start was 7th and best finish is 8th. He matched his career best start of fifth place on the road course at IMS in May and has shown pace at other road and street courses, so he hopes to replicate that at Laguna Seca… He is 26th in series point standings with a total of 123.

LOUIS FOSTER, No. 45 Droplight Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It was a decent session; we’re just struggling a little bit on balance. Overall, it was a bit of a messy session. The track grip is super low, and we didn’t really get the runs in that we wanted to get in which is frustrating. There are some gains to be made. We’ll go back and look at the data to better understand what we need to do and go from there.”

FAST FACTS: Having earned his first series pole at Road America, two road course races ago, Louis is looking forward to his INDYCAR debut on this road course. He has competed here four times in the INDY NXT Series where he won both NXT races in 2024 from pole. In his first two NXT races here in 2023, he qualified sixth and finished 18th in Race 1 and turned that into a podium performance with a third-place finish from a third place start in Race 2. He is the only rookie to have made it to the Firestone Fast Six – the qualifying format for road and street course races — and has done so three times (Indy, Road America, Mid-Ohio). He is hoping to add more to his season… He is ranked 23rd in the point standings with 159.

RAHAL LETTERMAN LANIGAN RACING AT THEIR WINNINGEST TRACK

This will mark the 18th Indy car event for RLL at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and fifth here since 12 consecutive races at the track from 1992-2003. The team has also competed in ALMS and IMSA races here from 2009-present as BMW M Team RLL and has earned three wins, four poles (including this May) and a total of 11 podium finishes to date – including a second-place finish from pole in 2019. The Indy car team has earned three wins, three poles and a total of six podiums (1st – Herta 1998-1999; Papis 2001; 2nd – Herta 1996; 3rd: B. Rahal 1992, Papis 1999) including three straight pole positions (Herta 1997-1999).

NEXT UP: Practice 2 will take place tomorrow from 8:30-9:30 a.m. PT and qualifying will take place from 11:35-1:00 p.m. PT. FOX, FS1 or FS2 will broadcast all sessions live. Timing and Scoring information and live streaming video is also available for all sessions from www.indycar.com and includes live commentary. The Java House Grand Prix of Monterey will be televised live on FOX beginning at 3 PM ET Sunday, July 27.