The Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto Got Underway Friday With Practice 1

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto – Streets around Exhibition Place
NTT INDYCAR SERIES
PRACTICE NOTES / QUOTES – Friday, July 18, 2025

THE ONTARIO HONDA DEALERS INDY TORONTO GOT UNDERWAY WITH PRACTICE 1 ON FRIDAY

1st:       Will Power                    1:01.9059 / 103.861 mph
12th:     Louis Foster                  1:02.7948 / 102.391 mph
17th:     Graham Rahal               1:03.0029 / 102.052 mph
22nd:    Devlin DeFrancesco      1:03.1809 / 101.765 mph

GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 United Rentals Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “The rear of the race car challenged us today. That will be a primary focus overnight because it made life hard today. It’s great to be back in Toronto. We will work hard to come back stronger tomorrow.”

• FAST FACTS: This will be Graham Rahal’s 18th Indy car race here and 19th overall (Atlantic 2006) here. In 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 three of the past four road/street course races and is aiming to continue that in Toronto… 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 169 points and is ranked 19th overall.

DEVLIN DEFRANCESCO, 30 HUB International Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “We had a big struggle with the rear of the race car in the first practice. On our fast lap, we had a big snap into Turns 8-9 which was weird and killed the lap time. The previous lap, we were four-tenths (of a second) up but the rear tires just let go. We have some work to do overnight.”

• FAST FACTS: This will mark 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 25th in series point standings with 115.

LOUIS FOSTER, No. 45 Droplight Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It’s a street course, the first session is always going to be challenging. I think the balance is okay on primary tires and we didn’t optimize our laps on alternate tires so don’t really have a read on those yet. I’m not worried about the pace so far though; let’s see where we end up once we put it all together. There is no reason why we can’t fight our way forward tomorrow.”

• FAST FACTS: Foster has 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 has been 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. He is in 22nd place in series standings with 150.

RLL AT TORONTO: The 2025 Honda Indy Toronto will mark the 25th year of Indy car racing for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) here. The team also competed in the Atlantic Series races here in 2003 and 2004. The team won in 2023 with Christian Lundgaard, earned four second place finishes (Rahal 1992, 1994, 1995; Michel Jourdain Jr. 2003), and finished third in 1996 (B. Rahal). In total, the team has earned SIX podiums (3rd – Rahal 1996), 11 top-five’s and 24 top-10 finishes at the track. RLL’s best start is pole in 1992 by Bobby Rahal and 2023 by Christian Lundgaard.

NEXT UP: Practice 2 will take place tomorrow from 10:30 – 11:30 a.m. ET and qualifying will be 2:35 – 4:00 p.m. ET. Timing and Scoring information is available for all sessions from www.indycar.com and includes commentary by the INDYCAR Radio Network. The 90-lap Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto will be air live on FOX beginning at 2 p.m. ET Sunday, July 20.