Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
The Thermal Club INDYCAR Grand Prix – Thermal, California
NTT INDYCAR SERIES
RACE NOTES/QUOTES – Sunday, March 23, 2025
RAHAL FINISHED 11TH IN THE THERMAL CLUB INDYCAR GRAND PRIX; DEFRANCESCO FINISHED 20TH AND FOSTER 24TH
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 Mobil 1 Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “A couple of bounces here and there we would have had two top-10’s. We stayed out a little too long on the first stint and lost five spots there, we went from 14th to 19th and had to claw ourselves back but passed a ton of cars. My hands are feeling it; it was just a physical day trying to get ahead, and trying to get these guys. Scotty Mac passed me and I passed him two straights later and that felt nice, to feel like I had a little horse under me to be able to go battle these good guys. I beat Newgarden, which is always feels nice so we were with the right guys, and battling with Dixon. I’ll take it. The boys did a good job but we went for the used alternate tires on the last stint and they just gave up three laps too early. We hung on but it was pretty ugly those last few laps. I really feel a lot of positivity with this team and I’ve said it since the Sebring test. I love working with Yves, I love working with Tim, Grant, Tisch on the stand, Owen and the whole group. I’m really, really enjoying this group of guys and was really disappointed not to deliver a better result for them yesterday in qualifying because we should have been in the Fast Six. If I hadn’t dropped a wheel, we were three-tenths clear and we were in. We were at the sharp end today, racing with some good guys.”
- FAST FACTS: Qualified 18th and was 10th in the final laps when Dixon passed him for position and he finished 11th… This marked Rahal’s second event at The Thermal Club. Last year, he qualified third for his Heat Race (2) and finished there to earn a fifth place start in the All-Star race. Early on in the 12-car race, he began to struggle with a stuck throttle and dropped to seventh. From there he had to return to the pits and retired in 12th for safety reasons… 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; 2024 IMS road course 2, Portland and his highest series season-ending standing is fourth place in 2015… He is ranked 12th in series point standings with 37.
DEVLIN DEFRANCESCO, No. 30 Mi-Jack Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “I got hit before the green flag even started. McLaughlin closed the line as we were supposed to be running side by side through 15. He left me no room and turned down on me, which caused us to have a drive through. So not only did we start last, we started 30 seconds behind everybody else. The No. 30 Mi-Jack Honda was strong, especially on alternate tires. We seemed to really be able to carve our way through. That last stint on primary tires, we just bottomed on the out lap and lost it but you know, where I would have started, we would have probably been around 14th considering the drive through. It made somewhat good of a bad day but we need to go review it with the INDYCAR stewards now because in my opinion that drive through was uncalled for.”
- FAST FACTS: Qualified 26th and finished 20th… DeFrancesco participated in the February 2023 pre-season open test at The Thermal Club but did not race in the series event in 2024 although he was watching from afar. He qualified 14th in the St. Pete season opener and was on target for a top 10 finish there until a punctured tire forced him to pit and lose valuable positions. He ultimately finished 22nd in the race… His best career start to date is fifth at the IMS road course (August 2023) and his best career finish is 12th at WWTR (2022) and Detroit (2023).
LOUIS FOSTER, No. 45 Mi-Jack Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It’s a disappointing result for us. We had good pace in the car in warmup but the first stint we struggled a little bit with tire degradation on the alternates. I wasn’t sure exactly how much to push and how much to save. The second stint honestly went quite well, I think. We lost a bit of time in the first stint because of that, but we gained it back in the second stint and made some overtakes and were looking good. And then, just with it being my first race, we had some issues with the seat with my shoulder so I was driving in a lot of pain, just struggling to honestly finish the race at that point. We need to look over the seat and the belt and understand what exactly what the cause of that pain was. The positives are we’ve got the pace, we just need to now try and get myself more used to INDYCAR racing. It was a bit of a bittersweet weekend but you know what, my first race in INDYCAR is behind me so I’m pretty happy to get that one done.”
- FAST FACTS: Earned his top series start of 10th place, ran as high as eighth and ultimately finished 24th… The 2024 INDY NXT champion made his INDYCAR SERIES debut at St. Pete although he was collected in an opening lap incident after qualifying 16th. It was his first event at The Thermal Club.
NEXT UP: The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach will take place April 11-13.