Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix – Streets of Downtown Detroit
NTT INDYCAR SERIES
RACE NOTES / QUOTES – June 1, 2025
FOSTER CHECKED AND RELEASED FROM INDYCAR MEDICAL AFTER A SUSPECTED PART FAILURE LED TO CONTACT: PIT ISSUES LIMITED DEFRANCESCO AND RAHAL’S FINISHES – THE LATTER WHILE RUNNING SECOND IN DETROIT
GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 JJ Curran Crane Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It’s a huge shame to have a possible great day fall thrown away. I had the same thing (trouble with the installation of a tire; inside rear in warm-up and outside rear in the race) in warm up, and so it leads to the question as to the cause. I’m just super disappointed given the potential result. Who knows where you finish, but ultimately, we had the pace. We had a car to be very competitive today, so to say I’m disappointed and is an understatement.”
- FAST FACTS: He started 11th and moved up to third place by Lap 13 as different pit strategies came into play. A caution came out on from Laps 14-16 and he moved into second place on Lap 15 and held the position for 17 laps before he made his first stop on Lap 32. Once he got back on track, he radio’d the crew to ask if there was an issue with his right rear and was called back in to the pits. A nut had not tightened on his previous stop and was jammed, which took time to remove before he could take on a new one and dropped him laps down before he returned on the track. He ultimately finished 20th. He earned a fifth-place qualifying position — his highest on the downtown course and best start on a street course since a sixth-place result in Long Beach in 2019 – but started 11th due to a six-spot grid engine change penalty. The event marked Graham Rahal’s 21st race in Detroit. His father Bobby won the inaugural race on Belle Isle in 1992 and Graham won the doubleheader there in 2017. In 2024, he qualified 14th, served a six-grid engine penalty and started 20th. He gained five spots on the opening lap to run 15th after a multi-car crash blocked part of the track. Alternate tire strategies and mixed conditions due to medium-to-heavy sprinkles midway through the race, coupled with eight caution periods made for an eventful day and he ultimately finished 15th. Highlights in Detroit include two fifth place finishes in the doubleheader in 2021 and in 2019, he earned two seventh place finishes. Rahal’s most successful INDYCAR race weekend came in Detroit in 2017. In Dual 1 in 2017, Rahal earned his first pole since Kansas 2009 and led a dominating 55 of 70 laps en route to his fifth series victory and first ever from pole. He handily held the lead with the exception of pit cycles and built a gap of more than 13 seconds at one point before he ultimately won by a six-second margin over Scott Dixon. For Dual 2, Rahal set the second fastest time in his qualifying group 2 to Sato to start third. In the race, he passed Hunter-Reay on Lap 8 and closed the gap to pole sitter and leader Sato but could not pass. Sato pit one lap earlier than Rahal, who took the lead on Lap 23 before he made his first of two stops on Lap 24 and returned to the track behind Newgarden who was on a three-stop strategy. Once Newgarden pit on Lap 29, Rahal took over the lead and steadily built his gap to second place to 16 seconds over Sato before his second and final stop on Lap 47. He then proceeded to build an 18 second gap over second place before he caught traffic. That reduced his lead to new second place runner Newgarden to 5.5 seconds before a red flag came out for the car of Pigot, who experienced a smoky end. All race cars were stopped in pit lant for approximately 10 minutes while the track was cleared and an attempt to remove marbles was made. The race resumed with a two-lap shootout and Rahal utilized his 57 seconds of Push to Pass over Newgarden’s 36 to keep the lead on the restart before he was able to pull a slight gap before the checkered flag to become the first winner of both races in Detroit. In total, he led 41 of 70 laps. His other podiums in the race came in 2014 with second place in Dual 1 and third place in Dual 2 in 2015. Overall, he has two wins, four podiums and one pole in 20 races here. He qualified second for the Sonsio Grand Prix at IMS — the previous races on a road or street course… 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 Indy road course, Portland road course) and his highest series season-ending standing is fourth place in 2015… He dropped from 12th in series point standings to 15th with 115 points.
DEVLIN DEFRANCESCO, EVTEC Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It was a very interesting day. It’s just a big bummer. We had a right rear wheel issue and overall it was a difficult day. We’ll move on.”
- FAST FACTS: Started 23rd and finished in the same position after issues with his outside rear tire changes. The team will investigate the cause upon the return to the race shop. Was his third race here. Prior to finishing 11th in the 2025 Indy 500, Devlin’s best previous career best finish was 12th at Detroit in 2023. He has competed in two INDYCAR races in Detroit – in 2023, he raced on the new circuit in downtown where he started 17th and finished 12th and the 2022 race on Belle Isle where he started 21st and finished 18th. After matching his best career start of fifth at the Sonsio Grand Prix on May 10, he is looking forward to seeing how much of that performance will carry over to Detroit… He is 25th in series standings with 71 points.
LOUIS FOSTER, No. 45 Mi-Jack Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “We were having a really good race; we were strong. We were following Rasmussen on our strategy, leading our strategy at one point but had a suspension issue when I hit the brakes. I’ve never seen that happen before. The RLL boys did an amazing job all weekend. I don’t know how the heck that happens. This track is ridiculously bumpy. I’m still trying to figure out in my head what happened. Its super disappointing.”
- FAST FACTS: He started 14th and moved up to fifth by Lap 13 as different pit strategies played out. A caution came out from Laps 14-16 and he moved into fourth on Lap 16. He took over third on Lap 19 and held it until Lap 32 when second place runner Rahal pit and he took over second. He made his first stop on Lap 37 and set his fastest lap of the race on Lap 41/100 while seventh. After his final stop, he ran 15th when a car part appeared to fail and he hit the wall going into Turn 3. He was taken to INDYCAR Medical and was seen and released as was Felix Rosenqvist who was hit by Foster. He was scored in 22nd place. On Saturday, he was -0.008 of a second from transferring to Group 3, with a seventh-place rank in Group 2 and qualified 14th. Will be his first INDYCAR race here. He has competed in three INDY NXT races on the downtown streets of Detroit and started from pole in all three. In 2024, he won the race from pole. And in Race 1 of a doubleheader weekend in Detroit in 2023, he started from pole but contact limited his finish to 19th.. In Race 2, he finished third after starting from pole. He earned his best INDYCAR start of third place at the Sonsio GP at IMS... He is 24th in the series point standings with 76.
NEXT UP: The series will take next weekend off before returning to action at World Wide Technology Raceway June 14-15.