INDIANAPOLIS – What a difference one week makes.
One week after Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s drivers qualified 12th, 21st and 27th at Barber Motorsports Park for the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix, all three drivers made the Firestone Fast Six for Saturday’s (May 10) Sonsio Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course with Graham Rahal qualifying second ahead of Louis Foster in third and Devlin DeFrancesco in fifth.
Rahal’s No. 15 Honda went around the 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course in 1 minute, 9.7516 seconds, which was four tenths of a second slower than polesitter Alex Palou’s fastest lap. Rahal has had success at the IMS road course with three runner-up finishes, five top-fives, 14 top-10s and a pole in the 2023 summer road course race.
“We battled hard today,” Rahal said. “I thought we made a lot of improvements. There was a lot of great feedback between all three of us to try to figure out the right steps forward as we went into qualifying. And we were all just standing out there talking.
“I wish we could understand what works here that we could take to everywhere else because it would certainly be nice to have this confidence going to any track. But we’re not going to complain. Huge, huge deal for us to have three cars in the top five, I mean, massive.”
Foster’s best lap in the No. 45 Honda was 1 minute, 9.8801 seconds to put him inside the second row. The defending Indy NXT Champion has victories at the IMS road course in USF Pro 2000 and Indy NXT and is making his first IndyCar start at a track he’s won at before in the junior categories.
“I know the track really well,” Foster said. “It’s always been quoted as a European-esque track. European drivers tend to do well here. But look, honestly, at the end of the day, all the credit is to the Rahal Letterman Lanigan racing crew and the engineers.
“I think it’s clear as day to see when we’ve got all three of us in the Fast Six. I did my job, but they definitely did their job as well. Massive credit to them but we’ll see how the race goes.”
DeFrancesco’s No. 30 Honda could go no faster than 1 minute, 9.9432 seconds to slot in behind Foster’s car on the starting grid. This is DeFrancesco’s first start at the IMS road course since he briefly led at the start of the 2023 summer race at the IMS road course.
“Everyone’s really rallied around me at this organization and especially everyone on the 30 especially,” DeFrancesco said. “But everyone at the whole organization as a whole has really rallied around me. [Rahal] has played a huge part of me coming here and really has been a big advocate for me and I’m just grateful to be able to give back to everyone on the 30 that’s put in so much work.
“There was high, very high level of frustration leaving a few of the previous rounds because we knew what we were capable of. And I think we move on to tomorrow. And tomorrow is simply about execution.
This is the first time that all three Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing cars have advanced to the Firestone Fast Six. This comes months after the team announced that it hired former INDYCAR President Jay Frye as its Team President to try and change the direction of the organization.
“I think having Jay there as a guy to just unleash and do what he needs to do, it’s going to create a lot of positive change as well,” Rahal said. “But you guys see it and these guys will say it. We’ve got a great group of people. I mean, we’ve got great mechanics, the engineering staff has worked their tails off tirelessly to get us to this position. The turnaround that we had in the off season for Indy, I mean, we’re excited. I mean, we’re pumped up for this month. And hopefully today is a sign of good things to come in the next two weeks.”
The Sonsio Grand Prix will air live on FOX starting at 4:30 p.m. ET on Saturday (May 10) with the green flag waving a little over 20 minutes later.
Christopher DeHarde has covered IndyCar racing and the Road to Indy for various outlets since 2014. In addition to open wheel racing, DeHarde has also covered IMSA and various short track racing events around Indiana. Originally from New Orleans, DeHarde moved to the Indianapolis area in 2017 to further pursue a career as a motorsports writer.