IndyCar: Foster Wins his First Pole for Xpel Grand Prix

Fighting the wind and the heat of the day, Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s rookie Louis Foster managed to remain cool and drive his No. 45 Droplight/Desnuda Honda to win his first career pole for tomorrow’s Xpel Grand Prix at Road America.  His time was 1m44.5141s.

“If I’m honest, we kind of struggled a little bit throughout the three practices. When we got through to the Fast 12, I was surprised because I messed up my lap. We were sitting there before the group stage, the Fast 12 stage. I said to the guys, I don’t think I have the car to make it through the Fast Six. Do you want to throw on some used tires and maybe get a sport or two and see how it goes?”

“They were confident in the ability of the car and me to be able to push into the Fast Six,  which obviously was the right call in the end.”

On Thursday evening at a local bar called Siebkins, Will Buxton shaved off Foster’s mustache to raise $1,000 for charity.

“Yes, I guess it’s the mustache. I don’t know, man,” Foster commented after winning his first career pole today.

Ganassi ace Alex Palou came up just short of Foster’s time and will start second after posting a time of 1m44.6300s in his Solo Cup Honda, 0.1159s behind Foster.

Palou will be looking to give Foster a run for his money on Sunday.

” It was very warm for everybody. It was interesting. We had a really fast car. Then I thought qualifying was going to be only against people on new tires. I think Louis did it on used tires, right? Yeah, I wasn’t counting on that. He did an amazing job.”

“I’m really happy with the qualifying we did. I think we matched our best lap time of the weekend in Fast Six. We didn’t have more speed, just a little extra there on Fast Six. Happy to start on front row. It’s big here to start up front, so happy.

“We will see tomorrow. With the heat tomorrow, tire deg, and other issues, we’ll see. I think it’s going to be tough for everybody.”

Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood, the winner of the last two races, will start third after setting a fast time of 1m44.8523s, 0.3382s behind Foster.

Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin will start fourth after setting a fast lap of 1m45.0137s. He was the only Penske driver fast enough to make it into the Fast Six round.

Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard will start fifth after posting a time of 1m45,4877s.

Foster’s teammate, Graham Rahal, will start sixth after his fastest time of 1m45.0828s, 0.97s behind Foster.

Two-time winner Scott Dixon thought he had made the fast six for Group 1, only to be disqualified due to a penalty for Qualifying Interference with Devlin DeFrancesco.  Dixon will start a disappointing 25th now.

LOUIS FOSTER, No. 45 Droplight / Desnuda Dallara/Honda/Firestone:

“I don’t really know what to say. Obviously a massive thank you to the team. They’ve done an amazing job. Yes, I guess it’s the mustache. I don’t know, man. If I’m honest, we kind of struggled a little bit throughout the three practices. When we got through to the Fast 12, I was surprised because I messed up my lap.

“We were sitting there before the group stage, the Fast 12 stage. I said to the guys, ‘I don’t think I have the car to make it through the Fast Six. Do you want throw some used tires on and maybe get a sport or two and see how it goes?’ They were confident in the ability of the car and myself to be able to push into the Fast Six, which obviously was the right call in the end.

“When we did the last run, again, we were just conserving reds. We were in the Fast Six. Top six starting spot for us is awesome alone. We just ran out, did the out-lap and pushed on the used reds. By the time I went through turn one, I was about 2/10ths up, then maintained that throughout the lap. Gained about a 10th or so in a couple corners. The reds held on really, really well clearly. Yeah, still a little bit in shock.

“The boys have been working their asses off, I’ll be honest. We had the crash in Detroit with the suspension failure. Then last weekend at St. Louis. Massive props to the 45 Droplight / Desnuda boys.

“They needed this to kind of push themselves through the summer stretch. All credit to them because, yeah, they worked endlessly these last two weeks. They’ve rebuilt the car twice. My target now is to focus and be with the team and make sure that we’ve got the race car to be able to battle up front and try to retain our position as long as possible up front. We’ll go for a win if we can.

“We have a fast car. Full focus on the race. We have to bring in some solid points. It will probably sink in after this weekend, for sure (smiling).

““I think teamwork is really the key for us at Rahal Letterman Lanigan. As soon as Graham finished his group stage, he jumps out of his car, the first thing he does is runs to me, let’s me know about certain things that he learned in the session. If that’s not teamwork, I don’t know what is. I don’t see any teams or drivers doing that. It’s really a family feeling at RLL. All three of us are super close. I think that really helps us push the program forward.”

Dennis Hauger Wins Pole Number Five

Dennis Hauger, the Norwegian driving for Andretti Global has won another career pole for tomorrow’s race at Road America in his rookie debut on the 4-mile long Wisconsin road course.

His teammate Lochie Hughes will start fourth tomorrow.

2025 XPEL GP At Road America Qualifying Results

Lucille Dust reporting  live from Road America