Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing heads to The Thermal Club this weekend for The Thermal Club INDYCAR Grand Prix. Rookie driver Louis Foster is returning to the scene of his very INDYCAR SERIES test with the team.
Speaking about the upcoming race in California, Foster, who retired from the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St Petersburg, presented by RP Funding. Speaking ahead of the race this weekend, Foster said:
My first test with the team was at the end of last year at Thermal and I think it was a decent test. We learned a lot of things about the car and hopefully we can take some of our progress into the weekend. I think the team had a good year last year as well; had all three cars in the final race at the million-dollar challenge, which was a pretty big success for the team, so I think we’ve got high hopes going in. I had a good test at Barber as well and learned some things about the car that should help so we’ll see where we end up. Obviously, it’s always tough in INDYCAR car so we’ll see but I’m looking forward to it. I like California, it’s almost a semi home state for me, having lived there for a few years. And I’ve got some friends coming down to the race as well so I’m really looking forward to the weekend. It’s a great place; a great circuit and it will be nice and sunny which is nice because I need a tan.”
Devlin DeFrancesco will make his Thermal debut this weekend and speaking ahead of the race he said:
“I originally drove at The Thermal Club in testing back in 2023 so this will be my first race there. It’s a fun road course; I’m excited to qualify there. I think our team has very competitive cars there, based on watching last year whilst I was on the sideline. I think our team has a very competitive car on the high-speed, smooth road courses overall so I’m looking forward to getting there and seeing where we stack up, but I have a very good feeling going into the weekend in the No. 30 Mi-Jack Honda.”
California resident, Graham Rahal is looking forward to the race this weekend saying:
I’m excited for the Thermal race. We were actually quite good there last year, at least in qualifying pace. We need to work on our race car, but I think that will be pretty solid this time around. We got some good things to try and test on Friday and Saturday. With it being a points race, I’m interested to see how this all pans out for us. It’s going to be an extremely physical, tough race out there because there are no really long straightaways. The back straight is long on paper I guess but still you enter one of the toughest sections of the track from that point on and really don’t get much of a break. Overall, I’m looking forward to the event and driving the Mobil 1 Honda. Without a doubt, I think it has been a favorite of fans across the board. People absolutely loved seeing that car. It was a huge hit at our Cars & Coffee last weekend, and every time we showcase the car people on social media go wild. I think people are going to absolutely love seeing it in person this weekend.