On a blazing hot Saturday in Wisconsin, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLRR) rookie Louis Foster kept his cool.
A day after shaving his mustache, Foster laid down a 1:44.5141s lap in the closing minutes of the Fast 6 to secure the pole for Sunday’s XPEL Grand Prix at Road America. It’s the first pole run of the Briton’s young NTT IndyCar Series career.
The run came as a definite surprise for Foster after the opening round.
“I said to the guys as we got into (the) Fast 12 to not put reds on, because I wasn’t confident that we would make it to the Fast 6,” Foster told FOX. “Boy, was I wrong. Absolutely awesome. …Couldn’t ask for a better start to the weekend. I still can’t believe it.”
Alex Palou entered the final round as the favorite for pole, having led both his group qualifying round and the Fast 12. But the Spaniard’s best effort could only yield him second in the final seconds, .1159s shy of Foster. Kyle Kirkwood had to settle for third, left with only enough time for a single lap after his Andretti Global team worked through an MGU issue.
Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske
Photo by: Gavin Baker / Lumen via Getty Images
Scott McLaughlin and Christian Lundgaard rounded out the top-five. Graham Rahal followed in sixth, bookending the Fast 6 for RLLR on a day when it was the only team with two pole contenders in the final round.
Palou was quickest in the Fast 12, slotting in just ahead of Lundgaard. Foster snuck through in third in the closing seconds, with McLaughlin, Kirkwood and Rahal also advancing. Rahal pushed out Will Power in his final run of the session, with both David Malukas and Power falling just short of knocking the 36-year-old out on their last runs.
Callum Ilott and Josef Newgarden capped off the top-10, with Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist completing the Fast 12. Ilott’s result was his best of the season and Prema Racing’s top qualifying effort on a road course. “I’m really happy with the performance,” Ilott said. “That’s solid and a good starting place, so I can’t complain.”
The opening group was also paced by Palou, with Rahal, Scott Dixon, Ilott and O’Ward initially following through in the final moments for the session. Kirkwood ended his run early despite having time for one final lap after topping the charts at the time. The move almost backfired, but the Floridian held on to the final advancing spot by .0173s over Josef Newgarden. Luckily for Newgarden, a qualifying interference penalty knocked out Dixon, pushing the Tennessean through to the Fast 12.
Marcus Ericsson, Andretti Global
Photo by: Gavin Baker / Lumen via Getty Images
The second group saw similar late swings on the charts, but went through without any rundown-shifting penalties. Lundgaard led the way, continuing to show pace after topping Saturday morning’s practice. McLaughlin, Malukas, Power, Rosenqvist and Foster also advanced.
That left Andretti Global’s Marcus Ericsson and Colton Herta out in the opening round, qualifying in 14th and 16th, respectively. It marked the first time Herta has failed to advance to round two in seven appearances at Road America.
“Nothing to really be happy about with that one,” Herta said.
It was a hot session, with track temps reaching above 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Despite that, few drivers made mistakes. Devlin DeFrancesco went off-course in the final corner of his first qualifying run, but the 25-year-old was able to correct his car and return to the racing surface without impacting the wall or forcing a local yellow. Christian Rasmussen suffered the same fate in the second group, rolling through the gravel trap heading onto the front stretch.
Sunday’s XPEL Grand Prix is set to go live on FOX at 1:30 p.m. ET.
Scott Dixon knocked out in group 1 after penalty for impeding DeFrancesco
Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing
Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Lumen via Getty Images
Despite initially cracking the Fast 12 field on pace, Dixon will have to start at the back of the field Sunday after he was penalized for impeding DeFrancesco in the opening group qualifying session.
The two-time Road America winner was on a warm up lap when he was deemed to have held up DeFrancesco. Race control felt DeFrancesco was on a push lap and penalized Dixon for qualifying interference, leaving him last in the opening group.
“Obviously I knew [DeFrancesco] was getting close, but I was trying to stay clear of the 15 and get a lap in,” Dixon said of the incident. “So I got the gap and then, unfortunately, I had a big overboost getting back up to speed, and it closed the gap again.
“I didn’t want to ruin anybody’s day, obviously. Maybe got in the way a little bit with Devlin, but I was just trying to make sure I got a clean lap.”
Saturday’s penalty will leave Dixon 25th to start Sunday’s race, the worst starting position of his career at Road America. It comes at a critical time for his season. The 44-year-old entered the weekend fifth in the championship standings, 129 points back from Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Palou and in need of big gains to rise back into title contention.
If there’s any consolation, it’s that the Kiwi has experience mounting a recovery drive around the 4.048-mile road course. Dixon started 23rd at the track in 2023 before putting together an impressive, strategic rise to fourth at race’s end.
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