Louis Foster's Track Record Earns Markham's First Pole

Second-year NTT INDYCAR SERIES driver Louis Foster shone brightest amid a setting sun as a long first day of the inaugural Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham came to an end.

The driver of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s No. 45 Desnuda Organic Tequilla Honda established a track record in qualifying to earn his second career NTT P1 Award. His lap time around the new 12-turn, 2.1-mile temporary street circuit was 1 minute, 13.2383 seconds, an advantage of four-tenths of a second over Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard (1:13.6352).

SEE: Qualifying Results

Foster won his first series pole last year at Road America, a permanent road course. He said he has been itching to earn a top starting position on a street circuit, and this one gives him the first look at Sunday’s green flag for a 90-lap race (noon ET, FOX, FOX One, INDYCAR Radio powered by OnlyBulls).

For Foster, the qualifying effort capped a day in which he had the third-fastest lap time in the morning practice and then topped the afternoon practice.

“I knew if we pieced it all together we’d be there (for the pole), and when I was doing that (pole-winning) lap I was like, ‘Please don’t wreck.’

“This car feels great … so fast all (day). I’m super happy to get another gremlin off our back. Obviously, (won) pole last year, but we’ve been nowhere close this year.”

Foster’s previous best starting position this season was sixth on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in May. On a street circuit, his best starting position was ninth in the season-opening race in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Foster will have a golden opportunity to score his first series victory as he will have an additional set of the preferred (and faster) Firestone Firehawk alternate tires for what should be a two-stop race. Several others in the top six will have only one such set. Should Foster win, he will join team owner Bobby Rahal as a winner of a new Ontario event. Rahal won the first race at Toronto’s Exhibition Place in 1986.

Rounding out the first three rows for Sunday’s race will be Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin (third), Andretti Global’s Marcus Ericsson (fourth), Dale Coyne Racing rookie Dennis Hauger (fifth) and Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Rinus VeeKay (sixth).

Hauger’s only other Firestone Fast Six appearance was in St. Petersburg when he qualified third. VeeKay reached the final round for the third consecutive race.

The qualifying session featured a rare mistake by series points leader and reigning season champion Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing. Late in the second of three rounds, Palou lost the rear of the car approaching Turn 10. After first hitting the wall on the right side, the car ricocheted to the left-side wall for another impact. The double hit ended his session – and more than that.

Palou had a streak of 30 consecutive top-10 starting positions dating to the final race of the 2024 season. He qualified 12th, though he still holds a commanding 110-point lead over Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood, who will start 15th. Team Penske’s David Malukas, who is third in the standings, trails Palou by 118 points and will start this race from the seventh position.

Series rookie Mick Schumacher of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing delivered his best qualifying effort on a non-oval, finishing 11th. Schumacher’s previous best non-oval qualifying was 15th last month at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Two of the series’ double season champions caused red flags in the second group of the first round that proved costly. The Turn 4 spin of Andretti Global’s Will Power not only drew a red, which wiped away his fastest two laps, but Kirkwood was trailing him on a hot lap – he was forced to abandon the lap – and then Kirkwood couldn’t bump his way into the next round when INDYCAR permitted a one-lap final effort.

Kirkwood and Power qualified 16th and 24th, respectively. For Power, the incident was the second of the day after his car had to have its right side rebuilt slamming the Turn 10 wall in the second practice.

As the session was ending, Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden pounded the Turn 10 wall, incurring heavy right-side damage. He will start at the tail of the 25-car field.