Devlin DeFrancesco has reflected on a missed opportunity during Sonsio GP qualifying, as his team-mates comfortably outperformed him in Indianapolis.
Devlin DeFrancesco equalled his best Indycar qualifying result at the Sonsio GP. Yet, this still paled into insignificance when compared to rookie team-mate Louis Foster and seasoned driver Graham Rahal.
DeFrancesco had the unenviable stat of qualifying slowest of the RLL cars, despite a brief spell at the top of the timesheets. As others found pace on their final laps, the American failed to improve and dropped to fifth at the chequered flag.
With rookie Louis Foster out-qualifying him, DeFrancesco opted to focus on the work done by RLL “as a group”, in Indianapolis.
“A lot of work has gone into this program and from the offseason to now, particularly on the 30. I think there was a lot of frustration leaving Barber, because I think we had the potential to be up front. It just came down to execution. It’s good to see us making steady progress as a group.
“As Graham [Rahal] said, it’s going to take time. I’m very lucky and very grateful to be a part of this organization. I feel very fortunate to be able to be here as things are transitioning on a good positive direction”.
A team rallying around Devlin DeFrancesco
Asked to reflect on his prior experience briefly leading the Sonsio GP in 2023, DeFrancesco said the team had “rallied around him” to help him prepare and extract performance. He also referenced Graham Rahal as instrumental in his as-yet unsuccessful return to IndyCar.
“It’s been my first time back here since then. Everyone has really rallied around me in this organization, and everyone on the 30 especially, but everyone at the whole organization as a whole has rallied around me.
This guy next to me has played a huge part in me coming here, and it really has been a big advocate for me.
After a year on the sidelines following losing his seat at Andretti, DeFrancesco said he was grateful to be given a second chance in the series.
He said his below-par results were not representative of his performance levels. He indicated he expected a strong race, despite falling off the pace of the front-runners in every race in 2025.
“I’m just grateful to be able to give back to everyone on the 30 that’s put in so much work. There was very high level of frustration leaving a few of the previous rounds because we knew what we were capable of.
“I think we move on to tomorrow, and tomorrow is simply about execution. I think this team in general, our race pace seems to be quite good. We seem to have a good level on that, a good handle on that. I’m excited for tomorrow.”
