ELKHART LAKE, Wis. — Rookie Louis Foster of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing stunned the paddock with his first NTT IndyCar Series pole Saturday at Road America.

Foster took the P1 Award with a fast lap of 1:44.5141 in the No. 45 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda around the four-mile, 14-turn road course. He is the first rookie with a road course pole since Romain Grosjean won the pole at the Indy Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2021.

“I said to the guys as we got into the Fast 12, not to put Reds on because I wasn’t confident to make it to the Fast Six,” Foster said. “Boy, was I wrong.

“I still can’t believe it. We were fast and awesome. I’m going to celebrate well tonight.”

Foster was faster than NTT IndyCar Series Championship leader and three-time champion Alex Palou, who turned a fast lap at 1:44.6300 in the No. 10 SOLO Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing.

Kyle Kirkwood of Andretti Global was third at 1:44.8523 in the No. 27 Honda, followed by Scott McLaughlin of Team Penske at 1:45.0137 in the No. 3 Chevrolet.

Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard was fifth in the No. 7 Chevrolet at 1:45.0828 with Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s Graham Rahal rounding out the Fast Six at 1:45.4877.

When the Fast Six began, the ambient temperature was 92 degrees Fahrenheit and the track temp up to 122.4 degrees F, making for a slick race course.

With 3:31 left in the Fast Six, Rahal was on top at 1:45.4877 followed by McLaughlin’s 1:46.7552, Palou’s 1:50.3753. Lundgaard, Kirkwood and Foster had yet to take a lap.

Kirkwood’s team reported the MGU on the Hybrid was not functioning, partly because of the high temperature.

With 1:20 left, Palou took over the No. 1 position at 1:44.6497 moving Rahal to second. Foster immediately bounced Palou off the top position with a lap at 1:44.5141.

With 35 seconds on the clock, Foster appeared in good shape for the pole as the other five drivers were trending in Red, meaning they were tracking faster than Foster.

Palou’s final lap was 1:44.6300 compared to Foster’s 1:44.5141.

Because Road America is the longest road course on the schedule, laps take much longer than normal to complete, so it was imperative for teams to properly time how many laps to take on the race course.

Halfway through the first group in the first session, Rahal was on top at 1:45.2587 in the No. 15 Honda for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Palou was next at 145.4126 in the No. 10 SOLO Honda followed by Arrow McLaren’s Nolan Siegel at 1:45.4647. Devlin De Francesco was fourth at 1:45.6672 followed by Robert Shwartzman’s 1:45.6799 and Kyffin Simpson’s 1:45.7246.

But that was likely to change in the final 2 minutes of the group.

Kirkwood jumped to the top of the group with a lap at 1:44.9703 in the No. 27 Honda, knocking Rahal down to second. Callum Ilott and IndyCar Series championship leader Alex Palou both improved, with Palou’s lap taking over the No. 1 position at 1:44.4775.

Ilott turned in a stunner at 1:44.8834 to take over second-quick time in the group with Pato O’Ward moving up to third at 1:44.9664.

Siegel raced his way into the sixth and final transfer position at 1:45.0722 before Rahal bounced him out when he moved into the second position at 1:44.8190.

Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden barely missed moving on as he was seventh, 1:44.9876.

Palou ended the session as the fastest at 1:44.4775 followed by Rahal’s 1:44.8190, Scott Dixon’s 1:44.8705, Ilott’s 1:44.8834, O’Ward’s 1:44.9664 and Kirkwood’s 1:44.9703.

Missing out were Newgarden, Siegel, Marcus Armstrong, Shwartzman, Devlin DeFrancesco, Conor Daly and Simpson.

Dixon, however, was penalized for qualifying interference on De Francesco and did not advance. He will start last, and it got Newgarden into the final transfer position.

“I have to see, I knew he was getting close, but I was trying to stay clear of Rahal and get the lap in,” Dixon explained. “I got the gap, but I had some over boost and got in the way with Devlin (DeFrancesco).

“It is what it is, Mate.”

In the second group, Foster had the best speed in the first half of the session at 1:45.1429 in the No. 45 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda. That was faster than Felix Rosenqvist’s 1:45.2836, Marcus Ericsson’s 1:45.3145, Christian Rasmussen’s 1:45.4702, Santino Ferrucci’s 1:45.5502 and Alexander Rossi’s 1:45.6771.

Lurking outside the top six were Colton Herta, Will Power, Scott McLaughlin, David Malukas, Sting Ray Robb, Jacob Able, Christian Lundgaard and Rinus VeeKay.

In the final minute, Lundgaard moved up to the top of the timing list at 1:44.7401. Power moved up to fifth at 1:45.4700 and was moved down a position putting him in a precarious position as he was bounced out by Christian Rasmussen’s 1:45.4283.

Power fought back with a lap at 1:45.0440 to move into fourth after the checkered flag was displayed.

When it was over, Lundgaard was the fastest at 1:44.7401 followed by Scott McLaughlin’s 1:44.9379, David Malukas’ 1:44.9812, Power’s 1:45.0440, Rosenqvist’s 1:45.1193 and Foster’s 1:45.1429.

On the outside looking in were Marcus Ericsson, Colton Herta, Santino Ferrucci, Christian Rasmussen, Rinus VeeKay, Alexander Rossi, Sting Ray Robb and Jacob Abel.

With 7 minutes left in the second session, the top six included Pato O’Ward at 1:45.3704, Foster at 1:45.6668, Kirkwood at 1:45.8113, Rahal at 1:46.0023, Palou at 1:46.2080 and Newgarden’s 1:46.0634.

Lurking in the background were McLaughlin, Malukas, Rosenqvist, Power, Lundgaard and Ilott.

With 3 minutes remaining, Newgarden reported a vibration on his tires, but the team radioed back that there was nothing that could correct in the remaining time. Newgarden was dropping down the speeds and was sixth at 1:46.0634.

With 1 minute left, the top six were Palou, Lundgaard, McLaughlin, Kirkwood, Power and Ilott. The checkered flag waved so the cars still on track had a chance to complete one more lap.

O’Ward was unable to improve his position, but Foster jumped up to third at 1:44.7648. Teammate Rahal also moved into sixth place, bouncing Power out of the Fast Six.

By the time it was over, the drivers that moved into the Fast Six were Palou at 1:44.6284, Lundgaard at 1:44.6975, Foster at 1:44.7648, McLaughlin at 1:44.8900, Kirkwood at 1:44.9706 and Rahal at 1:45.0505.

That set the stage for the Fast Six.