DeFrancesco joins RLL for 2025 IndyCar season after series sabbatical

Devlin DeFrancesco Will return to IndyCar Series on multi-year deal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) in 2025, the team announced on Monday.

The 24-year-old will join the ranks of six-time race winners Graham Rahal and up-and-coming rookie Louis Foster, who won this year’s Indy NXT championship and is the son of former British touring car racer Nick Foster.

This comes after a sabbatical for DeFrancesco, who is set for his third year in IndyCar after competing with Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport (now Andretti Global) in 2022 and 2023, where 22nd was his best championship finish.

“I’m very excited to get back to the IndyCar Series,” said the Canadian, who has 34 IndyCar starts. “Rachel Letterman Lanigan Racing has an amazing history and is also on an impressive trajectory.

“Looking at all the work being done by the men and women behind the scenes, it is easy to see that this team and I are very hungry for results. I’m looking forward to getting started with all the great people here.”

In his year away from the series, DeFrancesco partially contested the GTD class of the 2024 IMSA SportsCar Championship in a Forte Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3.

His best result was second in class at the season-ending Petit Le Mans and DeFrancesco has now joined the IndyCar team whose last win Christian Lundgaard In Toronto in 2023.

RLL co-owner Bobby Rahal, who achieved one podium in 2024, said: “I am very pleased that we are able to welcome Devlin to the team.

“We had a chance to see his potential when he was at Andretti and obviously there were times when he was quite competitive so I’m confident we can put together a lot of good races.

“We are looking forward to his contributions to the team.”

DeFrancesco will drive RLL’s #30 Honda-powered entry, with sponsorship details to be announced at a later date.