"Time to pull the belt tight”: Graham Rahal shares across a thumping message ahead of Indy race at Thermal

The much-awaited 2025 Thermal Club Grand Prix is just a few hours away. Ahead of it, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing's Graham Rahal has made it known that he is fully ready.

The veteran driver is slated to kick off the 65-lap Thermal race from P18 on the grid behind Team Penske's Josef Newgarden (two-time world champion) and Arrow McLaren's Nolan Siegel. In line with this, Graham Rahal put a post on X that reads:

"Time to pull the belts tight and get to work. 3pm ET on Fox. Don’t miss it!" Rahal wrote.

The upcoming Thermal Club race is the inaugural event that is being run in a full-fledged championship weekend. Last year, the 3.067-mile track hosted an exhibition race (20 laps) that was won by Chip Ganassi's Alex Palou. It was famously advertised as the $1 Million Challenge.

Interestingly, Graham Rahal ended the 2024 All-Star race in 11th position behind then-Juncos Hollinger Racing driver, Agustin Canapino.

Graham Rahal says 'Thermal is a killer' ahead of the event

While Graham Rahal is ready to give his all in the 2025 Thermal Club Grand Prix, a few days ahead of the ongoing race weekend, he talked about the 3.067-mile track layout.

He specifically shed light on the toll the track takes on the body while driving an IndyCar at high speeds. In line with this, he appeared for an interview with IndyCar, and added the following:

"I feel like they are pretty different in many regards, what I need to be testing out is my neck. You know, thermal is a kill. I'm not worried about the rest of me, but thermal is a killer. It's got some high-speed corners, a lot of long-duration high-speed areas and you know, stuff like that." (5:03 onwards).

Graham Rahal is one of the most experienced drivers on the current IndyCar grid. He has so far amassed a whopping 279 race starts during which, he has also been able to put on board six Grand Prix wins, 29 podiums, and five pole positions.

The 2024 season was decent for him as he ended his 17-race campaign in 18th place in the standings behind (former F1 driver) Romain Grosjean. In the process of doing so, he managed 251 points with five top-ten finishes.

The ongoing 2025 campaign has also started on a strong note for the 36-year-old with his impressive 12th-place finish at the Firestone Grand Prix in St. Petersburg. His exploits in his #15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing car were good enough to end his outing behind Arrow McLaren's Pato O'Ward.

Keeping this in view, several eyes will be on him in the upcoming Thermal Club Grand Prix. His fans and his team will expect another strong showing from him.