INDIANAPOLIS — Christian Lundgaard didn’t just win the Sonsio Grand Prix, he earned it.
The driver from Denmark who made his first IndyCar Series start on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in 2021 for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, returned to the 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course to conquer it five years later with Arrow McLaren.
So many great moments in Lundgaard’s career have happened at the IMS Road Course including his first pole in 2023, a runner-up finish in 2022 and another podium finish in 2024 when he finished third for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.
But the greatest moment came as the sun was setting on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with a hard-fought win, including a brilliant battle with Team Penske’s David Malukas that produced the race-winning pass for Lundgaard.
It was the best part of the race as Lundgaard tried to draft past Malukas entering Turn 1 and went side-by-side through the turn. Malukas maintained the advantage before Lundgaard pulled alongside in a fierce battle and went to the outside to make the pass for the Lead in Turn 4.
It was a brilliant display of racing by the two drivers.
With 15 laps to go, Lundgaard’s lead was 2.268 seconds over Malukas.
“I want to win this race,” Lundgaard radioed to his crew.
That’s exactly what he did.
“I’m very happy,” Lundgaard said. “I really didn’t expect this today. I hoped for it. This was a long wait for this win. You know how fast I have been here, but it has been time after time after time disappointment.
“I want to thank my mom for Mother’s Day and Chevrolet.
“We did it. Let’s go. It’s May.”
It was Lundgaard’s second NTT IndyCar Series victory. His first came in the Honda Indy Toronto in 2023 when he was with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. It was Lundgaard’s first win for Arrow McLaren.
It’s the 28th IndyCar Series victory in McLaren history and the 10th IndyCar Series win for McLaren Racing since returning to the series on a fulltime basis in 2020.
Lundgaard is the third McLaren Racing driver to win a race in IndyCar history. Johnny Rutherford and Pato O’Ward are the others.
Lundgaard’s No. 7 Chevrolet defeated Malukas’ No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet by 4.663 seconds. Graham Rahal’s No. 15 Honda was third followed by Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden’s Chevrolet. Pole winner Alex Palou finished fifth, after he was involved in an unusual part of the race.
More about that later.
There was a big pileup in Turn 1 at the start as Felix Rosenqvist locked up and got bumped from behind. That sent Rosenqvist’s Honda into Pato O’Ward’s Chevrolet, spinning it around. Scott Dixon’s Honda then hit Rosenqvist and Caio Collet ran into the two cars in Turn 1 of the opening lap for the first caution.
Other drivers were able to drive off course and avoid the crash including Lundgaard.
But there was also an incident even before the green flag waved as Rinus VeeKay had damage at the rear of the field heading to the start.
Rosenqvist and VeeKay came into the pits before the pits were opened on Lap 3 during the caution. One lap later, the pits were open and O’Ward entered pit lane.
Rosenqvist was issued a drive-through penalty for avoidable contact in the first lap incident in Turn 1.
“I have no idea what happened, looks like a few folks got together, that would be my evaluation,” Rahal Letterman Lanigan co-team owner David Letterman said. “Look at this, oh my goodness, a half a dozen cars involved, but happy to hear that (his cars made it through the crash). That’s as much as you could hope for.”
Rahal had moved up to third as the field lined up to restart the race on Lap 6. This was also the first time the push-to-pass system could be used on a restart, a change that IndyCar announced earlier in the week.
By the end of the Lap 6, Palou led Kyle Kirkwood with Malukas moving up to third place.
By Lap 10, Palou led Kirkwood by 2.29-seconds with Malukas third, Rahal fourth and Romain Grosjean fifth.
On Lap 15, Dixon came into the pits for four tires and fuel to go off strategy. There was also a piece of carbon fiber debris in the braking zone in Turn 7, but the race remained green. On Lap 16, Scott McLaughlin, Marcus Ericsson and Sting Ray Robb made pit stops. Marcus Armstrong, Collet and Grosjean made their stops.
By Lap 18, Palou’s lead was 3.3825 seconds over Kirkwood.
On Lap 20, Alexander Rossi’s car stopped on the front stretch and IndyCar Race Control ordered a local yellow instead of a full course yellow to keep the pits open. But it was on the highest-speed portion of the race course creating a dangerous situation.
Both Rossi and team owner Ed Carpenter were furious IndyCar Race Control’s decision to wait before a full course caution.
“Well, it’s pretty annoying to have failures on the car because of a product we didn’t ask for that doesn’t improve the racing,” Rossi said, referring to the Hybrid Assist Unit. “That’s frustrating.
“Second of all, the fact it took that long to throw a full course yellow when a car is on the front straight and cars are going by at 170 miles an hour seems insane when they don’t let us drive in the wet yesterday.
“I don’t know where their priorities lie. I’m pretty frustrated.”
To add to the drama, Palou and Kirkwood had yet to pit when IndyCar chose a local yellow instead of full course yellow. Neither of them pitted during the local caution fiasco and by pitting once the field went full yellow and the pits were closed, put both drivers at the end of the lap.
When the race was restarted on Lap 27 the last place starter, Will Power, was the leader. As the field charged into Turn 1, Lundgaard was able to pass Rahal for position with a brilliant move for third place.
By the end of that lap, however, Rosenqvist contacted another car, went airborne and created another multi-car incident that also involved heavy race favorite Palou driving off in the grass.
This time, Race Control was quick to order a full course caution. It started when Sting Ray Robb got into the back of Pato O’Ward’s Chevrolet, then rebounded into Kyffin Simpson’s car. Rosenqvist’s Honda drove over the front wheel of Simpson’s Honda, launching it into the air.
Kirkwood and Palou went off course but did not make any contact.
“I’m OK,” Rosenqvist said. “I feel bad about Lap 1. Someone drove into my rear, and I couldn’t really get going. Christian Rasmussen was to my inside, and we couldn’t out brake each other and Pato O’Ward was right there.
“This one was my mistake.
“The second one was not on me. We actually had a pretty good comeback after that.”
During the caution, Power pitted giving up the lead and that put the driver that replaced him in the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet at Team Penske, Malukas, into the lead.
The green flag flew on Lap 33 with Malukas the leader ahead of Lundgaard and Rahal. Palou started 14th and began to make his charge back to contention. Armstrong was also on the throttle to make it through the field in 11th place.
Kirkwood pitted on Lap 41 hoping to outsmart Palou. But there was another pit stop issue on Kirkwood’s stop as a wheel nut did not come off, potentially thwarting the strategy as he dropped to 18th.
Malukas pitted for four tires and fuel on Lap 47. He returned to the race in sixth place. Lundgaard pitted two laps later and merged just behind Malukas, who was at speed, when Lundgaard returned to the track.
That officially returned Power to the race lead on Lap 49 ahead of O’Ward and Simpson.
By Lap 53, it was Power leading Malukas, an interesting and ironic twist to this race. One lap later, Lundgaard passed his Arrow McLaren teammate O’Ward for third place. By Lap 55, Palou was up to seventh place.
On Lap 59, Power pitted for the final time, but once again, had a pit stop issue. Although he hit the fuel number, he locked up leaving pit lane but crossed the merge line on exit and was assessed a drive through penalty, once again ruining his chance at a victory.
Power made the drive through on the next lap and that dropped him to 21st place.
Up front, it was Malukas in the lead followed by Lundgaard. Palou was up to fifth, but made his final pit stop on Lap 62 for four tires and fuel.
By Lap 65, Lundgaard had closed to the rear of Malukas by less than a half-second. Lundgaard was ordered into the pits by race strategist Kyle Moyer for his final stop. Rahal stopped in the pit directly in front of Lundgaard, but both were able to get in and out of the pits after quick stops.
Malukas pitted on Lap 66 and was able to get out ahead of Lundgaard, who was on track and up to speed on the track.
That set up the best part of the race as Lundgaard tried to draft past Malukas entering Turn 1 and went side-by-side through the turn. Malukas maintained the advantage before Lundgaard pulled alongside in a fierce battle and went to the outside to make the pass for the Lead in Turn 4.
It was a brilliant display of racing by the two drivers.
With 15 laps to go, Lundgaard’s lead was 2.268 seconds over Malukas.
“I want to win this race,” Lundgaard radioed to his crew.
And he did.
