TORONTO – Christian Lundgaard can finally shave off the mustache after the 21-year-old from Denmark claimed his first career NTT IndyCar Series victory in Sunday’s Honda Indy Toronto.
He started growing a mustache after he was encouraged by his best friend back, Victor Petersen, in Denmark to help motivate the Rahal Letterman Lanigan driver to win an IndyCar race. Lundgaard kept it trimmed but was ready to reclaim the clean-shaven look on his upper lip.
“I need to find a razor,” Lundgaard said after climbing out of his car following the victory.
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Lundgaard started on the pole and proved he had the best car on the 11-turn, 1.786-mile temporary street course at Exhibition Place to give Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing its first win of the season.
It was the team’s first NTT IndyCar Series victory since Takuma Sato won the 2020 Indianapolis 500 on August 23, 2020. The team is owned by Bobby Rahal, David Letterman, and Michael Lanigan.
Lundgaard’s No. 45 Hy-Vee Honda defeated Alex Palou’s wounded Honda by 11.7893 seconds.
“That’s the first of many,” RLL Team Manager Rico Nault radioed to the driver. “Many more to go.”
On the cooldown lap, Lundgaard radioed back, “Thank you Bobby (Rahal). Thank you, David (Letterman). Thank you, Mike (Lanigan). We are getting there. Let’s keep this thing going.”
As his best friend, Petersen, watched from the pits in tears, Lundgaard climbed out of the car and into the arms of his Rahal Letterman Lanigan Hy-Vee crewmembers. He was also hugged by teammate Jack Harvey.
“I’m pretty drained from energy right now,” Lundgaard said after leading 54 laps in the 85-lap contest. “I said before the race we had a car fast enough for the win and we pulled it off. This team deserves this. I’m just extremely happy for everybody right now.
“We are moving forward. Now, we both get to get rid of this mustache,” as he hugged Peterson.
Palou increased his points lead in the standings to 117 points over Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon. Josef Newgarden is third, 126 points back as the series heads to next weekend’s Hy-Vee IndyCar Race Weekend at Iowa Speedway doubleheader.
Palou’s Honda had to be gentle in the closing stages of the race because of a damage front wing that his car sustained midway through the 85-lap contest. That allowed Lundgaard to increase his lead.
“I don’t know how we made it with this wing. The car was handling OK, but we had to save a ton of fuel,” Palou said. “We made it, somehow.
“As long as we have fast cars like we have, we’re going to be OK. Kudos to the 10 car.”
Colton Herta of Andretti Autosport finished third in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda.
“We were big-time fuel saving it most of the time and at the we were able to save enough and make the strategy work,” Herta said. “When I came out of the final turn, it was sputtering.
“It got us across the line and in third and it was a great strategy for the team.”
Scott Dixon finished fourth in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing. Josef Newgarden of Team Penske.
Team owner Bobby Rahal won the first Honda Indy Toronto as a driver in 1986 and celebrated the most recent as a team owner.
“It’s huge for us,” Rahal said. “Any win is big.
“It wasn’t easy. We didn’t start out super great, but Christian was hooked up. He was a on a mission this week and we saw that in the race. The strategy in the 45 pit was the right strategy and here we are.
“A great weekend for us.
“This is huge for Christian Lundgaard. The level of confidence for a driver goes way up. We have worked together as a group and there is no reason we can’t win more.”
A key moment in the race came when Romain Grosjean had a big crash in turn 10 on lap 42, moving the temporary concrete barrier and creating the second caution period of the race.
The Swiss-born Frenchman had radioed to his Andretti Autosport team the steering wheel had slipped out of his hand.
When the pits opened on lap 45, Palou, Felix Rosenqvist and Colton Herta all made pit stops to scramble the strategy further.
The green flag waved on lap 45, but further back in the field, Helio Castroneves crashed coming out of the final turn after he had been hit in the rear by Kyle Kirkwood. That was good news for the drivers that pitted under yellow but may have taken away the advantage for Lundgaard and McLaughlin, who had masterfully used the Black tire stretch strategy.
When the pits opened on lap 50, Lundgaard, the leader, pitted to create a new strategy. That put McLaughlin in the lead, but in a tenuous strategic position.
Lundgaard could make it the distance on fuel for the rest of the 85-laps race, so the big question was if the drivers that pitted during the previous yellow could make the distance.
Racing resumed on lap 52 with McLaughlin leading Dixon, Rinus VeeKay, Kirkwood, Herta, Palou and Lundgaard.
Kirkwood was assessed a stop-and-go penalty by IndyCar Race Control for avoidable contact that sent Castroneves into the wall that created the previous caution.
Lundgaard passed Herta for fifth place and continued his charge to attempt to regain the lead.
Palou was running fourth with just 30 laps to go but his front wing was loose from earlier contact.
Lundgaard closed in on the rear of Palou’s injured car. VeeKay pitted on Lap 60 after running second as the lead two drivers were McLaughlin and Dixon.
McLaughlin pitted on lap 61 as Dixon took over the lead. He was 4.404-seconds ahead of Palou.
Lundgaard strong-armed his car pas Palou to take over second place and when Dixon pitted, Lundgaard was back in the lead on Lap 63.
He cruised to victory from there.
According to race promoter Green Savoree Promotions, it was the largest race day attendance since 1999.