INDIANAPOLIS — David Malukas is getting things together at the right time.
With preparations beginning this week for the Indianapolis 500, Malukas tied his career-best finish of second in Saturday’s Sonsio Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
Ironically, the runner-up effort came at site of his previous best finish, which was second in last year’s Indy 500 while driving for A.J. Foyt Racing.
Saturday’s second-place finish to Christian Lundgaard, which included 27 laps led, came in the fifth race of his first season with Team Penske.
“Lundgaard was just so fast. I was trying everything I could sideways pretty much 50% of those laps. He was just still pulling, pulling,” Malukas said. “Look, we came into this weekend thinking this was going to be — at least for me, I came in thinking this was going to be our hardest race of the whole season, and it ended up being our best result yet, which it was just fantastic. It’s really, really cool.
“It’s really good momentum going into the 500, and yeah, I’m very, very happy.”
Malukas acknowledged that luck was on his side on Saturday.
“We were fortunate that race. So many things went our way. We were struggling with pace pretty much all weekend, and the guys just did a fantastic job,” he said. “I’m spoiled. I get to go to bed and get some nice food, get a good rest, and these guys, they didn’t sleep all night. They were studying — shout out Fernando, Mustafa, James, these guys, they’re working so hard working their butts off, and they came back to me in the morning with a whole new philosophy on the car.
“I truly believe that’s what got us into that Fast Six. A big shout-out for this team. They’re doing fantastic work for me.”
