Christian Lundgaard had ‘a little bit of a cheat code’ in victory at Road America
- Jeffrey Hrunka
- Jun 21
- 3 min read
Jeffrey Hrunka - INDYCAR Contributor
Christian Lundgaard delivered a strategic masterclass to earn his second straight road-course win with Arrow McLaren. He rallied back from a broken front wing to take the lead from a dominant Marcus Armstrong and hold off the field on a one-lap shootout.
“We've both [Car Chief Chris Lawerence and Lundgaard] been so confused this weekend. This is not where we expected to be,” Lundgaard said. ”The key that we have is simplicity. We're not trying to make it overcomplicated for each other.”
David Malukas, driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet, and Will Power, driver of the No. 26 Andretti Global Honda, rounded out the podium in second and third, respectively. The Team Penske driver was forced to settle for his third runner-up finish of the season after the difference in tire compounds in the closing laps put him at a disadvantage.
“You're going against alternates versus primary tires. It's not really going to be a competition,” Malukas said. “You come out of Turn 14, he's going forward, I'm going sideways.”
As for Power, his third-place finish tied his best of the season. However, it didn’t come without controversy. On the final lap of the race, Power made contact with Graham Rahal, the driver of the No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda, sending him off the track and into the gravel trap at Canada Corner.
“Had a rough season, for sure. Had a lot of potential. Yeah, it was nice sitting there in third, then waiting to see what would happen with that contact,” Power said. “From my perspective, I could not do anything. I mean, I was at the capacity of braking. He moved. There's nothing I can do."
Two full-course cautions defined this race.
A tire coming off the No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing Chevrolet of Romain Grosjean on Lap 14 allowed the Meyer Shank Racing duo of Marcus Armstrong and Felix Rosenqvist to move to the front of the field in first and Rosenqvist in third. Most importantly, ahead of championship leader Alex Palou, who lost the lead during the pit stops.
After leading 16 laps, Rosenqvist was bitten by a caution for debris on Lap 30, which split the field during the second pit sequence. It dropped him to 11th on track, the first car on fresher tires. Marcus Armstrong assumed the lead by pitting before the caution period.
Armstrong led 11 laps before diving down pit road for his final stop, handing the lead to Lundgaard, who ran long before pitting. The clean air proved beneficial for the Dane driver as he jumped from eighth to second over the course of stops.
“I feel like this one today is a little bit of a cheat code. I think Marcus [Armstrong] should have won this race,” Lundgaard said. “It is racing. We've all had that. It happened to me in Nashville last year, which cost me P3 in the championship. I've been there.”
Although Lundgaard filed in behind the Meyer Shank Racing driver with better tires, Armstrong’s faster pace and gap were too much of an advantage with three laps to go. That was until a blown engine ended his day and gave Lundgaard the lead on a one-lap shootout. Lundgaard’s tire advantage on the restart was enough to hold onto the lead.
Even with the victory, there is still work to do if Lundgaard wants to catch four-time champion Alex Palou. He sits 77 points behind the Spaniard.
“I mean, we've got to qualify better. I think that's really the main thing,” Lundgaard said. “We've done so well on race pace, we've produced such great race cars on Sunday, and we just need to be better on Saturday. I think that will just help our weekends tremendously. "
NTT INDYCAR SERIES XPEL Grand Prix of Road America Results:
Christian Lundgaard #7 - (WINNER)
David Maluaks #12 -0.661s
Will Power #26 -1.557s
Kyffin Simpson #8 -2.31s
Alex Palou #10 -2.968s
Alexander Rossi #20 -4.583s
Scott McLaughlin #3 -4.641s
Felix Rosenqvist #60 -5.43s
Santino Ferrucci #14 -7.452s
Kyle Kirkwood #27 -7.858s
Scott Dixon #9 -8.356s
Pato O’Ward #5 -9.091s
Marcus Ericsson #28 -10.019s
Louis Foster #45 -10.819s
Romain Grosjean #18 -11.658s
Caio Collett #4 (R) -12.121s
Mick Schumacher #47 (R) -12.352s
Rinus Veekay #76 -13.141s
Sting Ray Robb #77 -13.750s
Dennis Hauger #19 (R) -14.667s
Nolan Siegel #6 -19.807s
Josef Newgarden #2 -36.776s
Graham Rahal #15 -1 lap down
Marcus Armstrong #66 -2 laps down
Christian Rasmussen #21 -26 laps down
The NTT INDYCAR SERIES returns to action at Mid-Ohio for the Honda Indy 200 on July 5th. Fans can tune into the action at 12:30 pm EST on FOX or the FOX One app.
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