Christian Lundgaard pulled off a remarkable move on David Malukas to win the IndyCar Indianapolis GP.
The 24-year-old made an outside pass with 18 laps to go at Turn 4 en route to securing the second win of his career, and first with Arrow McLaren, by 4.6713s.
The win came on the same track Lundgaard made his IndyCar debut in 2021, while it is the 28th victory in IndyCar history for McLaren and 10th since returning to IndyCar full-time in 2020.
Malukas finished second in his best showing yet since joining Team Penske, as Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Graham Rahal finished third.
Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden finished fourth, ahead of polesitter Alex Palou in the #10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
Palou led the field to the green flag but the slow start triggered contact at the back, with Rinus VeeKay suffering wing damage. Then, at Turn 1, multiple cars came together, including second-place starter Pato O’Ward, who was clipped by Felix Rosenqvist. Rookie Caio Collet and six-time series champion Dixon also collected with significant damage.
Rosenqvist was deemed at fault for the opening corner crash and handed a drive-through penalty.
Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing, Caio Collet, A.J. Foyt Enterprises, Felix Rosenqvist, Meyer Shank w/ Curb-Agajanian, Nolan Siegel, Arrow McLaren
Photo by: Penske Entertainment
The restart came on lap 5, with Palou leading a calmer run into Turn 1 as the field filled in behind. ECR’s Christian Rasmussen ended up off course in Turn 7 after contact and eventually brought it back to the pits and retired.
A delayed full course yellow, triggered by Alex Rossi’s Ed Carpenter Racing-run entry losing hybrid power on the start/finish straight, pushed Palou and Kirkwood to the back of the field after being unable to pit before the pack bunched up on lap 25
The race was shaken up further by a big crash on lap 27 restart, which saw Sting Ray Robb make contact with Pato O’Ward’s Arrow McLaren car into Turn 13, leaving Kyffin Simpson trying to avoid the contact but was then hit by Rosenqvist, who ramped over the front wing and caught brief air. Rosenqivst retired from the race as a result of the contact.
Power, who was leading at the time of the clash, pitted on lap 31, handing Malukas the lead, who nailed the restart and built his lead to 1.1s over Lundgaard.
Malukas continued to lead after 45 laps, with a gap of 1.7s over Lundgaard, and pitted the next lap for a used set of soft tyres, with Lundgaard pitting four laps later.
After a final pitstop sequence cycled through, it saw Malukas return from pitlane ahead of Lundgaard by 1.3s.
But the Danish driver got a massive run out of Turn 14 and closed on the rear wing of Malukas and went to the outside in Turn 2 as they went side-by-side, with the former taking the lead on the exit of Turn 4 with 18 laps to go, and duly charged clear to win ahead of Malukas and Rahal.
IndyCar Indianapolis GP – race results
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– The Autosport.com Team
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