IndyCar Indianapolis GP: Lundgaard stuns Malukas to snatch win

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

RACE

All Stats

 

Cla	Driver	#		Laps	Time	Interval	Mph	Pits	Points	Retirement
1	C. Lundgaard Arrow McLaren	7		85	1:55'40.2894		107.536	3	51
2	D. Malukas Team Penske	12		85	+4.6713 1:55'44.9607	4.6713	107.464	3	43
3	G. Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	15		85	+7.9142 1:55'48.2036	3.2429	107.414	3	35
4	J. Newgarden Team Penske	2		85	+10.0292 1:55'50.3186	2.1150	107.381	3	32
5	A. Palou Chip Ganassi Racing	10		85	+14.3630 1:55'54.6524	4.3338	107.314	3	32
6	S. Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing	9		85	+26.8420 1:56'07.1314	12.4790	107.122	4	28
7	L. Foster Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	45		85	+28.1269 1:56'08.4163	1.2849	107.102	3	26
8	D. Hauger Dale Coyne Racing	19		85	+31.9325 1:56'12.2219	3.8056	107.044	3	24
9	K. Kirkwood Andretti Global	27		85	+34.1938 1:56'14.4832	2.2613	107.009	3	22
10	N. Siegel Arrow McLaren	6		85	+38.8437 1:56'19.1331	4.6499	106.938	3	20
11	M. Armstrong Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian	66		85	+46.4710 1:56'26.7604	7.6273	106.821	5	19
12	K. Simpson Chip Ganassi Racing	8		85	+50.1899 1:56'30.4793	3.7189	106.764	4	18
13	W. Power Andretti Global	26		85	+52.0287 1:56'32.3181	1.8388	106.736	3	18
14	S. Ferrucci A.J. Foyt Enterprises	14		85	+56.3708 1:56'36.6602	4.3421	106.670	3	16
15	R. van Kalmthout Juncos Hollinger Racing	76		85	+59.5853 1:56'39.8747	3.2145	106.621	4	15
16	S. McLaughlin Team Penske	3		85	+59.8703 1:56'40.1597	0.2850	106.617	4	14
17	R. Robb Sting Juncos Hollinger Racing	77		85	+1'00.1665 1:56'40.4559	0.2962	106.612	4	13
18	P. O'Ward Arrow McLaren	5		85	+1'06.2857 1:56'46.5751	6.1192	106.519	5	12
19	C. Collet A.J. Foyt Enterprises	4		85	+1'07.6701 1:56'47.9595	1.3844	106.498	4	11
20	M. Schumacher Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	47		85	+1'14.1292 1:56'54.4186	6.4591	106.400	3	10
21	R. Grosjean Dale Coyne Racing	18		84	+1 Lap 1:56'36.7538	1 Lap	105.414	4	9
22	M. Ericsson Andretti Global	28		61	+24 Laps 1:26'12.0214	23 Laps	103.558	3	8	Mechanical
23	F. Rosenqvist Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian	60		28	+57 Laps 43'26.3824	33 Laps	94.327	3	7	Accident
24	C. Rasmussen Ed Carpenter Racing	21		28	+57 Laps 1:24'24.0159	40'57.6335	48.549	3	6	Mechanical
25	A. Rossi Ed Carpenter Racing	20		20	+65 Laps 28'36.8339	8 Laps	102.286		5	Retirement
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