IndyCar Laguna Seca: Lundgaard fastest amid red flags in second practice

The 22-year-old Dane had a clean session in comparison to his rivals, going to the top with a flying lap at 1m07.6154s around the 11-turn, 2.238-mile road course.

Rinus VeeKay (Ed Carpenter Racing) ended up second, trailing by 0.0392 of a second. Newly crowned two-time IndyCar champion Alex Palou was the best Chip Ganassi Racing driver in third.

Arrow McLaren’s Alexander Rossi was fourth, while Andretti Autosport’s Kyle Kirkwood rounded out the top five.

Red flags became the theme once again in Saturday morning’s session.

The first stoppage came out after nine minutes when McLaren’s Pato O’Ward got out of shape entering Turn 3, skidding off course into the tyre barrier with minor damage to his car's left front corner.

“It's just a driver mistake, I think I touched a white line on the curb,” O’Ward said after his mount was towed back to the paddock. “It was just too much attack for what was available.”

Colton Herta put his Andretti Autosport Honda at the top moments before O’Ward’s shunt with a lap at 1m07.8880s. The session resumed after a 7m33s stoppage, with Rossi flexing the strength of his #7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet and vaulting to first with a flying lap of 1m07.8522s.

A second red flag came after Will Power lost control of the backend of his Chevrolet-powered Team Penske entry entering the Corkscrew, drifting backward into the gravel before coming to a stop at top of the hill.

Colton Herta, Andretti Autosport w/ Curb-Agajanian Honda

Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images

The session resumed after a five-minute break. The pace was briefly set by VeeKay before Lundgaard’s pace-setting lap.

With 13 minutes remaining, the #14 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet of Santino Ferrucci erupted with a plume of smoke and stopped in Turn 11 to bring another red flag.

There were several further off-course adventures for many drivers, with Turn 10 proving to be the tricky spot for the likes of Herta, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Graham Rahal, among others.

The #30 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda of Juri Vips was hit with a six-position starting grid penalty by IndyCar officials on Saturday morning following an unapproved engine change after yesterday’s practice.

IndyCar Laguna Seca FP2 Results:

Driver Info

Cla	Driver	#	Laps	Time	Interval	Mph
1	C. Lundgaard Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	45	18	1'07.6154		119.156
2	R. van Kalmthout Ed Carpenter Racing	21	22	+0.0392	0.0392	119.087
3	A. Palou Chip Ganassi Racing	10	25	+0.1839	0.1447	118.833
4	A. Rossi Arrow McLaren	7	18	+0.2368	0.0529	118.740
5	K. Kirkwood Andretti Autosport	27	17	+0.2560	0.0192	118.707
6	C. Herta Andretti Autosport	26	22	+0.2726	0.0166	118.678
7	G. Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	15	24	+0.3979	0.1253	118.459
8	S. Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing	9	25	+0.4003	0.0024	118.455
9	S. McLaughlin Team Penske	3	26	+0.4097	0.0094	118.439
10	M. Ericsson Chip Ganassi Racing	8	23	+0.4433	0.0336	118.380
11	W. Power Team Penske	12	20	+0.4683	0.0250	118.337
12	J. Vips Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	30	19	+0.4895	0.0212	118.300
13	M. Armstrong Chip Ganassi Racing	11	25	+0.5097	0.0202	118.265
14	R. Grosjean Andretti Autosport	28	18	+0.5113	0.0016	118.262
15	C. Ilott Juncos Hollinger Racing	77	24	+0.5891	0.0778	118.127
16	F. Rosenqvist Arrow McLaren	6	25	+0.6354	0.0463	118.047
17	D. DeFrancesco Andretti Autosport	29	21	+0.6548	0.0194	118.013
18	S. Ferrucci A.J. Foyt Enterprises	14	18	+0.6921	0.0373	117.949
19	D. Malukas Dale Coyne Racing	18	22	+0.6979	0.0058	117.939
20	T. Blomqvist Meyer Shank Racing	60	22	+0.7502	0.0523	117.849
21	J. Newgarden Team Penske	2	23	+0.8381	0.0879	117.697
22	R. Hunter-Reay Ed Carpenter Racing	20	22	+0.9049	0.0668	117.583
23	H. Castroneves Meyer Shank Racing	06	23	+1.0216	0.1167	117.383
24	B. Pedersen A.J. Foyt Enterprises	55	24	+1.0502	0.0286	117.334
25	R. Robb Dale Coyne Racing	51	22	+1.1362	0.0860	117.187
26	A. Canapino Juncos Hollinger Racing	78	20	+1.4285	0.2923	116.691
27	P. O'Ward Arrow McLaren	5	6	+1.8658	0.4373	115.957
View full results