Christian Lundgaard and Arrow McLaren had been lastly in a position to get some high quality time collectively on the IndyCar Collection testing final week at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. For Lundgaard, the observe day was extra centered on the team-building expertise — getting acclimated to the crew and group, somewhat than making an attempt to make report lap occasions.
“It was a bit little bit of a mixture from a run plan standpoint of view,” Lundgaard instructed Motorsport.com. “It was good to know how they’re working as a staff and for us to work collectively on the No. 7 automotive and get used to one another. Clearly, get some extra info for the month of Might. So, it was begin, however it’s tough, man. It is tough while you solely know one factor and all of a sudden you are right here working in a very totally different manner as you are used to. However once more, change is sweet.”
The 23-year-old Dane, with one profession IndyCar win (Toronto, 2022) to this point, was in a position to pound laps within the recognizable papaya colours final Friday at IMS, which marked his first outing with the staff since being introduced as a part of the 2025 roster in early July. However after spending the final three full-time seasons with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, there was fairly a bit to get acclimated to.
Christian Lundgaard, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda
Photograph by: Phillip Abbott / Motorsport Photos
“The automotive has extra pure tempo than what I used to be beforehand used to,” he mentioned.
“I feel the steadiness has some familiarity to, once more, what I’m used to. I didn’t actually anticipate the largest distinction to be in dealing with. So, I feel a variety of it was sort of what I anticipated, which is an efficient factor. However it was good to get to work with everyone. That was extra of the duty for us was to get to really feel the automotive, get to work with everyone, for all of us to discover ways to work collectively and the instruments that I’ve obtainable and the folks which are obtainable.”
Maybe no change was harder to get adjusted to on his first day, although, than what he wraps his fingers round within the cockpit, as he transitions from a Honda machine at RLL to Arrow McLaren’s Chevrolet.
“To me, attending to work with a brand new steering wheel was most likely truly the largest distinction for me,” he mentioned. “That took a bit time getting used to, however it was all high quality after that.”
Though the staff has but to verify its engineering lineup for subsequent 12 months, it’s necessary to notice that Chris Lawrence was the one up on the timing stand working with Lundgaard. Lawrence has lengthy been embedded with Arrow McLaren, working extensively with Felix Rosenqvist, after which working with Alexander Rossi for the 2024 season.
Whereas Arrow McLaren is protecting Lundgaard busy within the low season, touring round continually, the take a look at offered final analysis on issues to work on for the subsequent few months earlier than racing returns in March 2025.
“I’d need to spend so much of time with Chevy simply to guarantee that I am updated on procedures,” Lundgaard mentioned.
“All these totally different sorts of issues. The essential easy issues that I feel you would not actually take into consideration, that may usually be muscle reminiscence however is totally different as a result of it’s a totally different staff and a special engine producer. So, the small staple items that make sense that you just want to concentrate on, to guarantee that we nail these.”
As one in every of 11 drivers and staff combos doing hybrid testing on the 2.5-mile superspeedway, Lundgaard accomplished 88 laps, with a better of 219.566 mph. Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou set the quickest mark at 224.342 mph.
Learn Additionally:
