Christian Lundgaard scored a P2 race finish at the Thermal Club this past weekend. This is his first podium finish since making the move to Arrow McLaren this season.
The weekend at the Thermal Club Grand Prix was home to a few other firsts. The first points-scoring IndyCar race at Thermal, the first 1-2 of the season in qualifying for Arrow McLaren, and the first pole finish for Pato O’Ward.
Setting the pace for the weekend
Driving the No. 7 Chevrolet for Arrow McLaren, Christian Lundgaard showed that the team had pace the whole weekend.
– Qualifying first in group 2 of round 1 – making it into the top 12.
– Round 2 saw Lundgaard place sixth, thus making it into the Firestone Fast Six.
– A P2 finish was awaiting Lundgaard after the Fast Six, putting two Arrow McLarens on the front row for Sunday.
Teammates to race against
McLaren led the pack during qualifying with O’Ward and Lundgaard pushing each other to secure the front row. It’s that good pressure from teammates to beat each other that compels the Danish driver to work harder.
“You want to beat your teammates. It’s as simple as that. I want to beat Pato as much as he wants to beat me. It’s very simple. I think it drives you to work harder, physically, mentally on track, do more for it at the end of the day and go into deeper detail.
“Obviously we’re studying each other’s data, which in the past I’ve studied my own data. I have a lot more information now than I’ve had previously.“
New beginnings give new opportunities
Making the switch from Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing to Arrow McLaren has given Lundgaard a bit of a boost in the way he approaches race weekends.
“I feel like I show up in a race weekend more prepared. I show up with a lot more hope in a sense.
“As Pato mentioned, it drives me more as well knowing that we’ll be hopefully two cars fighting, and then we can push each other. Previously I think that’s only been on occasions, where I feel like that’s going to be more consistent now.
“I think we’re just both going to be better at the end of the season. We’re going to evolve each other and develop each other.”
The pressure was on for Lundgaard to keep the pace and stay at the front of Sunday’s starting grid. Strategies were more or less working for them and they just needed to stay consistent for Sunday’s race.
The feature race had a few leader changes, yet McLaren stayed close to the front for the majority of the 65 laps. O’Ward in the No. 5 Chevrolet led 51 laps of the 65-lap race with Lundgaard not far behind.
Taking steps toward competitive success
Sunday was a great day for Arrow McLaren in terms of points. For Lundgaard, Sunday did not only win him points but a P2 finish.
“Yeah, I think where we were in St. Pete to where we are now, I think it’s a clear step. The 7 car, we had a good weekend. We scored some points in St. Pete coming here.
“I think overall looking across the three cars, we’re more competitive. Leaving with two podiums, a first and second, qualifying, I think we can be very happy with the weekend.“
Teamwork makes or breaks a successful weekend
There were some issues that should be addressed for future race weekends to ensure team success.
Lundgaard and O’Ward experienced issues with the hybrid system overheating. The Mexican explained further, with Lundgaard agreeing with him, that while they would have gotten good use out of the system, there was no way for them to utilize it.
O’Ward had some biting words for the other Chevy teams during the post-race press conference. It seems like the McLaren front runners hoped for support from the Chevy affiliate teams to keep Palou at bay, yet the help was not there according to O’Ward.
It was inevitable that the CGR driver would sneak past the two McLarens with his unbelievable pace on new alternates. Lundgaard knew at lap 43 that Palou would at some point edge past him and had some fun with it. He also acknowledged the difference in tyres that would ultimately cost him.
“Yeah, I mean, I knew I lost that fight. He was out on the sticker set of alternates at the end of the race. I was on a sticker set of primes. I knew he was going to have the advantage.
“Pato was five seconds up the road, so I tried to make him lose as much time fairly as possible. We had some fun, but it didn’t really seem to bother him.”
The driver of the No. 7 Chevrolet quipped, “He [Palou] keeps beating us every time, so we need to stop that.”
Lundgaard has shown his potential to stay at the front of the pack. Him and his team have the rest of the season ahead of them to execute good strategy and stay consistent.
