Lundgaard: “I didn’t really understand how we got the balance so wrong” after fourth place at IMS

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Christian Lundgaard says he struggled with balance in the GMR Grand Prix at Indianapolis as he finished fourth for Rahal Letterman Lanigan.

The Danish driver scored his best result of 2023 after starting on pole position but lacked outright speed on the Firestone alternate tyres in the third stint especially.

“I didn’t really understand how we got the balance so wrong.

“It was strange because that one set, the rears were going off but the previous red set I was understeering like crazy.

“It’s a set that’s now run the Fast six an we’re not in the Fast six that often so these are the things we need to learn moving forward so we’ll try our best. It’s things we need to learn from now on.”

Lundgaard now sits ninth in the championship after five rounds and is the highest placed Rahal Letterman Lanigan driver in the standings.

The 21-year-old has performed admirably at Indianapolis throughout his IndyCar career scoring an impressive 12th place on his debut in 2021 before his first podium at IMS last year.

He said he was content with a fourth place finish and his number 45 car had good speed throughout the event.

“I’m satisfied with fourth, but it was a tough day. The RLL 45 Honda’s just been quick all weekend.”

The RLL driver lacked speed during the race and anticipated a finish outside the top 10 as Lundgaard combated a car that was tricky to drive.

“It wasn’t as quick today unfortunately but to come home with fourth there was a point in this race where I thought we weren’t going to finish in the top 10 with that pace and balance of the car so to end up fourth is a win right now.

“But I think we need to look at the perspective of how great performance wise we’ve been all weekend and that’s the positive to take from this weekend and we’ll move on, now we’ve kickstarted the month of May.”

The driver of the number 45 car will contest his second Indy 500 next time out on the 28th of May and look to build on his 18th place finish from 2022.