Speaking ahead of this weekend’s IndyCar race in Toronto, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Christian Lundgaard has spoken about how the North American racing series has reignited his passion for motorsport.
Photo credit: Penske Entertainment | Joe Skibinski
The Danish driver spent two seasons in Formula 2 before heading over to the United States to compete full-time in IndyCar.
2021 was extremely difficult in the series below Formula One as the Dane only scored 50 points — he was exactly 90 points behind rookie ART teammate Theo Pourchaire.
It clearly wasn’t all down to him that it was so difficult as his impressive rookie season the year before shows. For some reason, ART also tended to only have one car properly working for a good few years, too.
Lundgaard impressed in IndyCar immediately in a one-off appearance with RLL in 2021 during a weekend where no F2 action took place, placing a remarkable 4th in qualifying on the Indy road course and finishing P12.
He spoke about his experience with Callum Ilott when he headed back to Europe to complete the Formula 2 season. The Brit would compete in the final three rounds of that season — and they both eventually signed multi-year contracts to join the series with RLL and JHR respectively.
In response to a question from Pit Debrief, he also talked about the fun you get in IndyCar compared to the politics of racing that occurs in Europe.
“I mean, at least I know that, when I spoke to Callum, when I did my first race in 2021 and I came back to finish my series at F2, we were talking about it, and I just really liked the environment of the series and everything that the series does for the sport.
“It’s just fun. I mentioned this last year that when I did my debut that it reminds me a lot about go-karts. It’s a fun racing series where I do feel like some of the racing series in Europe can be very political. You get to the point where you’re like, ‘okay, am I really enjoying this? Is this what I really want to do?’ I’m not going to say that you’re doubting yourself, but I think when I came here, I kind of got the spark for the sport again and it made racing fun.
“I would only say this series has become more competitive since then, so it’s only more fun now.”
Since joining the team on a permanent basis last year, he’s bagged a pole and podium at the same venue where he made his debut.
After finishing 23 points behind Rahal last year, the 21-year-old has been the shining light for RLL in 2023. He’s the only driver in the team to have finished in the top 5 in a race to date — and Lundgaard has done so twice.
Heading into the Canadian round this weekend, he’s 10th in the championship, 49 points clear of his far more experienced teammate, and he is also 99 ahead of other his RLL stablemate Jack Harvey.
The Danish star believes driving very different types of cars over in Europe — as well as doing simulator work during his time in the Alpine Academy — has been beneficial against his more established teammates in the series.
“I think, because I’m so young and I’ve driven a lot of cars in Europe that’s, in my opinion, quite difficult to drive and I’ve also driven some easy ones and just my experience with the F1 team back in a few years ago when I was doing a lot of simulator work, you’re just very involved and you drive a lot of different cars, a lot of different — I wouldn’t necessarily just call it setups, but the evolution of different cars, and you understand the differences and how you need to drive certain cars.
“I wouldn’t say you develop the skill, but you sort of do. You just get a better understanding, and you improve your talent. I guess that’s why on certain occasions Graham will complain more about the car than I will because we kind of just get on with it.
“We saw the car this weekend was in a good window for him at Mid-Ohio, and he was fast. There’s no question that Graham is a good driver, same for Jack, but I just think I can do things they can’t do just because of my previous experiences.”
