Photo credit: Meyer Shank Racing
For the third straight race, Linus Lundqvist will be behind the wheel of the #60 Meyer Shank Racing car in place of still-recovering Simon Pagenaud and will tackle his first oval in an Indycar at the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway on Sunday.
Lundqvist sounded as excited as one can sound through a press release. “The last few weekends in Nashville and at Indy have been the time of my life and I can’t wait to continue to work with this team. We’ve been through some challenging race formats – Nashville a street course, Indy a road course, and now St. Louis, an oval. I will be learning once again. I know that it is going to be tough and tricky, but I know the team is going to give me a good car to have a solid result like we had at Indy.”
Outside of a crash at the typically volatile Music City Grand Prix, Lundqvist has been consistent, starting 11th and 12th at Nashville and the Indianapolis road course, respectively, while putting together fastest lap at Nashville and finishing 12th at the Gallagher Grand Prix on August 12. He had three starts in Indy Lights at WWTR, crashing in his first race but finishing in the top 5 in the other two and taking pole in 2022.
One thing he will have on his side is extra support from a team—and teammate—experienced in conquering ovals, partnered with four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves. “I’m[…] very much looking forward to working with Helio as a teammate. Working with him on an oval is something that every driver would want to do and I’m just going to learn from it as much as I can this weekend.”
The support will be especially timely as MSR tries to keep the #60 car above the cut line for the Leaders’ Circle payout for next season. Presently the team sits just three points outside with three races to go.
