The No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet of Christian Lundgaard posted the fifth-fastest time in the second round of NTT P1 Award qualifying on Saturday but ended the session with contact against the tire barriers. Bringing out a red flag just after the checkered flag had waved.
As a result, Lundgaard was relegated to a 12th-place starting spot for Sunday’s 50th running of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
Undeterred, the Danish driver surged through the field in the caution-free, 90-lap race to finish on the podium in third place.
Christian Lundgaard Goes Aggressive
“I told the team this morning, even before warmup, let’s be aggressive and see what we can do,” Lundgaard said. “We had the most tires available, two sets of alternates, three sets of primaries, so all options were open for us.”
That flexibility allowed Lundgaard to be the only driver in the top 12 to start on the more durable Firestone primary tires, while those ahead of him chose the softer, faster-degrading alternates and pitted early.
He took over the race lead by Lap 8 and used a combination of strategy and pace, passing 11 cars, the most of any driver, to secure his second consecutive podium finish.
“We went off strategy from what we expected most of the field to do,” Lundgaard said. “It really showed our pace. We gained a lot of ground during the pit cycles and took full advantage of clean air.”
In his debut season with Arrow McLaren, Lundgaard now sits third in the championship standings after three races, 46 points behind leader Alex Palou. It’s a major leap from where he stood at this point last year, 16th in the standings, while racing for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.
“I was pretty vocal during the offseason about wanting to start strong with Arrow McLaren,” he said. “And I think we’ve clearly done that. This is the highest I’ve ever been in the championship at this stage. We’ve done a solid job.
“We started a bit conservative in St. Pete, but today we showed our real potential. Two podiums in a row, unlike that guy Palou, who just keeps finishing first or second. But we’ll catch him one day. Hopefully.”
