Christian Lundgaard prevailed in a race filled with thrills, incidents and enough pit wall decisions to prematurely age strategists to win the Sonsio Grand Prix on Saturday on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, his first NTT INDYCAR SERIES victory in nearly three years.
Lundgaard drove his No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet to his second career victory by 4.6713 seconds over the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet of David Malukas. Lundgaard’s first career win came at the Honda Indy Toronto on July 16, 2023, while driving for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. This victory ended a 47-race winless drought for the Danish driver, and he became the third McLaren driver to win in the INDYCAR SERIES, joining Johnny Rutherford and Pato O’Ward.
“Very happy,” Lundgaard said. “I really didn’t expect this today. I hoped for it. This was a long wait for this win, especially around this place. You know how fast I’ve always been around here, and it’s just been time after time after time disappointments. Now we’re here. Let’s go!”
Tymek Kucharczyk was Mr. Consistency for the first five races of the INDY NXT by Firestone season, but now he’s a winner.
Series rookie Kucharczyk, the first Polish driver to compete in the INDYCAR development series, earned his first career victory by holding off Max Taylor to win Race 2 of the Indianapolis Grand Prix doubleheader on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
Kucharczyk climbed from fifth to the lead after the first two turns on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile circuit, leading all 30 laps in the No. 71 HMD Motorsports car. He took the checkered flag .6273 of a second ahead of Taylor in the No. 28 Susan G. Komen machine of Andretti Global after a taut, race-long duel in the caution-free race.
Enzo Fittipaldi, who won Race 1 Friday, prevailed in an exciting three-way fight over the last 10 laps of the race for the final podium spot in the No. 67 HMD Motorsports machine. Lochie Hughes placed fourth in the No. 26 Andretti Global car, with Alessandro de Tullio rounding out the top five in the No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing entry.
Series leader Nikita Johnson placed sixth in the No. 21 Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR car. Kucharczyk climbed to second in the standings with his win, 11 points behind Johnson.
The INDY NXT Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park did not disappoint as Christian Rasmussen put on a dominant performance, leading every lap to take home the victory from the pole position. Rasmussen, driving for HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing, finished 1.9983 seconds ahead of his teammate Nolan Siegel, who finished second.
It was a weekend of complete domination by HMD Motorsports, as Rasmussen’s victory was complemented by Toby Sowery, who filled in for Josh Pierson, taking third place on the podium. Unfortunately, HMD’s Josh Green and Danial Frost collided on the final lap, which resulted in Frost being assessed a 30-second post-race penalty, causing both drivers to finish outside of the top five.
Newgarden Takes Texas Thriller for Second Straight Year
FORT WORTH, Texas (Sunday, April 2, 2023) – Josef Newgarden timed it just right once again to earn his second consecutive victory at Texas Motor Speedway Sunday in the PPG 375 after a scintillating NTT INDYCAR SERIES race perfectly described as “beautiful chaos.”
Newgarden drove his No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet past the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet of Pato O’Ward for the lead on Lap 249 of the 250-lap speed carnival just moments before Romain Grosjean crashed in Turn 2 in the No. 28 DHL Honda, triggering the last of five caution periods and ending the race under yellow.
