Christian Lundgaard celebrates after winning his first career NTT IndyCar Series on the streets of Toronto on Sunday afternoon. Photo: Penske Entertainment: Chris Owens
Christian Lundgaard used speed and successful strategy to score his first career NTT IndyCar Series victory on the streets of Toronto on Sunday.
Lundgaard, 21, from Denmark, drove his No. 45 Honda to an 11.7893-second victory over championship leader Alex Palou. Colton Herta finished a season-best third.
This was the first victory for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing since Takuma Sato won the Indianapolis 500 in August 2020. The team’s last win on a temporary street circuit like the 11-turn, 1.786-mile course around Toronto’s Exhibition Place came in June 2017 when Graham Rahal swept the doubleheader on Belle Isle in Detroit.
Lundgaard became the first Danish driver to win an IndyCar Series race. He also was handed an electric razor in victory lane to shave the moustache he grew during the offseason and vowed to keep until he earned his first victory.
“I’m pretty drained from energy right now,” Lundgaard said. “The Hy-Vee Vivid Clear Rx car has been fast all weekend, and I said it before the race that we had a car that was fast enough to win. We pulled it off.
“This team, they do deserve this. If you look at where we were earlier this season and even last year at this point, we were nowhere near this. I’m just extremely happy for everybody right now.”
Scott Dixon placed fourth, the top finisher among a group of drivers who attempted an alternate strategy in the second half of the race to try to counter Lundgaard’s speed.
Josef Newgarden rounded out the top five.
The decisive move came on lap 61 of the 85-lap race in Canada’s largest city. Lundgaard and Palou dueled side by side for second place behind leader Dixon – on a different fuel strategy – when Lundgaard completed the pass of Palou in turn 3.
Dixon made his final pit stop on the next lap, handing the lead to Lundgaard. The Dane wasted no time stretching his legs under sunny skies in Toronto, building a 3.1503-second lead by lap 65.
Lundgaard continued to build his lead over the closing laps and cruised to the finish, ending up out front for 54 of the 85 laps. That left the drama to the fight for the final podium positions among Palou, Herta and reigning series champion Will Power.
Those three drivers raced in lockstep around the tricky, bumpy street circuit for 19 of the last 20 laps. Palou’s drive to keep second was particularly impressive considering he navigated the last 39 laps with a cracked nose cone and a front wing knocked askew by contact in an incident also involving Kyle Kirkwood and Helio Castroneves on lap 46.
Herta couldn’t find a way past Palou over the closing stint, and Power’s chance for a podium finish ended when he was forced to pit just before the start of the final lap to avoid running out of fuel.
Palou, who started a season-low 15th, extended his streak of top-five finishes this season to nine consecutive races dating back to early April at Texas Motor Speedway. The Spaniard increased his championship lead to 117 points – a gap of more than two races – over Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Dixon.
Before the closing stint, Scott McLaughlin, Dixon and Rinus VeeKay stayed out on Firestone’s guayule alternate tire longer than any other drivers, hoping to build enough of a gap and catch some luck with caution flags to steal a victory on strategy.
But those hopes vanished when the race went clean and green for the last 35 laps, as the last caution period came from laps 46-50 when Kirkwood hit Castroneves from behind in turn 11 after a restart, incurring a stop-and-go penalty. Lundgaard was among the drivers who made their final pit stops during that final caution period, the eventual successful strategy.
The next NTT IndyCar Series events are scheduled for Saturday, July 22 and Sunday, July 23, in a weekend doubleheader at Iowa Speedway.
NTT IndyCar Series
Streets of Toronto – Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Honda Indy Toronto – July 16, 2023
1. (1) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 85, Running
2. (15) Alex Palou, Honda, 85, Running
3. (14) Colton Herta, Honda, 85, Running
4. (7) Scott Dixon, Honda, 85, Running
5. (11) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 85, Running
6. (2) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 85, Running
7. (10) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 85, Running
8. (3) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 85, Running
9. (27) Graham Rahal, Honda, 85, Running
10. (5) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, 85, Running
11. (4) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 85, Running
12. (18) Agustin Canapino, Chevrolet, 85, Running
13. (12) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 85, Running
14. (6) Will Power, Chevrolet, 85, Running
15. (8) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 85, Running
16. (26) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 84, Running
17. (24) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 82, Running
18. (16) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 81, Contact
19. (23) Sting Ray Robb, Honda, 81, Running
20. (17) David Malukas, Honda, 69, Contact
21. (13) Helio Castroneves, Honda, 45, Contact
22. (9) Romain Grosjean, Honda, 41, Contact
23. (22) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 10, Mechanical
24. (19) Jack Harvey, Honda, 0, Contact
25. (20) Tom Blomqvist, Honda, 0, Contact
26. (21) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Chevrolet, 0, Contact
27. (25) Benjamin Pedersen, Chevrolet, 0, Contact
Average Speed: 89.361 mph
Time of Race: 01:41:55.8001 Margin of Victory: 11.7893 seconds
Cautions: 3 for 16 laps
Lead Changes: 7 among 4 drivers
Lap Leaders: Lundgaard, Christian 1-18; McLaughlin, Scott 19-34; Ericsson, Marcus 35; Dixon, Scott 36; Lundgaard, Christian 37-48; McLaughlin, Scott 49-60; Dixon, Scott 61; Lundgaard, Christian 62-85
Point Standings: Palou 417, Dixon 300, Newgarden 291, Ericsson 275, O’Ward 274, McLaughlin 258, Lundgaard 248, Power 242, Herta 239, Rossi 230, Kirkwood 192, Rosenqvist 183, Grosjean 175, Rahal 167, VeeKay 158, Armstrong 156, Ilott 154, Ferrucci 138, Malukas 134, Canapino 113, Castroneves 113, DeFrancesco 111, Harvey 101, Conor Daly 98, Simon Pagenaud 88, Robb 82, Pedersen 80, Hunter-Reay 49, Takuma Sato 37, Ed Carpenter 27, Tony Kanaan 18, Marco Andretti 13, Blomqvist 5, RC Enerson 5, Katherine Legge 5
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