10 May 2026 01:00 (UTC)
"It feels really good. I’ve had a lot of unfinished business here at the Road Course."
Christian Lundgaard's breakthrough moment in papaya finally arrived on Saturday as he delivered his first victory with Arrow McLaren at the IMS Road Course.
Through 23 races with Arrow McLaren, Christian has produced nine podiums and now a win - the second of his career in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES. The result marks 28 wins for McLaren Racing in INDYCAR and the 10th for the team since returning to the series on a full-time basis in 2020.
Christian completed a brilliant drive after qualifying P4 earlier in the day. The stunning, race-winning pass came against Team Penske's David Malukas on Lap 67 as Christian slipped by him on the outside of Turn 4.
Nolan finished P10, his best result of the season, and Pato ended in P18. After qualifying in the front row (P2), Pato's day took an unfortunate turn after Felix Rosenqvist made contact with him on Lap 1, knocking him to the back of the field.
Next up, all three drivers plus Ryan Hunter-Reay turn to Indy 500 preparation when practice begins back at IMS on Tuesday.
Location | Indianapolis, Ind. |
Race Date | May 9 |
Round | 6 out of 18 |
Total Laps | 85 |
Total Race Distance | 207.3 miles / 333.6 km |
Track Length | 2.44 miles / 3.9 km |
Number of Turns | 14 |
Qualifying - Round 1, Group 2 | P6, 1:10.3267 |
Qualifying - Round 2 | P3, 1:10.1427 |
Qualifying - Firestone Fast 6 | P4, 1:10.4751 |
Starting Position | P4 |
Finishing Position | P1 |
Championship Standing | 4th |
"All I hope is that it doesn’t take another three years (until my next win). It feels really good. I’ve had a lot of unfinished business here at the Road Course. This was my eighth start (at the IMS Road Course), and I have been fighting for podiums every single time, except last year actually. I think that’s why it feels better. Obviously, I struggled a lot here last year. That was just a tough one to take mentally, knowing how strong I've been around here. It feels good. Obviously, it does give some momentum, but the Speedway is a very different animal. The cars were good at the open test. We have Ryan (Hunter-Reay) joining the team this year, so I think there’s a lot of good to come for us."
Qualifying - Round 1, Group 2 | P8, 1:10.4288 |
Starting Position | P16 |
Finishing Position | P10 |
Championship Standing | 20th |
"Best result of the season. We're still building. We still didn't maximize potential, and on a day when we don't maximize potential and we're still 10th, that's a very good sign moving forward. I felt super competitive pace-wise today. I passed cars; we made a good strategy work. Good pit stops aside from the one I kind of messed up. I'm frustrated with myself today, making mistakes in qualifying and a couple in the race, but overall, it was just a competitive weekend for us. I'm looking forward to building on it for the 500."
Qualifying - Round 1, Group 1 | P3, 1:10.2513 |
Qualifying - Round 2 | P2, 1:10.0535 |
Qualifying - Firestone Fast 6 | P2, 1:10.2962 |
Starting Position | P2 |
Finishing Position | P18 |
Championship Standing | 7th |
"Happy to see Christian and the No. 7 guys get their first win together. As for my race, that hit was the start to a very bad and frustrating day from all angles."
"Strong day for the team. Pato got caught in an incident that wasn't his fault; Christian brought home a win for the team; Nolan had his best finish of the season so far. This is a very, very good way to begin the month of May. Next race will be the Indy 500, but tonight I'm proud of this team. The first win of the year for us, and first win for Christian with our team and Chris Lawrence, his engineer. We'll enjoy this tonight and get back on track for 500 practice on Tuesday."
