Christian Lundgaard had spent all weekend, in his own words, on the "struggle bus." On Sunday he drove off it and into victory lane.
The Arrow McLaren driver recovered from front-wing damage on the opening lap — and a 13th-place starting spot — to win a chaotic XPEL Grand Prix at Road America, inheriting the lead when long-time pacesetter Marcus Armstrong's car failed with four laps to run. It was Lundgaard's third career IndyCar victory and his second of the season.
"It's been a struggle; we've been on the struggle bus all weekend," Lundgaard had said after qualifying only 13th on Saturday. "We don't really understand why, which is the toughest part to swallow."
He had also, as it turned out, called the race. "A lot can happen in terms of strategy," he said on Saturday. "We know how the yellows are going to fall, if they do what they've done previously."
They fell his way. Early contact with Scott Dixon pitched Lundgaard to the back of the field, but a run of cautions at the 4.014-mile road course repeatedly bunched the pack and let him climb back into contention. By the closing laps the win looked set to go to Armstrong, chasing a maiden IndyCar victory in the Meyer Shank Honda — until the engine let go.
"I came out at Turn 6 and the engine just started spluttering like it was out of fuel, but clearly it wasn't. And then it just completely died," Armstrong said. "We have to speak to Honda, see what the issue was, but there was no indication that there was something wrong."
The New Zealander was left to rue the one that got away. "I'm massively proud of the guys and girls on the No. 66, because we had the quickest car out there today," he said. "I thought that was ours to lose. I had some time in the pocket already. So for Lundgaard, obviously he was coming, but yeah, just gutted really."
Lundgaard still had to earn it, holding off David Malukas through a final-lap restart to take the flag. Will Power completed the podium despite tangling with Graham Rahal at Turn 12 on the last lap, an incident that ended the race under caution. Kyffin Simpson came home fourth.
For points leader Alex Palou, it was a rare off-day. The Spaniard, who had taken his fifth straight pole of the season, led early from the front but was handed a drive-through penalty for a pit-lane speed violation and recovered only to fifth in the Chip Ganassi Honda. He still leaves Wisconsin with a commanding championship lead intact, but for once the headlines belonged to someone else.
Romain Grosjean's afternoon summed up the day's chaos: he lost a left-rear wheel exiting the pits, limped around on three and triggered one of the race's many full-course cautions. Rookie Mick Schumacher was among those caught out by a pit-lane penalty. Through all of it, Lundgaard kept his head — and turned the weekend he least expected to win into one of his best.
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