A Fast Six combination that has never been seen before ended with the same result. Nolan Siegel and Kyffin Simpson joined Christian Lundgaard, Louis Foster, Alex Palou, and Colton Herta in the final round.
Foster looked to be on track for his second straight pole, and Lundgaard had shown a lot of strength in practice. But in the end, Alex Palou won his third pole of the season as his dominance continues.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the day was Kyle Kirkwood not advancing to the Fast Six. Kirkwood finished seventh in Round 2. Scott Dixon will start ninth.
Team Penske woes continue as Josef Newgarden is their best qualifier in 18th. Will Power and Scott McLaughlin share row 11.
Arrow McLaren placed two cars in the Fast Six,k but Pato OWard, last year’s winner at Mid Ohio, was not one of them. He will start 15th tomorrow. Christian Lundgaard has emerged as the team leader.
Pato O’Ward during qualifying today.
Rinus VeeKay lost his best lap for causing a local yellow and will start 26th.
Christian Rasmussen qualified 10th but will start 16th because of an engine penalty.
Notes
It is nice to start seeing some new drivers in the Fast Six. Foster has a pole and has made two consecutive Fast Six rounds. Siegel seems to have found his groove after a challenging early season. Simpson has show quiet but steady improvement.
Palou just missed turning a lap under 1:05. Lundgaard was 0.19 seconds behind him.
Siegel, Herta, and Foster were more than a second slower than Palou. In today’s IndyCar, that is a huge difference.
Musical chairs continue at McLaren, as the announces they have signed Christian Lundgaard for 2025. The current Rahal Letterman Lanigan driver replace Alexander Rossi, who will leave the team after not being able to reach an agreement.
The announcement from Arrow McLaren:
Arrow McLaren IndyCar Team announced today that its 2025 driver lineup is confirmed with the addition of Christian Lundgaard who will join Pato O’Ward and Nolan Siegel in the team’s three-car lineup following the close of this season.
Christian, who is currently 11th in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship standings, will pilot the No. 7 VELO Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, as the team mutually parts ways with Alexander Rossi, who is in his second season with the team and finished ninth in the championship in 2023.
Christian, 22, has had a strong start to his campaign in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES earning a win, two poles and three podiums throughout his early tenure. He made an immediate splash as the 2022 NTT INDYCAR SERIES Rookie of the Year with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, which he’s raced with through his three seasons in INDYCAR.
A native of Hedensted, Denmark, Christian remains the only Danish driver in INDYCAR SERIES history to boast a race win after a dominant performance on the streets of Toronto in 2023.
Before launching a professional career in North America, Christian was an Alpine development racer competing in the FIA Formula 2 Championship where he earned two wins and nine podiums across the 2020-21 seasons. He also raced with Alpine in the 2019 FIA Formula 3 Championship and produced a win, two podiums and two poles.
The trio of Pato, Nolan and Christian will make up one of the youngest teams in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES. Each driver has proven success on his resume that warrants a promising outlook for the Arrow McLaren team in the seasons to come.
Christian Lundgaard, Driver, NTT INDYCAR SERIES, said:
“I’m excited to have my plans set for 2025 and beyond, and I’m thrilled it’s with Arrow McLaren. I have a lot of respect for Zak, Gavin, Tony and the team, and I think Pato, Nolan and I will work well together. I’m focused 100% on finishing this season strong with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. We have a lot of the season left, but this is a huge weight off my shoulders that will hopefully let me compete at my best the next nine races.”
Alexander Rossi
Alexander Rossi, Driver, Arrow McLaren, said:
“My time at Arrow McLaren, while it’s been only short two seasons, has been rewarding in many ways. I’m grateful to have been part of the team’s internal growth. The No. 7 crew is fantastic, and I’ve built a lot of long-lasting friendships with the team. Zak, Gavin, Tony and I had many conversations over the last several months on my future with the team. We were not able to come to terms on a new deal, so the mutual decision to part ways is amicable. I’m very confident with current discussions in the paddock to land a new spot. I’ll have good news to follow soon, and meanwhile I’m focused on a top-five finish in the 2024 championship and a strong conclusion to my time in papaya.”
Gavin Ward, Team Principal, Arrow McLaren, said:
“Alexander has been an incredible teammate, and we’re grateful for our two seasons we’re racing with him. We wouldn’t be where we are today without him. Ultimately we couldn’t meet in the middle on terms, but we absolutely wish him the best and will do all we can the second half of the season to get him in the top five in the championship.
“Christian has had proven success in his few seasons racing in the series, and he checks the boxes for what we’re looking for in speed and potential alongside Pato and Nolan. The three make up the youngest trio on the NTT INDYCAR SERIES grid, and we know that direction has been paying off for our F1 counterparts with Lando and Oscar.
“We’re looking toward our long-term goal of sustained high performance, and I believe with these three drivers and the ongoing support of Arrow and all our amazing partners, we’re taking a good step in that direction for 2025.”
Christian Lundgaard edged Will Power near the end of practice 2. One red flag stopped the session when Jack Harvey spun and stalled. Despite the lack of spins, several drivers, notably Josef Newgarden, were constantly fighting the steering wheel. Maybe it’s the cooler temperatures, but several cars had noticeable slides through turn 1
Will Power finished second this afternoon and was third this morning. He has to be the favorite for the pole later.
Notes
The new video screens on the fence are a great addition. They are positioned so as not to block views of the track. The picture is sharp, and there doesn’t seem to be any glare from the sun.
I noticed two Grab n Go kiosks in addition to the permanent one in the plaza.
Results
Qualifying groups will be out soon. Qualifying begins at 4:20 pm Eastern
Christian Lundgaard turned the fastest lap of the two days with about five minutes left in Practice four to edge Team Penske teammates Will Power and Scott McLaughlin.
Power had led most of the session. Practice started late because if high winds which blew sand across the track occasionally throught the two hour session.
Christian Lundgaard was the only driver to beat the track record in the second Indycar practice session. practice was delayed 25 minutes because of lightning in the area.
The weather delayed Indy NXT qualifying and thus pushed back the start of Iindycar practice.
Nine minutes into the session Pato O’Ward spun into the tire barrier and damaged the left front corner of his car. The red flag also few for Will Power, who spun without hitting anything at the top of the corkscrew and Santino Ferrucci, who appeared to lose an engine. Ferrucci may have a six place grid penalty assessed if the team needs to change the engine.
Green time has been at a premium this weekend. Today’s practice had just 35 minutes of green flag time. the longest segment was 16 minutes. The situation meant a crowded track where it was difficult for anyone to get a clean lap.
Teams fgot very little, if any, time on the alternate tires yesterday. Qualifying is going to be interesting.
Christian Lundgaard led a fast first practice sessionfor the Bitnile.com Grand Prix of Portland. as 14 drivers turned laps under 59 seconds. Lundgaard led most of the session and waqs the first to go to the red tires.
Jyke Kirkwood was second quickest, and Alex Palou was third. Lundgaard’s best lap was 58.177 seconds, 15 hundredths of second better than Kirkwood and 18 hundredths ahead of Palou.
The session stopped three times to retrieve stalled cars. Felix Rosenqist went off track just before turn 12 and stopped just short of the tire barrier. Santino Ferrucci spun in turn 11 and stopped on track. Ryan Hunter-Reayspun n turn 12 and stalled facing the wrong way.
Scott Dixon, the only driver with a chance to catch Alex Palou for the championship, was 19th fastest.
Practice 2 is tomorrow morning at 9 am Pacific time.
Note- A more ddetailed story about Christian Lundgaard and RLL will be up tomorrow morning, followed by a complete wrap up. Just wanted to egt some thoughts out there now.
Congratulations to Christian Lundgaard on his first career victory in Indycar. He has been the most solid driver on the team this year, but is starting to put it together. Lundgaard won the pole at GMR Grand Prix at IMS in May. At Mid Ohio he started fifth and finished fourth.
It is always nice to see a first time winner in the series. the genuine emotion and joy shown by Lundgaard and the entire RLL organization was a joy to watch.
The entire Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team deserves credit for thier incredible turnaround since May. This team struggled to get two of their three cars into the Indianpolis 500.
It was a richly deserved win with great stategy calls and a couple of great passes.
Maybe Palou Isn’t Human?
Scott Dixon and Josef Newgarden had Alex palou right where they wanted him. He started 15th, his worst satrting spot of the year. Dixon and Newgarden were both ahead of him. With the race on a tight street course where passing is difficult, I’m sure visions of points gains danced in their heads.
So, Palou finishes second, nursing a front wing that could have fallen off at any moment, and adds seven points to his cahampionship lead.
Maybe he is bullet proof.
Toronto- Where the Streaks Have No Name
Four streaks ended this weekend. Alex Palou’s three race winning streak, Colton Herta’s two weekend pole streak, Will Power not being in the Fast Six, and Herta’s non podium streak.
It is hard for me to believe that Herta had not been on the poium in 2023 until today.
As for Palou, he could start another one and run to the end of the season.
I had questioned power’s competitiveness early in the year, but he has been strong since the 500.
Notes
Lundgaard joins Kyle Kirkwood as first time career winners in 2023. Their wins have something in common. Both drivers won a street race from the pole.
Romain Grosjean’s Indycar future may be hanging by a thread. Another crash today makrks his fourth finishn of 22nd or worse since May. His last top ten finish was at Barber.
How did the crews of Will Power and Marcus Ericsson get the fuel calculations so wrong?
Congratulations to Marcus Srmstrong on his seventh place finish.
Agustin canapino finsihed 12th, tying his career best set at St. Pete, but he started this weekend from 18th, his career best start. A great weekend for the Indycar rookie.
Does trouble always find Kyle Kirkwood, or does he always find trouble? He puzzles me.
Thanks for following along this weekend. A more in depth story on RLL’s journey to Victory Lane will be up tomorrow.
The Pit Window by Mike Silver 