Christian Lundgaard leads the Rookie of the Year battle by 11 points over David Malukas. (Photo: Luis Torres | The Podium Finish)
PORTLAND, Ore. — Attention-grabbing headlines have mostly been focused on the championship battle between Team Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing. But heading into Sunday’s Grand Prix of Portland, another battle has gotten spicy as two men have shined bright as of late in the NTT IndyCar Series.
With two races remaining, the Rookie of the Year battle has come down to Christian Lundgaard and David Malukas. The two drivers are separated by 11 points. Each has a podium to his name, with Malukas capturing his at the last round of the championship in Gateway.
Lundgaard earned his at the Brickyard over a month ago and is poised for a strong 110-lap contest. The Danish racer will have the edge over Malukas at the start of the race as he will roll off third while Malukas will be seven spots down the grid order. Both will have one trait going into the start of the race — each will begin on the red alternate Firestone tires along with five other drivers.
Both have observed their progress as a battle that began with five full-time rookies and is now down to them to assure they will exit not just Portland, but Laguna Seca with some bragging rights heading into the off-season.
Lundgaard felt that his No. 30 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda has similar pace to Malukas’ No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports, but it has varied track-by-track. When the car is on point, a result like finishing second to Alexander Rossi at Indianapolis can be possible.
“Looking at David’s performance throughout the year, he’s been truly competitive and he showed that at Gateway when it counted. Our car was similar but lacked a bit of pace at certain tracks,” Lundgaard said regarding Malukas. “We need to extract maximum potential when we have a different package and execute when we have it. That’s what we did in the GP for our podium. We can be in the same position, but we need to be on it.”
David Malukas continues the trend of Dale Coyne Racing drivers achieving success in INDYCAR. (Photo: Luis Torres | The Podium Finish)
Malukas explained the tightness of the rookie battle has been fun between he and Lundgaard, but it also fueled the competitor fire even further.
“We’ve managed to push hard each other every single race. Part of the reason for that podium was because (Christian) got a podium,” Malukas commented on Lundgaard.
“To get that point gap close up, I knew I had to do it and the strongest opportunity we had. He had a lot of momentum at around Road America and all the way to IMS. Now at Gateway, we had that success and now feel like we can carry that momentum the last couple of races.”
With the rookies stepping up their game in the second half of the year, they have each grown as competitors. This is after coming from two different worlds in the feeder series as Lundgaard competed in European junior formula whereas Malukas came from the Road to Indy ladder.
When asked about the transition from European racing to American open wheel racing, Lundgaard commented Thursday at the Kenton Station Restaurant and Pub that it “was quite easy.” It has reached a point where RLL Racing has made him feel like family.
“Everyone on the team has been quite welcoming and taken care of me. I’m super happy to be a part of this team,” said Lundgaard. “Honestly, the transition of the cars isn’t that different. INDYCAR is just super competitive and that’s what makes it tough. On any given day, anyone can win. You can start 15th and win, which we’ve seen this year. But we’ve also seen people on pole and win.”
Both racers are aware of their efforts in the second half of 2022. (Photo: Luis Torres | The Podium Finish)
Malukas’ podium finish brought some emotion to him in large part that one of the drivers he looked up to, Josef Newgarden, praised his valiant effort. In the closing laps, it was those two drivers that battled hard for the win which was noted between both competitors.
“When I saw the quote, it meant a lot. Maybe shed a little bit of a tear because I looked up to him,” said Malukas. “So many drivers have come up to me and congratulated me. It feels real good and I feel like a lot of pressure has been released off my shoulders and we’re here.”
The battle will rage on once the green flag drops at Portland. Live coverage of the race begins at 3:00 p.m. ET on NBC with the green flag scheduled to drop at 3:30 p.m. Last year’s INDYCAR Rookie of the Year Scott McLaughlin will lead the 25-car field to green.
