A weekend Christian Lundgaard will never forget. (Photo: Jack Shanlin | The Podium Finish)
It’s no secret that Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing are having a hellacious 2023 INDYCAR campaign. But for one afternoon, it’s all about enjoying the finer merits of having one of their drivers winning. More so, it’s a first-time winner in Christian Lundgaard, who won from pole position in Sunday’s Honda Indy Toronto.
On a campaign that’s seen this team begin working in their new, state of the art race shop, RLL had yet to fully shine and prove folks their hard work is paying off.
Sunday’s anticipated triumph marked the first time car No. 45 won an American Open Wheel Race since Ronnie Bucknum’s victory at Michigan International Speedway in 1968. Yes, it took 19,999 days to see the number back in victory circle.
Also, guess what? Lundgaard was the man who dethroned Alex Palou, who finished second, from scoring a fourth straight INDYCAR win.
Due to that accomplishment, many will see this as an upset victory due to the fact it wasn’t a Big Four (Ganassi, Penske, McLaren, and Andretti) squad who got it done. I understand the narrative, but Lundgaard didn’t put a wheel wrong all weekend and sometimes that’s what it takes to win in INDYCAR. When it’s your weekend, it’s your weekend, and this team certainly needed it.
Lundgaard’s win also marked back-to-back top-five finishes after having a solid fourth at Mid-Ohio two weeks ago, so momentum is definitely on his side. Something folks, who’ve followed his racing career, have expected from the ex-Ferrari Academy driver.
“We had the better car in the race today, and I wasn’t really expecting it. I knew we had a fast car, but I wasn’t expecting to be this fast and just kind of just drive around and be there,” said Lundgaard.
“Today fuel mileage was just too easy, so I have to thank Honda for that. They made this win easy for me today, especially on the last stint making sure I got the file mileage and Hy-Vee for supporting this team.
“We know where we’re going next. It’s Iowa, and we’re going there up on top of a win, so we’ll see if we can replicate that there.”
Lundgaard led 54 laps en route of snapping RLL’s winless streak. (Photo: Jack Shanlin | The Podium Finish)
For much of 2023, Lundgaard has been the lone wolf in terms of positive performances for RLL with his two poles and being a frequent top-10 finisher. Thus, Lundgaard has been fighting hard to be in the top-10 points standings all season, duking it out with some of the drivers from the Big Four. With his win, it propelled him from 10th to seventh in the championship trail with seven rounds remaining.
Otherwise, RLL haven’t had an ideal season with teammates Graham Rahal and Jack Harvey having nightmare campaigns. Highlighted with Graham missing the Indy 500 in his own car after being bumped by Harvey.
Of course, Graham ended up racing the 500 when he filled in for the injured Stefan Wilson days later only to being behind the 8-ball when the Dreyer & Reinbold/Cusick Motorsports entry lost two laps when they struggled to fire up the machine. Graham wound up 22nd, five laps behind race winner Josef Newgarden.
Fast forward to Mid-Ohio, Rahal appeared to finally have a complete race weekend together and was in the mix for a podium. Until a pit stop miscue dashed Rahal’s chance of such goal and wound up seventh.
Things have been even worse for Harvey, who sits 23rd in points and has yet to even score a single top-10 since Nashville last August. In fact, Harvey’s 10th place finish from Nashville remains his only top-10 since joining the team in 2022. It’s gotten to the point where silly season has him circled as one of several drivers who may be on the hot seat of unlikely retaining his seat.
Jack Harvey failed to finish in Toronto after being involved in a Lap 1 crash. (Photo: Jack Shanlin | The Podium Finish)
Naturally, criticisms have come the team’s way, even Lundgaard has had his share of critics by association. But through it all, Lundgaard has never given up on the team’s progress and knows their time will come sooner than later. In fact, he felt that going back to the Indianapolis Grand Prix circuit next month would’ve been the time to redeem himself from a disappointing fourth in the GMR Grand Prix two months ago.
“I know what I’m capable of, and I know what the team is capable of, and in looking at the three cars this year I would say I’ve been the faster car,” said Lundgaard. “Even this weekend I don’t think we had a fast enough car yesterday to be on pole in a completely clear qualifying.
“Graham would have been roughly around me then, and he is unlucky that his group was wet. He hit the wall twice, and he was out, and he had to start the race last.
“So we had a better car today, I believe. We made it work and finished it off.”
Not only Lundgaard was able to snap a near three-year winless streak for the three-car organization, but Graham Rahal is also showing momentum, finishing ninth after starting shotgun on the field. In large part of what Lundgaard commented on during Sunday’s post-race press conference.
Despite another chagrin leading up to the race, things are slowly clicking for Graham and was able to score his fourth top-10 of the year. While things could’ve been better in Rahal’s eyes, simply escaping the Lap 1 crash that took out four competitors, including teammate Harvey, was better than the luck he’s endured all season.
“It was a good day overall. We were able to work our way forward and avoid several messes,” said Graham. “Obviously, we got in a couple (of messes) but we were able to keep things as clean as possible. I think we just need to get a little bit better. Obviously, great job to Christian. I think we just did a good job overall with strategy and everything that played out well for us today and we turn our attention to Iowa.”
Heading into the Iowa doubleheader, Graham sits 14th in points, 63 points behind Alexander Rossi for 10th in points.
Rahal certainly worked his way through the field on Sunday. (Photo: Jack Shanlin | The Podium Finish)
From the highest of highs and lowest of lows since RLL won the 2020 Indianapolis 500 with Takuma Sato, co-owner Bobby Rahal described the trials and tribulations the team have been through.
After a disastrous Month of May, changes within the staff had to be made and now it appears things are fully clicking in the organization.
“I think the organization is really working well, and I think we saw that at Mid-Ohio. You know, we came out of Indy really very, very disappointed and really kind of — it would have been hard — you would have been hard-pressed to believe we actually won the race two years earlier, and now we’re on the back row, and one guy didn’t make it in the race. At least in our car,” Bobby explained.
“That kind of shook us to our core I think, but I have to say I think, frankly, the race that maybe had a bigger negative effect was Detroit because we were just — we were not good at all. That’s when we decided to make the changes that we made internally. I think we’ve seen the results of that change.”
“We’ve had great events since then. There’s I think a very good vibe within the team. Of course, today helps that immensely. Nothing like winning; right?”
Winning certainly helps indeed, Bobby. Now the mind shifts to Iowa where expectations are even higher for RLL because Hy-Vee is not only Lundgaard’s primary sponsor, but it also so happens to be the title sponsor of the doubleheader.
“For Hy-Vee, who have stood with us through thick and thin to win this race, I mean, they’re the biggest fans we have, frankly. My phone is blowing up with people from Hy-Vee. Oh, that’s great! Now they’re going to expect that next weekend,” Bobby regarding Lundgaard’s win from a sponsorship point of view.
“I’m just very proud of the team, very proud of the working relationships we have within the team, whether it’s with Christian and Graham and Jack or the engineers or what have you.
“The response to the disappointment of Indy, and of course, maybe even the bigger disappointment of Detroit, really the response to that is due to their commitment to this organization and to themselves, each of them, and together,” Bobby continued.
“I don’t want to be pessimistic. I think we have a good chance next weekend to figure in the race. We have a reasonable test out there, but it’s like anything. I don’t think you can count anything for granted. I think you have to go in there and try to do your best every day and see what happens.”
