Christian Lundgaard’s breakout performance in the 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season has positioned him as a strong contender for the championship. The Danish driver has consistently delivered impressive results, averaging a fourth-place finish over the first four races and securing three consecutive podiums.
Despite Lundgaard’s stellar performance, he trails series leader Alex Palou by 60 points following Sunday’s Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix powered by AmFirst. Palou’s dominant start, with three wins and a runner-up finish, has set an extraordinarily high standard.
In the 90-lap race at Barber Motorsports Park, Lundgaard showcased his skill and determination by charging from seventh to finish second in his No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.
“It’s everything we could have hoped for,” Lundgaard said. “Much better. The No. 7 Arrow McLaren crew has done an awesome job all year.”
Lundgaard’s decision to move from Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing to Arrow McLaren after the previous season has proven to be a wise choice. He and Palou are the only drivers to have finished in the top 10 in all four races this year, highlighting the consistency that is essential for any serious title contender.
While Palou benefits from his fifth season driving the No. 10 HRC Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing, Lundgaard has quickly adapted to his new environment at Arrow McLaren, making an immediate impact in just his fourth start with the team after 52 starts with RLL.
“I think the progression we made since the Sebring test earlier this year, it’s been moving forward and going in the right direction,” Lundgaard said. “The team has been doing an awesome job.
“I think ultimately not a lot is really different from my own approach. I would say it’s keeping things very simple and just focus on what you can control, master the basics, really. I think the car is purely faster than what I’ve been doing for the past three years. I think we’ve seen that just purely from the results across the last three years. It’s just good and nice to see it come into reality, really just executing when we have the pace. I think we’ve done so. At the end of the day, that’s how you fight for championships.”
Despite a promising test at Barber on March 10, Lundgaard and his team faced some hurdles during the race weekend. An issue in Friday’s practice and rain-affected sessions on Saturday morning limited their ability to fine-tune the car’s setup.
However, the Arrow McLaren crew regrouped after qualifying and made a decisive change overnight. This adjustment allowed Lundgaard to showcase his racecraft on Sunday, making a field-leading 16 passes during the race.
One of Lundgaard’s most impressive moves came when he overtook Scott McLaughlin’s No. 3 Good Ranchers Team Penske Chevrolet for second place with a perfectly executed inside-out pass in Turn 17 – a maneuver he had previously used against another Scott.
“I did that on Scott Dixon a couple of years ago, so I followed with another Scott this time,” Lundgaard quipped.
