Yahoo Autos Lundgaard salvages speed for Hy-Vee home race
Christian Lundgaard’s night fell off the rails before the first lap was completed, but that didn’t stop him from going like hell once the No. 45 Honda returned to the 250-lap Iowa race sponsored by the sponsor of his Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing entry.
The Dane made a mistake and dipped his left-side tires below the apron – the same error that ended the night for David Malukas — and yet, he was fortunate to avoid contact in his high-speed spin. His Hy-Vee car stalled and per IndyCar’s oval rules, the No. 45 wasn’t refired on the spot.
Towed to pit lane, the combination of the high ambient temperature, plus the time the car spent sitting idle as heatsoak took the energy recovery system into a problematic state, meant more than 20 laps were lost as RLL cooled the car down, discharged the ERS, and brought the system back online.
Despite the setback, Lundgaard returned to the race and put in some blistering laps late in the contest on his way to placing 22nd.
“I’m pissed, for my own sake,” he told RACER. “I’m pretty sure I touched the white line and therefore then spun, and it’s a stupid mistake, and I think we’re we were fortunate not to get collected and not to have any damage. By the time we could restart the car, the hybrid system had overheated, and then we needed to figure that out and just cost us more time. But you know, I want to represent Hy-Vee in the best way possible and proceed to be able to get good results.”
On his first visit to Iowa in 2022, Lundgaard was leery of the rocket-fast short oval. Two years later, he was flying, posting a fastest lap that was within 0.1s of race winner Scott McLaughlin. Saturday’s result didn’t show it, but the 22-year-old has made immense progress in his comfort and pace on ovals.
“In the end, we were just out there to see what the car really felt like,” he said. “The good thing is, we have another race tomorrow.”
