Christian Lundgaard earns first IndyCar victory, ends winless drought for Rahal

It’s difficult to understate what Christian Lundgaard’s inaugural victory means to Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

Aside from ending a nearly three-year winless streak (dating to Takuma Sato winning the 2020 Indianapolis 500), the team’s budding star achieved a breakthrough victory heading into the July 22-23 race weekend doubleheader at Iowa Speedway — a multimillion-dollar showcase for Hy-Vee, the primary sponsor of Lundgaard’s No. 45 Dallara-Honda.

And the turnaround comes barely six weeks after RLL hit rock bottom. The team fired some longtime team members after all three of its cars started and finished outside the top 15 in the Detroit Grand Prix — a week after the No. 15 of Graham Rahal failed to qualify for the Indy 500.

“May was hell,” team co-owner Bobby Rahal said. “That’s why we made the decisions that we made, and they weren’t easy. I think we’re getting the results of those, but I don’t take any confidence that we’re there yet.”

The first-time winner of the Honda Indy Toronto officially has shaved.

After a first round of postrace interviews with the mustache he grew in the offseason (and vowed to shave after his first victory), Christian Lundgaard arrived in the interview room with the baby-faced visage that he was sporting last season as the 2022 rookie of the year.

Hat tip to Indianapolis Star reporter Nathan Brown for documenting this important moment:

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing later provided the video evidence from victory lane:

As the @IndyCarOnNBC graphic details below, this was a patch of facial hair that rivaled Jeff Gordon’s in the early 1990s (and we don’t necessarily mean that as a compliment despite the greatness of a NASCAR Hall of Famer and four-time Cup Series champion):

Here are the finishing order and the top 10 in the points standings after the Honda Indy Toronto, which Christian Lundgaard won for his first IndyCar Series victory.

Click here for the results.

Top 10 in points:

A runner-up finish at Toronto was another example of why this seems to be Alex Palou’s season.

The NTT IndyCar Series points leader started a season-worst 15th and overcame a busted front wing on his No. 10 Dallara-Honda to finish second, his sixth consecutive finish of fourth or better.

“We knew it was going to be an eventful race,” Palou, who was seeking his fourth consecutive victory, told NBC Sports’ Dillon Welch. “I had a lot of ups and downs.”

Palou’s car was damaged during a caution for contact between Kyle Kirkwood and Helio Castroneves on a Lap 45 restart. Palou somehow managed to pass Colton Herta on the next restart and then nursed his wounded car to the checkered flag (while his team was radioing that he might not reach the finish without a pit stop for repairs).

“I don’t know how we made it with this wing,” Palou said. “The car was still handling OK, and then we just had to save a ton of fuel, a ton of tires. But we made it. Glad we finished p2 today. A win could have been possible, but I did a bad qualifying yesterday.

“As long as we have fast cars, we’re going to be OK. The guys did an amazing strategy call. It was tough to save that much fuel, but they put me on that position. Kudos to the 10 car.”

With seven races left in the season, Palou extended his championship lead to 117 points over Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon, who finished fourth.

The NTT IndyCar Series crowned its second first-time winner of the 2023 season as Christian Lundgaard dominated from the pole position to win the Honda Indy Toronto.

The Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver, who won by nearly 12 seconds over points leader Alex Palou, joined Kyle Kirkwood (who won at Long Beach) in making his maiden voyage to victory lane this year.

It’s the first victory for RLL since Takuma Sato won the 2020 Indianapolis 500.

Palou, who was seeking his fourth consecutive victory, earned his sixth consecutive top five and was joined on the podium by Colton Herta in a season-best third. Scott Dixon and Josef Newgarden rounded out the top five.

Christian Lundgaard seems to be cruising toward his first NTT IndyCar Series victory.

The Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver has built a lead of nearly 7 seconds over points leader Alex Palou with 10 laps remaining.

Lundgaard has promised to shave his mustache in victory lane after his inaugural win in IndyCar.

Pole-sitter Christian Lundgaard is back in control of the Honda Indy Toronto.

The Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver passed Alex Palou for position and took over the lead as Scott McLaughlin and Scott Dixon pitted from the top two spots.

Within a few laps, Lundgaard already had built a lead of more than 3 seconds over Palou with 20 laps remaining.

Get your razors ready!

Seeking his fourth consecutive victory, Alex Palou demonstrated his championship mettle again on the Lap 51 restart.

Palou, who started a season-worst 15th, snatched fourth place from Colton Hera at the green flag and now is in position to win again with the top three of Scott McLaughlin, Scott Dixon and Rinus VeeKay likely needing to pit again.

NBC Sports’ Kevin Lee reports from the pits that Palou should be able to stretch his fuel to the end, but analysts Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe also noticed that the front wing of Palou’s No. 10 Dallara-Honda seems to have damage.

Palou is trying to become the first driver since 2006 (Sebastien Bourdais in Champ Car) to win four consecutive.

Back-to-back yellow flags created an interesting strategy wrinkle in the Honda Indy Toronto.

Christian Lundgaard elected to pit from the lead under caution on Lap 48, handing first to Scott McLaughlin, who stayed on track in second with Scott Dixon and Rinus VeeKay.

Behind the top three were several cars that had pitted under the previous yellow, including Kyle Kirkwood, Colton Herta and Alex Palou.

Lundgaard is in seventh place with 34 laps remaining as the field remained under yellow.

The Honda Indy Toronto wasn’t green for very long after the cleanup from Romain Grosjean’s crash.

Helio Castroneves spun in Turn 11 while the field took the green flag ahead on a restart.

A replay showed that Kyle Kirkwood, who just had pitted under caution, rear-ended Castroneves to cause the spin.

Kirkwood later was given a stop and go penalty for avoidable contact.

Romain Grosjean walked away from his No. 28 Dallara-Honda after heavy contact with the Turn 10 wall for the second yellow of the Honda Indy Toronto.

According to the IndyCar on NBC broadcast crew, Grosjean radioed his team that the steering wheel slipped before he skidded head-on into the barrier.

It’s another disappointing result for the Frenchman, who is in his second season with Andretti Autosport and has yet to be signed for 2024.

Since two pole positions in the first four races and back-to-back second places at Long Beach and Barber Motorsports Park, Grosjean has finished outside the top 10 in six consecutive races.

Halfway through the Honda Indy Toronto, the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team might be getting the razors ready for Christian Lundgaard.

The pole-sitter has built a comfortable lead of more than 6 seconds over Scott McLaughlin on Lap 42 of 85 with the first round of pit stops complete.

Lundgaard grew a mustache in the offseason, and the Dane vowed to shave it in victory lane of his first IndyCar victory.

Pato O’Ward is in third, followed by Kyle Kirkwood and Marcus Ericsson.

A dejected Tom Blomqvist recapped his IndyCar debut, which ended on the exit of the first corner when he was knocked into the outside wall after a collision between Ryan Hunter-Reay and Jack Harvey.

“This is the last thing that I wanted to happen today,” Blomqvist told NBC Sports’ Dillon Welch. “My goal was simply just to (finish). Someone hit someone, and I was on the outside of that corner, and I couldn’t get across, and I knew this was a risk looking at the race from last year. So I really didn’t want to be there, but I had no choice at the time. You’re at the mercy of people on your inside. And unfortunately, they couldn’t make it work. I was the last guy there, so unfortunately just pushed into the wall.”

Blomqvist was racing the No. 60 Dallara-Honda in place of Simon Pagenaud, who remains sidelined after his July 1 crash at Mid-Ohio.

“I’m pretty furious to be honest,” Blomqvist said. “I’m not out there fighting for anything. I just wanted to get a race distance under my belt. Not what I wanted to happen today. Pretty devastated. Pretty gutted. Really sorry for the guys and the team as well. They’ve worked really hard. It’s been a good opportunity for me to be there and to not even get one lap is obviously extremely frustrating.”

The two-time Rolex 24 at Daytona winner is expected to move into the IndyCar Series full time next season with Meyer Shank Racing, but it could be a while before Bloomqvist’s next start.

Even if Pagenaud isn’t cleared to drive for the July 22-23 doubleheader at Iowa Speedway, Bloomqvist never has raced on an oval, and it’s likely MSR would go with Conor Daly (a former pole-sitter at Iowa who drove in place of Pagenaud at Mid-Ohio).

After opening a lead of more than 4 seconds over Scott McLaughlin, pole-sitter Christian Lundgaard made his first pit stop on Lap 19 for four tires.

That handed the lead to Scott McLaughlin, who started on the primary tire.

Lundgaard chose the alternate tire, a softer compound that is faster but wears more quickly. The Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver rejoined the race just outside the top 10.

Pole-sitter Christian Lundgaard led the field to green on Lap 10 as there was no change in the top four before the yellow flag midway through the first lap.

Scott Dixon restarted fifth after gaining a spot on the intitial green flag, as did Kyle Kirkwood (eighth to seventh). Felix Rosenqvist (sixth) lost a spot on the opening lap, and Will Power dropped from sixth to eighth.

Just as he did on the start, Lundgaard (whose No. 45 Dallara-Honda is on the softer and faster alternate tire) easily got the jump on Scott McLaughlin in second.

Toronto was treacherous from the opening turns as contact erupted between several cars on the exit of the first corner.

The chain reaction included Ryan Hunter-Reay, Jack Harvey, Devlin DeFrancesco, Santino Ferrrucci, Benjamin Pedersen, Sting Ray Robb, Alexander Rossi and Tom Blomqvist.

The incident seemed to start when Harvey and Hunter-Reay collided (with Blomqvist on the outside of Hunter-Reay).

Harvey, Hunter-Reay, Pedersen and Blomqvist (who made only one corner in his IndyCar debut) have retired from the race.

Rossi, who was starting 26th after an electric problem with his steering wheel in qualifying, fell a lap down and then pitted on Lap 7 to replace the front wing of his No. 7 Dallara-Chevrolet.

There were some interesting choices made for tire compounds at the start of the Honda Indy Toronto with the front two rows splitting half and half.

Pole-sitter Christian Lundgaard chose the alternate compound (which presumably is faster but wears more quickly), and Scott McLaughlin will start alongside on the primary in Row 1.

On Row 2, Pato O’Ward is on the alternate on the inside starting third, and Marcus Ericsson chose the primary tire from the outside.

Prerace coverage of the Honda Indy Toronto began with interviews of points leader Alex Palou and pole-sitter Christian Lundgaard.

Palou is in his fourth IndyCar season, but this will mark only his second start at Toronto (as the race was canceled in 2020-21 because of the pandemic). Last year, Palou started 22nd but finished sixth partly because of a wild opening lap in which the Spaniard went three wide.

Asked by Townsend Bell if he planned on being as aggressive today, Palou smiled and said the 2022 start was “too much. I looked at it this morning, and I just lost the rear. I’ll try not to do that this time. ... It’s going to be a busy day at the office.”

Lundgaard will be starting from the pole position with a goal of winning to lose the mustache he has been sporting all season. The Danish driver vowed he will shave it after his first IndyCar victory, and he made the pledge with a friend, Victor Petersen, who also was on the Toronto starting grid.

“It gives me something to race for for the fun of it, and I think that’s also what makes it great,” Lundgaard told NBC Sports’ Kevin Lee. “To have my best friend by my side here, this was his first qualifying to ever witness, and I’m on pole, so I bet he’s having a great time.”

NBC Sports Peacock

Several contenders will be coming from deep in the 27-car starting grid (click here for the starting lineup).

Championship leader Alex Palou, who has won four of the past five (including three consecutive) to build a 110-point margin over Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon, qualified a season-worst 15th. It’s the worst starting spot for the 2021 series champion since qualifying 22nd last year in his Toronto debut (when Palou rallied to finish sixth).

Colton Herta was fastest in Saturday morning practice but qualified 14th after struggling on a wet track. After rain caused an electrical problem in his steering wheel, Alexander Rossi will start 26th (while Arrow McLaren teammates Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist both made the Fast Six).

Other storylines to follow:

—Tom Blomqvist will start 20th in his NTT IndyCar Series debut for Meyer Shank Racing. The two-time Rolex 24 at Daytona winner will be driving the No. 60 Dallara-Honda in place of Simon Pagenaud, who has yet to be cleared to race after his scary practice crash July 1 at Mid-Ohio SportsCar Course.

Though he is accustomed to driving high-downforce cars, it’s been a major adjustment for the defending IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship prototype champion, who was admittedly “so lost” during Friday practice. Blomqvist is trying to learn a vehicle with unfamiliar turning inputs and sensations (unlike IMSA, IndyCar lacks power steering) on the toughest street circuit on the schedule.

With Blomqvist expected to move full time to IndyCar with MSR next season, a strong result could be as much about validation as adaptation for Blomqvist. MSR also has the motivation of trying to quell negative perceptions from “haters” since drawing a massive punishment for manipulating tire pressures during its Rolex 24 victory with the No. 60 Acura ARX-06 this season. The team has struggled in IMSA and IndyCar since the penalty, and team co-owner Mike Shank addressed the critics when MSR won in IMSA last week at nearby Canadian Tire Motorsport Park with Blomqvist and Colin Braun.

—It’s already been an eventual three days in Toronto for Felix Rosenqvist. The Swede crashed in Saturday morning practice but qualified fifth in a backup car that his team scrambled to prepare. Rosenqvist was last in the 30-minute warmup Sunday, but his No. 6 Dallara-Chevrolet seemed very racy during the session.

—If Dixon wants to make a run at a seventh championship, starting seventh at Toronto would be a good time to start putting pressure on teammate Palou. Dixon, who moved to second in the standings with a runner-up finish at Mid-Ohio, has a series-high four victories at Toronto.