Christian Lundgaard was very downbeat after the opening practice session in IndyCar ahead of the Grand Prix of Monterey at Laguna Seca.
The Danish driver endured a difficult session in California, managing only the 10th quickest time with a 1:10.0684 for Arrow McLaren.
It was a chaotic outing for some of the field as Canadian Devlin DeFrancesco spun and damaged his No. 30 Rahal Letterman Lanigan car.
Lundgaard was at a loss to explain the lack of raw speed at the start of the weekend, particularly in the challenging first practice session.
He said in the post-session press conference: “No, I’d say I was very surprised, very frustrated at the moment. Yeah, I don’t get pissed off very often, and this is one of the moments where I definitely am.
“I think we need to take our time this afternoon and tomorrow morning to try to figure out how to make it better for tomorrow. I don’t know if we missed something completely or if something is wrong. Obviously, we’ll investigate that.”
Lundgaard has had a mixed season at Arrow McLaren
The Danish driver sits fifth in the championship during his first season at Arrow McLaren and has taken four podiums so far in 2025.
Lundgaard started the season very brightly with three podiums prior to the Indy 500 before a drop off in form after the month of May.
More recently, a third-place finish at Mid-Ohio hasn’t been followed up by consistent results with a sixth at Iowa, combined with two races outside the top 10.
Lundgaard has built a very impressive bank of points during his first campaign at a top team, but he is 120 points behind one of his teammates, Pato O’Ward.
He has the potential to deliver for Arrow McLaren, and Lundgaard has already driven superbly this year, but he will be hoping for a smoother rest of the weekend at Laguna Seca.
Image credit: Penske Entertainment: Joe Skibinski
