Christian Lundgaard won the Sonsio Grand Prix on Saturday on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. It was his first NTT INDYCAR SERIES victory in nearly three years. (Photo courtesy of the NTT IndyCar Series)

By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio

Christian Lundgaard joined the short list of international drivers to have carried McLaren Racing’s trademark Papaya Orange livery to an INDYCAR victory Saturday during the Sonsio Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road-Course.

Lundgaard drove the No. 7 VELO Arrow McLaren Chevrolet to his second career victory by 4.6713-seconds over the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet of David Malukas. A 24-year-old native of Denmark, Lundgaard snapped a 47-race winless streak to become only the third McLaren driver to win in INDYCAR, joining three-time Indianapolis 500 champion Johnny Rutherford of Fort Worth, Texas, and native Mexican Pato O’Ward.

“All I hope is that it doesn’t take another three years (until his next win),” Lundgaard joked post-race. “It feels really good. This was my eighth start (on the 2.439-mile/14-turn IMS Road-Course), and I’ve been fighting for podiums every single time, except last year actually. I think that’s why it feels better.”

Lundgaard ended four-time/reigning NTT IndyCar Series champion Alex Palou’s recent stranglehold on this event, which annually launches Month of May activity at IMS. The schedule is headlined by the 110^th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge on Sunday, May 24.

“Obviously, it does give some momentum, but the Speedway is a very different animal,” said Lundgaard, referring to the famed 2.5-mile oval. “The (Arrow McLaren) cars were good at the Open Test. We have Ryan Hunter-Reay (2014 Indy 500 champ) joining the team this year, so I think there’s a lot of good to come for us.

“I really didn’t expect this today. I hoped for it. We did it. Let’s go. Good start to May.”

Recall that Lundgaard scored his first career series win at the Honda Indy Toronto on July 16, 2023 driving for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Lundgaard led 20 of 85 laps Saturday en route to his third podium result of the season and fourth place in the driver standings led by Palou.

Graham Rahal finished third in the No. 15 Fifth Third Bank Honda to tie his season-best result. “That was physical,” said Rahal, a 37-year-old resident of New Albany, Ohio. “I’m proud of this team. Everybody has worked awfully hard to get on-track and to have two podiums this early in the year feels amazing as does doing this for Fifth Third Bank and all of our partners. We’ve just got to carry this momentum into the Indy 500 for sure.

“I was trying to catch Malukas, but I struggled with the rear of my car a lot today. I’m sure everybody probably was similar but I was really loose today, and, unfortunately it just didn’t happen. But great job to him (Malukas). I mean, the kid has just done a hell of a job, stepped right in there and flat-out performed, so it’s impressive.”

Josef Newgarden finished fourth in the No. 2 Astemo Team Penske Chevrolet to place two Penske cars in the top-four. “It’s a pretty good day,” said Newgarden, a 35-year-old native of Nashville and two-time Indy 500 champion. “It’s not like a great day, but, you know, fourth, we can work with that. Good points. Now we get to go the other way (clockwise for the Indy 500).

“So, yeah, I’m proud of the team. The team was amazing on the pit stop strategy. That’s really what made our day. We had some decent speed, not race-winning speed but I think top-five for sure. So, we probably finished about where our potential was, which, you know, I don’t want my potential and our potential to be fourth, but some days you have got to take that. So, we’re chipping away at getting back in front.”

NTT P1 Award winner Palou _ who led every session he was on-track this weekend entering the race _ completed the top-five in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.

Lundgaard, who started fourth, took the lead for good with a scintillating pass on Malukas on Lap 68. The two drivers raced side-by-side through Turns 3 and 4 before Lundgaard slipped through a small opening in the Turns 5-and-6 chicane leading to the backstretch.

“It probably looks more spectacular from the outside than it really did inside the helmet,” Lundgaard said. “You know, I’ve been now watching it on the TV screen probably 50 times but it doesn’t look the same way as what it felt.

“No, I knew I had one chance, maybe two on David at that time. He seemed to be pretty strong in (Turn) 14 and we weren’t. His braking performance was also a little stronger than I thought ours was. I knew I could do it around that pit sequence. Obviously, we tried to undercut him. I struggled a lot on out-laps. He seemed to be a little better than I was.

“I think it was (Romain) Grosjean that was ahead. There was another car in play at the time that slowed him down. I tried to set him up for (Turn) 2 and actually make the slingshot to be on the inside for Turn 4, but he was pretty slow kind of through the kink off Turn 3.

“I thought, ‘OK, F— it. I’m going to stay on the outside and see how it goes.’^”

Lundgaard, who last pitted for the final time one lap earlier than Malukas on Lap 65, pulled away over the closing circuits. Malukas led a race-high 27 laps, four more than Lundgaard, as he fell short of earning his first career victory.

“We were very strong in those middle stints, and then toward the end, we maybe made the wrong decision on wing (adjustments) there,” said Malukas, a 24-year-old native of Chicago in his first season with Roger Penske’s juggernaut. “We were just falling apart. I was doing everything I can just to survive, and Rahal was coming from behind.

“But either way, that is a fantastic result. We went into this weekend knowing it was going to be a struggle for us. We thought we wouldn’t even make the Firestone Fast Six (in qualifying), and here we are P2 on the podium. We’re one step closer to getting that win.”

Chaos and snap decisions from strategists reigned from the drop of the green flag until the race settled into a rhythm after the final round of pit stops for the field with 20 to 25 laps remaining.

Palou led into Turn 1 at the start, seeking his fourth consecutive victory in this event. Behind him, O’Ward in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, six-time series champion Scott Dixon of New Zealand in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, Sweden’s Felix Rosenqvist in the No. 60 SiriusXM Honda and rookie Caio Collet of Brazil in the No. 4 Combitrans Amazonia Chevrolet of A.J. Foyt Racing were collected in a chain-reaction accident as the 25-car field funneled from the front straightaway into the tight Turns 1-2 complex.

O’Ward spent the afternoon in recovery mode en route to a deflating 18^th-place finish. “Happy to see Christian and the No. 7 guys get their first win together,” said O’Ward, 27, the popular Mexican who has family ties to San Antonio, Texas. “As for my race, that hit was the start to a very bad and frustrating day from all angles.”

However, that incident helped Malukas jump from fifth to second and triggered the first of three full-course cautions in the race. Many teams began to adopt alternate strategies to cope with the early field shuffle, entering for tires and fuel when the pits opened on Lap 3.

Meanwhile, Palou stayed on track and began to pad his lead. Kyle Kirkwood drove his No. 27 JM Bullion/Gold.com Honda of Andretti Global past Malukas for second on Lap 7, and the top two drivers in the series point standings started to pull away and possibly set up a one-on-one duel for victory.

But the script turned on its head on Lap 22, when the No. 20 Java House Chevrolet driven by Alexander Rossi of Ed Carpenter Racing stopped along the pit wall near the Yard of Bricks start/finish line on the front straightaway with a mechanical problem. Many other cars had started to pit before the full-course yellow, but Palou and Kirkwood did not from the top two spots.

Palou and Kirkwood entered the pits on Lap 25, dropping them to 19th and 20th, respectively, when they returned to speed. Palou and Kirkwood just avoided calamity on the restart on Lap 28, darting around another chain-reaction collision _ this time in Turn 13 _ among Rosenqvist, O’Ward, Sting Ray Robb in the No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Goodheart Chevrolet and Kyffin Simpson of the Cayman Islands in the No. 8 Sunoco Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.

Kirkwood’s chances for victory ended during his pit service on Lap 39, when a slow right-front wheel change resulted in a 15.2-second stop. Palou’s stop was 7.2-seconds on the same lap, allowing him to continue to march toward the front. But he never got any closer than fifth, 14.3630-seconds behind winner Lundgaard.

While Palou’s two-race win streak ended, the Spaniard still padded his series lead over Kirkwood to 27 points. Kirkwood finished ninth.

Collet’s No. 4 Foyt Racing Chevy sustained damage to the front end in that opening lap melee, with his crew replacing the nose cone once the pits opened. Collet did not lose a lap but reported the steering was “messed-up,” with team engineers opting to compensate via wing adjustments.

Meanwhile, Foyt teammate Santino Ferrucci found himself in sixth when the dust cleared. But his No. 14 Homes For Our Troops Chevrolet sustained a solid rear-end hit which broke part of the diffuser. The result was less downforce on a flat track where downforce is critical.

Then with the laps winding down, rookie Mick Schumacher slammed his No. 47 ENVE Honda into the rear of the No. 14 Chevy, spinning Ferrucci around while Schumacher motored past. Ferrucci kept his car going and rejoined the race in 15th. Schumacher subsequently was penalized by race stewards and dropped to the rear of the cars running, giving a frustrated Ferrucci 14th.

“Nothing like 85 laps on a downforce track with a crushed rear diffuser,” said Ferrucci, a 27-year-old resident of Dallas. “So, just got really unlucky. At the start my row just didn’t go, I got rear-ended and then I nailed the car in front of me, but we avoided all the carnage at the start. In fact, we avoided all the carnage all day long. I definitely think even with the wounded car, we could have finished a little bit better.”

Asked about the incident with Schumacher, Ferrucci said, “I’m not quite sure what happened at the end with Schumacher, because I think he was trying to dive to the inside and he just misjudged it, and he just fully punted us. I think he just misjudged the timing. He got his drive-through (penalty). It cost us only three positions. So, it sucks, but we also shouldn’t have been back there to begin with.”

Schumacher finished 20^th in the 25-car field in his Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda. “It was a shame to end that way,” said Schumacher, the 27-year-old son of seven-time Formula One World Driving Champion Michael Schumacher of Germany. “We had a strong race, even with the damage that we had from the restart. So, considering everything and two laps before the end, to have, for sure a P11 or P10 on the cards…if somebody would have told me that before the race, I would have said, ‘Yeah, for sure, I’ll take it.’

“So, to finish P20 sucks, to be honest. But I think there’s a lot of positives to take away and just move on to the Indy 500. I’m looking forward to that now.”

A 24-year-old native of Brazil, Collet struggled with a damaged car and trouble in pit lane en route to finishing 19th. “I felt that I was just in a sandwich there with Kyle (Kirkwood) and Scott (Dixon), and we both hit Felix, as he was spun in the middle of the track,” said Collet, reviewing the opening lap incident. “I have to see the replay of what happened, to see maybe if I could have avoided or not. But it was kind of tricky.

“After that, I had a lot of damage. We tried our best to finish the race and try to manage the damage with some front wing adjustments on the pit stops. But, yeah, it’s not easy.”

Lundgaard made his 23^rd start for Arrow McLaren Saturday and delivered his ninth podium. He and Team Principal Tony Kanaan celebrated the 28^th INDYCAR victory for McLaren Racing and 10^th for the organization founded by driver/engineer Bruce McLaren of New Zealand since its return to INDYCAR on a fulltime basis in 2020.

“A win is always a win,” said Kanaan, a native of Brazil, 2013 Indy 500 champion and series champ in 2004. “Obviously a great feeling. We’ve seen a lot of ups and downs on the team this year, and for me personally a tough week with the news of (the passing of) Alex Zanardi. For sure wherever he is, he is happy for us. Dedicate that for him.

“Obviously been working with Christian quite a bit and we’ve started this tradition, you know, giving him a kiss on the cheek _ a Brazilian kiss on his cheek every time he gets in the car before the race. I was trying to understand if I should keep doing that, if it was working or not. It worked. It feels good for the team.

“It feels good for Chris Lawrence, his engineer. It’s his first win as an engineer. I don’t need to say anything else about (strategist) Kyle Moyer. Really happy for the team.”

Lundgaard is now poised to repeat Palou’s 2025 IMS sweep of winning the Sonsio Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500. Practice for “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” on the 2.5-mile oval is scheduled to open Tuesday, May 12. FOX Sports will broadcast 80 hours of coverage beginning with practice at noon (EDT) on FS2 and ending with the 110th Indianapolis 500 on FOX at 12:30 p.m. on May 24.

Tymek Kucharczyk notched his first INDY NXT win Saturday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. (Photo courtesy of the NTT IndyCar Series)

Tymek Kucharczyk was Mr. Consistency during the first five races of the 2026 INDY NXT by Firestone season. The rookie from Poland is now a race-winner at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The first Polish driver to compete in INDYCAR’s developmental series, Kucharczyk earned his breakthrough career victory by holding off Max Taylor to win Race 2 of the Indianapolis Grand Prix double-header Saturday on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road-Course.

SEE: Race Results

“What a special day,” said Kucharczyk, a 20-year-old native of Lodygowice, Poland. “To do it here, coming back to November in my first test in an INDY NXT car, now a winner here at Indy, it’s spectacular. I’m so grateful to my sponsors, to my team. It was a tough race. It was really, really hard to hold Max behind me. He was pushing me for the whole race.”

Kucharczyk was the only driver to record a top-five finish in the first five races this season, but his best was third place, three times. He finished fourth in Race 1 of this double-header in mixed conditions Friday.

But Kucharczyk climbed from fifth into the lead after the first two turns on the 2.439-mile/14-turn circuit, leading all 30 laps in the No. 71 HMD Motorsports car. He took the checkered flag 0.6273-seconds ahead of Taylor in the No. 28 Susan G. Komen machine of Andretti Global after a taut duel in the caution-free race.

Enzo Fittipaldi, the 24-year-old grandson of two-time Indy 500 champion Emerson Fittipaldi of Brazil, won Race 1 Friday and prevailed in a three-way fight over the last 10 laps for the final podium spot in the No. 67 HMD Motorsports machine. Lochie Hughes of Australia placed fourth in the No. 26 Andretti Global car, with Alessandro de Tullio completing top-five in the No. 14 A.J. Foyt Racing entry.

Series leader Nikita Johnson placed sixth in the No. 21 Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR car. Kucharczyk climbed to second in the standings with his win, 11 points behind Johnson.

There were two main flashpoints in the race, which took place under sunny skies in contrast to the wet conditions at the finish Friday. The first came at the green flag. Taylor started from pole and went side-by-side with Josh Pierson’s No. 29 Starchive Andretti entry of Andretti Global, with both cars going wide. Kucharczyk snuck through the opening for the lead, with Taylor clinging to second.

Kucharczyk maintained a gap of six- to seven-tenths of a second for the next 16 laps before the second main incident. Kucharczyk locked his right front wheel braking for Turn 1 on Lap 17, creating a large flat spot on his Firestone Firehawk tire.

“Other than the lockup that I made midway through the race, it was a pretty flawless execution,” Kucharczyk said. “I don’t think we had probably the fastest car on the grid today, but the first lap helped me massively. Max was pushing really hard, so I had to save the Push to Pass at the end, as well. It’s all good. I made it happen, so super, super-grateful.”

Taylor pulled to within 0.4807-seconds on Lap 23, and it appeared the flat spot on his tire may have started to sap speed from Kucharczyk. But the Pole managed his tires and saved enough Push to Pass engine boost to increase the gap to 0.7830-seconds on Lap 25. He maintained a steady gap to the checkered flag.

“That was everything,” said Taylor, an 18-year-old native of Greenwich, Conn. “I thought we were going to catch him. I messed up on the start, I think. So, something to look over. But still good points, decent points this weekend, and a lot to take away and a lot to improve on if we want to win this championship.”

Taylor is third in the standings, three points behind Kucharczyk and 14 behind Johnson.

The next INDY NXT by Firestone race is the Detroit Grand Prix on Sunday, May 31, on the Streets of Downtown Motown.

NTT IndyCar Series Point Standings _ 1, Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing, 237; 2, Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global, 210; 3, David Malukas, Team Penske, 185; 4, Christian Lundgaard, Arrow McLaren, 182; 5, Josef Newgarden, Team Penske, 162; 6, Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing, 148; 7, Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren, 148; 8, Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 141; 9, Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske, 141; 10, Marcus Armstrong, Meyer Shank Racing, 123;

11, Felix Rosenqvist, Meyer Shank Racing, 116; 12, Marcus Ericsson, Andretti Global, 112; 13, Alexander Rossi, Ed Carpenter Racing, 110; 14, Will Power, Andretti Global, 107; 15, Dennis Hauger, Dale Coyne Racing, 100; 16, Rinus VeeKay, Juncos Hollinger Racing, 94; 17, Kyffin Simpson, Chip Ganassi Racing, 93; 18, Santino Ferrucci, A.J. Foyt Racing, 90; 19, Louis Foster, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 86; 20, Nolan Siegel, Arrow McLaren, 76;

21, Caio Collet, A.J. Foyt Racing, 70; 22, Romain Grosjean, Dale Coyne Racing, 69; 23, Christian Rasmussen, Ed Carpenter Racing, 65; 24, Sting Ray Robb, Juncos Hollinger Racing, 55; 25, Mick Schumacher, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 54.

FOX SPORTS’ 2026 NTT INDYCAR SERIES BROADCAST SCHEDULE/(RACE WINNER)

Note _ All times Eastern

Sunday, March 1 _ Streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Saturday, March 7 _ Phoenix Raceway, Avondale, Ariz., (Josef Newgarden, Team Penske)

Sunday, March 15 _ Streets of Arlington, Texas, (Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global)

Sunday, March 29 _ Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, Ala., (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Sunday, April 19 _ Streets of Long Beach, Calif., (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Saturday, May 9 _ Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road-Course, (Christian Lundgaard, Arrow McLaren)

Sunday, May 24 _ 110^th Indianapolis 500, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Oval, 10 a.m.

Sunday, May 31 _ Streets of Detroit, 12:30 p.m.

Sunday, June 7 _ World Wide Technology Raceway, Madison, Ill., 9 p.m.

Sunday, June 21 _ Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis., 2 p.m.

Sunday, July 5 _ Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, Ohio, 12:30 p.m.

Sunday, July 19 _ Nashville Superspeedway, Lebanon, Tenn., TBA

Sunday, Aug. 9 _ Portland (Ore.) International Raceway, 4 p.m.

Sunday, Aug. 16 _ Streets of Markham, Canada, Noon

Sunday, Aug. 23 _ Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C., TBA

Saturday, Aug. 29 _ The Milwaukee Mile Race 1, West Allis, Wis., 2:30 p.m.

Sunday, Aug. 30 _ The Milwaukee Mile Race 2, West Allis, Wis., 1 p.m.

Sunday, Sept. 6 _ WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, Monterey, Calif., 2:30 p.m.

Note _ Dates and times subject to change.

2026 INDYCAR NXT BY FIRESTONE SCHEDULE/(RACE-WINNER)

Sunday, March 1 _ Streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., (Nikita Johnson, Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR)

Sunday, March 15 _ Streets of Arlington, Texas, (Max Taylor, Andretti Global)

Saturday, March 28 _ Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, Ala., (Nikita Johnson, Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR)

Sunday, March 29 _ Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, Ala., (Alessandro de Tullio, A.J. Foyt Racing)

Friday, May 8 _ Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road-Course Race 1 (Enzo Fittipaldi, HMD Motorsports)

Saturday, May 9 _ Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road-Course Race 2 (Tymek Kucharczyk, HMD Motorsports)

Sunday, May 31 _ Streets of Detroit

Sunday, June 7 _ World Wide Technology Raceway, Madison, Ill.

Saturday, June 20 _ Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis., Race 1

Sunday, June 21 _ Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis., Race 2

Saturday, July 4 _ Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, Ohio, Race 1

Sunday, July 5 _ Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, Ohio, Race 2

Sunday, July 19 _ Nashville Superspeedway, Lebanon, Tenn.

Sunday, Aug. 9 _ Portland (Ore.) International Raceway

Sunday, Aug. 30 _ The Milwaukee Mile, West Allis, Wis.

Saturday, Sept. 5 _ Weather Tech Raceway Laguna Seca, Monterey, Calif., Race 1

Sunday, Sept. 6 _ Weather Tech Raceway Laguna Seca, Monterey, Calif., Race 2