Lundgaard Shows Some Muscle In Portland

PORTLAND, Ore. — Arrow McLaren driver Christian Lundgaard is determined to finish his first season on the IndyCar team with a victory.

He looked like a winner in Friday’s practice session at Portland International Raceway with the best overall time of the day.

Lundgaard lapped the 12-turn, 1.964-mile Portland road course at 58.5320 in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. NTT IndyCar Series points leader Alex Palou was second at 58.5381 in the No. 10 DHL Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing.

Palou has a 121-point lead over Pato O’Ward in the battle for the 2025 IndyCar Series championship. All Palou has to do to wrap up his third-straight championship, fourth in the past five seasons, is leave Portland with a 108-point lead over O’Ward.

Felix Rosenqvist of Meyer-Shank Racing was third at 58.6589 in the No. 60 SiriusXM Honda followed by Graham Rahal in the No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda at 58.6879 and Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden in the No. 2 Chevrolet at 58.7162.

Through the first 15 minutes of Practice 1, Lundgaard had the fastest time at 59.2198 in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet followed by teammate Pato O’Ward’s 59.3357 in the No. 5 Chevrolet. Kyle Kirkwood’s No. 27 Honda was third at 59.3660 followed by Rinus VeeKay’s No. 18 Honda at 59.3864 and Louis Foster’s 59.7772 in the No. 45 Honda.

About one minute later, it was back to green with 23 minutes left in the first practice.

With 19:03 left in the session, Scott Dixon lost control of the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda, drove through the grass and was able to stop without hitting the tire barrier for the season red-flag stoppage of the practice.

After the No. 9 was towed back to pit lane, the green flag waved, and it was back to practice.

When Practice 1 ended, Lundgaard was on top at 59.1037 followed by Palou’s 59.2060 in the No. 10 Honda, Armstrong’s 59.218 in the No. 66 Honda, Rosenqvist in the No. 60 Honda at 59.2377 and Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden’s 59.3014.

Pato O’Ward was sixth at 59.3357 and Kyle Kirkwood’s No. 27 Honda was seventh at 59.3660.

Split groups followed as Group 1 hit the track for 12 minutes.

When that session concluded, Lundgaard was on top at 58.5320 followed by Rosenqvist’s 58.6589, Graham Rahal’s 58.6879, Newgarden’s 58.7126 and Dixon’s 58.8501.

“We need to continue that momentum,” Lundgaard said. “It was nice for everybody to have a weekend off, regroup and recharge. We all needed that week off and if we can regroup, we can have a good end to the season.”

Will Power is the defending winner at Portland and was asked how his car responded on Friday.

“It didn’t feel too bad, but we are lacking pace here,’ Power said. “We have to find some more there. Nothing stays the same. We’ll go back, do some homework and find some time.”

Group 2 was next on track and when that session finished, Palou was the fastest at 58.5381 followed by David Malukas at 58.7498.

“It did feel good,” Malukas said. “It was a little bit of an unknown until we got to the group running and we got a lot of answers that we needed. It felt very good.

“It will be a bit of a guessing game how the car and tire react to the higher temperatures on Sunday.”

Marcus Armstrong was third at 58.7573 followed by Kyle Kirkwood’s 58.7649.

“It’s good because our test was very similar to when we tested here,” Kirkwood said. “Predictability is very important. I’m very happy with our car here. This could be our redemption this year at Portland.”