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Lundgaard, Honda on the Pole for GMR Grand Prix at Indianapolis

Posted on by Steve Wittich

Lundgaard, Honda on the Pole for GMR Grand Prix at Indianapolis

  • Christian Lundgaard scores his first career NTT INDYCAR SERIES pole in qualifying for Saturday’s GMR Grand Prix of Indianapolis
  • Honda drivers continue 2023 qualifying dominance on road and street circuits
  • Alex Palou, Jack Harvey and Kyle Kirkwood also advance to the final round of knockout qualifying at Indianapolis

SPEEDWAY, IN (May 12, 2023) – In another thrilling NTT INDCAR SERIES qualifying session, Honda-powered Christian Lundgaard prevailed to score his first pole in Indy car competition today, and the Rahal Letterman Lanigan driver will lead the field to the green flag in Saturday’s GMR Grand Prix on the road course of the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Honda drivers have now claimed the pole in the four INDYCAR road and temporary street circuit events conducted in 2023.

All three Rahal Letterman Lanigan drivers and the full, four-car Andretti Autosport effort advanced out of the first round of knockout qualifying today on the IMS road course, as Honda drivers made up eight of the 12 entries in second-round qualifying.  

Behind Lundgaard at the end of “Firestone Fast Six” final qualifying, Alex Palou will start Saturday’s 85-lap race from the inside of the second row, third.  Lundgaard’s RLL teammate, Jack Harvey, will start fourth, while Long Beach pole qualifier and race winner, Kyle Kirkwood rounded out the top six today for Andretti Autosport.

GMR Grand Prix of Indianapolis Honda Qualifying Results

  •   1st Christian Lundgaard Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda    
  •   3rd Alex Palou Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
  •   4th Jack Harvey Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda    
  •   6th Kyle Kirkwood Andretti Autosport Honda
  •   7th Marcus Ericsson Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
  •   8th Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
  •   9th Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
  • 11th Marcus Armstrong-R Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
  • 14th Colton Herta Andretti Autosport Honda
  • 15th Devlin DeFrancesco Andretti Autosport Honda
  • 18th Romain Grosjean Andretti Autosport Honda
  • 19th Simon Pagenaud Meyer Shank Racing Honda
  • 20th David Malukas Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Honda
  • 22nd Sting Ray Robb-R Dale Coyne Racing with RWR Honda
  • 26th Helio Castroneves Meyer Shank Racing Honda

R – Rookie

Quotes

Christian Lundgaard (#45 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda) pole qualifier: ““The Hy-Vee Honda has been fast all day. I was hoping for this but I wasn’t quite expecting it. I can finally call this (IMS) home, I think. It feels amazing. Waking up this morning, I knew we were going to have a chance to get into the Fast Six, because we’ve done that pretty much every time we’ve been here and I hoped it was going to happen, and now I can sit here and it’s a reality, which is pretty cool. Honestly, right now it feels awesome getting my first NTT P1 award, but with that said, [teammates} Jack [Harvey} is P4 and Graham [Rahal] is P8. That is the best qualifying we’ve had in the two years that we’ve been teammates. I think it shows the progress that we’re on. It’s taken a little longer than we would have liked, but now we’ve got to finish it off tomorrow, but I’m just super happy for the team.”

Alex Palou (#10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) qualified third: “I’m a bit disappointed that we didn’t get the pole. We were looking strong all day; third in Practice 1 and then P1 in Practice 2. We just missed it by a bit, but it’s good to be disappointed when you’re starting third. The car feels great, just need to find a little bit more during the warm-up and try to get our first win of the season.”

Fast Facts

  • This is Honda’s fourth pole in five rounds of the 2023 NTT INDYCAR SERIES.  The other Honda-powered pole winners this year include Romain Grosjean at St. Petersburg and Barber Motorsports Park; plus Kyle Kirkwood at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
  • Honda holds the early-season lead in the 2023 NTT INDYCAR SERIES Manufacturers’ Championship, with two victories and four poles this season. Honda comes to Barber Motorsports Park with a 13-point advantage (325-312) over rival Chevrolet. The company is seeking its fifth NTT INDYCAR SERIES Manufacturers’ Championship in the last six years in 2023.

Where to Watch

Television coverage of Saturday’s GMR Grand Prix starts at 3:30 p.m. ET on NBC.  Complete, flag-to-flag race coverage also will be available on NBC Peacock, the INDYCAR Radio Network, and SiriusXM INDYCAR Nation (Channel 160). 

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