CHEVROLET IN THE NTT INDYCAR SERIES
JAVA HOUSE GRAND PRIX OF MONTEREY
WEATHERTECH LAGUNA SECA RACEWAY
MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA
FRIDAY PRACTICE RECAP
JULY 25, 2025
O’WARD AND CHEVY TOP FIRST PRACTICE AT LAGUNA SECA
- Pato O’Ward put his No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet on top of first practice for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES at Laguna Seca Raceway
- With a lap of 1 minute, 09.2069 seconds/116.46 mph the winner of the last two of three races topped the 27-car field in the one hour, 30 minute practice session
- Callum Ilott, No. 90 PREMA Racing Chevrolet laid down the fifth quickest lap of the session
- Christian Rasmusen, No. 21 Splenda Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet, was sixth in the session despite having an off-track excursion in turn two and again in turn 11
- Christian Lundgaard, No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, was 10th in the final ice order
- Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Astemo Team Penske Chevrolet, had to be pulled from the gravel pit at the famed Corkscrew, but was able to drive away once returned to the track
- At the end of the first portion of the session, Alexander Rossi made significant contact with the tire barriers at the exit of Turn 6. The rear end of the No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Java House Chevrolet stepped out early in the corner, bouncing over the curbs, doing a 180-degree spin, and making contact with the tires on the left side of the car
Tune-In Alert
Saturday
• NTT INDYCAR SERIES Practice #2 – 11:30am (ET)/10:30am (CT)/9:30am (MT)/8:30am (PT) – FS1/INDYCAR Radio Network/SIRIUSXM 218
• NTT INDYCAR SERIES Qualifying – 2:30pm (ET)/1:30pm (CT)/12:30pm (MT)/11:30am (PT) – FS1/INDYCAR Radio Network/SIRIUSXM 218
Sunday
• NTT INDYCAR SERIES Warm Up – noon (ET)/11am (CT)/10am (MT)/9am (PT) – FS1/INDYCAR Radio Network/SIRIUSXM 218
• Java House Grand Prix Of Monterey (95 laps) – 3pm (ET)/2pm (CT)/1pm (MT)/noon (PT) – FOX/INDYCAR Radio Network/SIRIUSXM 218
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING (QUOTES):
A.J. FOYT RACING
Santino Ferrucci, No. 14 A.J. Foyt Racing Sexton Properties Chevrolet:
“Solid start to our day. The Sexton Chevrolet feels pretty strong. Just curious to see how things shake out tomorrow, and let me build back up to it. My hand is okay.”
ARROW MCLAREN
Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet:
“We rolled off really strong. I’m definitely happy with where we’re at in terms of speed. Obviously, we still have more work to do to be more consistent, but it’s been a very good day for us.”
Nolan Siegel, No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet:
“We rolled off strong and then made some changes that didn’t work. It’s difficult to miss out on some potential learnings for our only run on Firestone Alternate tires ahead of Qualifying, but I’m confident that we’ll get back to a proper window and have a good day tomorrow.”
Christian Lundgaard, No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet:
“I’m a bit frustrated and surprised to be up there on the charts. This is one of those moments where we need to take our time this afternoon and tomorrow morning and make it better for tomorrow. I don’t know if we missed something or got it completely wrong, but we will investigate that.”
ED CARPENTER RACING
Alexander Rossi, No. 20 Java House Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet:
“I bottomed a little bit on that kind of extended part of the curve, the green curb area, and then it was kind of a correction, and then it went the other way. So, you know, really unfortunate, to have that happen in practice one, and not be able to get an idea of the red. Anyways, it’s a shame. It’s not the way you want to start the weekend, especially a weekend like this with Java House. So, a lot of work to do to bounce back, but it seems like the cars are fast, so that’s an important thing, and we’ll just move on from it and get them tomorrow.”
Christian Rasmussen, No. 21 Splenda Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet:
“A good session for us, just trying to try to find the limits out here. Overall, pretty good. I don’t think I maximized completely on the lap, so I think there’s definitely some potential this weekend for us. Excited about that. Excited about ripping these colors here this weekend. This is obviously a huge weekend for us. Super excited to have Java House as the main sponsor of the event. So, it’s an exciting weekend for us. We have a couple things that we need to get tuned, but I think we can have a good weekend.”
Do you feel like you got enough data out of that session for you and your teammate?
“I mean, there was definitely a couple stoppages that we would have liked to be without. ‘m not sure what happened with Alex, but hopefully they got something out of it as well. We definitely learned something. We know what we need to work on to try and improve, and I think I think the gap is not that big. So, I think hopefully we can get there.”
PREMA RACING
Callum Ilott, No. 90 PREMA Racing Chevrolet
”Well, the track’s really difficult Um, I think for a lot of guys, it’s, uh, impressive the difference in grip and corners and even in the middle of the same corners. It’s peaking a lot and try to find the right balance is tough. I mean, for how difficult the car feels, I think we’re on the better side of it compared to some. The pace was quite good, we’re P4 in the group. But yeah, what an intense track, and it’s very different since when we came testing here in, I think February or January.”
Well, it’s not just year to year. It’s session to session, is it?
“I guess so. It’s Yeah, it’s part of it. It’s motor racing. We’ve got to fine tune everything. Yeah, not easy. Not easy.”
TEAM PENSKE
Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Astemo Team Penske Chevrolet
“Laguna is a great place to race when you get it right, but when you are slightly off it can be very unforgiving. Just no room for error. Unfortunately, had some big rear lockup on the Astemo Chevy at the top of the Corkscrew and once you get in the rocks it’s hard to get yourself out. The day was solid up to that point. Tomorrow morning’s practice before qualifying will be very important.”
Scott McLauglin, No. 3 XPEL Team Penske Chevrolet
Not a bad day we brought a a very different package to the track that we’ve used before. I’m learning that. There’s some pros and cons to it, but I see light at the end of the tunnel. So, it wasn’t a great day but wasn’t a bad day, and we look forward to qualifying day.”
Will Power, No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet
“I think we learned a lot in that session; we’ve got plenty to improve on overnight. I’m really looking forward to getting to practice tomorrow and see where we can get ourselves to.”
NTT INDYCAR SERIES News Conference
Friday, July 25, 2025
Christian Lundgaard
Press Conference
THE MODERATOR: Wrapping up practice ahead of Sunday’s Java House Grand Prix of Monterey, joined now by Christian Lundgaard, driver of the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, best finish of fifth here at WeatherTech Raceway at Laguna Seca, currently fifth in the NTT INDYCAR Series points standings. What did you learn in that practice session today, Christian.
CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: If I’m going to be honest, not much. We were, I would say, a lot slower than we were anticipating, and we seemed to lack some pace, so we’ve got some work to do overnight to find that for tomorrow.
But I always enjoy coming here, so having a very frustrating practice 1 is not really how I want to start my weekend. I know I’m fast around here, so I’m sure we’ll figure it out.
Q. Looking ahead to tomorrow, obviously a second practice session is going to be huge, but when you get to qualifying and set this field where obviously passing is difficult, how important is that second practice tomorrow?
CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: Yeah, I feel like the second practice is obviously very important, but I think ultimately qualifying is more important, and that’s all being set up through P1 and P2, and we didn’t really get off to the best start.
Obviously Pato was extremely quick. We have some good data to look at, and I think we need to investigate it on the stand and analyze the differences there and make sure we get out on top for tomorrow.
This is one of those tracks, if it’s a clean race, it’s going to be a fun race because the degradation around this track has always been very fun from a race perspective, and it looks like the track is kind of degrading in that way as it was in 2022. I think we’re all pretty excited for that.
Q. If I remember correctly, the temperatures were not so hot like the previous years. Do you think the secret for a quick lap is also (indiscernible)?
CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: I mean, yes. I think the — I mean, yes. At the end of the day, the cooler it is there, the better the engine is, the better the downforce will be. From a tires perspective I think when they get too hot, yes, it has an influence, but I think once — kind of the temperature that we’re in, they don’t mind that, I would say.
Q. Were you surprised at the struggles in practice or were you trying something
that you thought, well, is it going to work or is it not?
CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: 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.
Q. You’re in the booth for the INDY NXT race tomorrow, so I’m curious, what do you hope to add to the telecast?
CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: I mean, obviously throw some laps at it, watch some cool racing. I think I’ll be able to understand where the passes are being made, how the track is different from last year, different kind of things.
Q. When this race was in September that tends to be the hottest time of the year in this area. How much more consistent is the track now when the temperatures are in the low to mid 60s?
Q. Can you share some thoughts about alternates and primes here and what you learned so far today?
COLTON HERTA: Yeah, it’s looking a little bit more like older Laguna Seca, which I like. I think it opens up the passing a lot more, and the raceability of the racetrack is going to be a lot better. It seems like there’s more deg than previous years by a good chunk. But it’s nowhere near the extent of what a 2019 or 2022 race would have been like here. Blacks, reds, I don’t know, it feels very normal to me, like the pickup on grip and how they are reacting. So there’s nothing new to report on that.
CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: Yeah, I honestly think I agree. My first race here was in 2022, and that was the last year with the old pavement, and I do feel like we’re seeing more similarities to that.
But I do feel like the tires feel pretty normal. There’s just more degradation.
Q. What we’ve seen in the support categories and we saw it in that session as well is if you drop a wheel off the edge of the track, the surface tends to drop away in the gravel. Is that enough to pull you right off the racing line or off the track?
CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: Yeah, I mean, I think the track is very known for that, right? If you do dip a wheel in, the next five, six cars that come by are going to have a hard time going into the next corner from the dirt that’s on the track. But I feel like it’s a lot lower grip this year than it was last year, and I think we saw a lot more mistakes from drivers due to that.
But I think a lot of us are going to make mistakes this weekend because we are trying to squeeze everything out of it, and it seems to be a little bit lower grip and just more penalizing this year.
Q. I asked one of the other drivers what he thought the surface was, and he said he thought it was pretty slick out there. Did you experience that? Is that why we saw so much spinning?
CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: The surface? Yeah, I do think we’re all a little surprised with how much lower the grip was, for sure.
Chevrolet at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca
- Chevrolet-powered drivers have won five times at the iconic California road course, but not since the NTT INDYCAR SERIES returned in 2019. Area resident Danny Sullivan won twice, the only driver to have multiple wins, while Team Penske has claimed four of the winner’s trophies.
- Felix Rosenqvist, while driving for Arrow McLaren in 2023, was the last of eight Chevy pole winners, which includes Will Power’s record-breaking 68th pole in 2022.
- Legends Mario Andretti, Danny Sullivan and Al Unser Jr. each have a trio of trips to the podium, making up nine of the 21 top-three finishes by Bowtie-adorned drivers and cars. Team Penske has 11 total podiums, including four since the series’ return in 2019.
- A familiar name, Sullivan, has led 156 laps (28.1%) of the 556 laps that Chevrolet-powered cars have led at the undulating road course. Current Team Chevy drivers who have led a lap at Laguna Seca include Will Power (Team Penske), Pato O’Ward (Arrow McLaren), Josef Newgarden (Team Penske), Alexander Rossi (Ed Carpenter Racing) and Callum Ilott (Prema Racing).
- Outside of the INDYCAR SERIES, Chevrolet-powered cars have a long history of winning on the iconic road course, dating back to an 80-lap SCCA US Road Racing event in 1964, when Jim Hall and his teammate, Roger Penske, stood on the top and bottom steps of the podium while at the wheel of Chaparral-powered Chevrolets. Major wins also came in Can-Am, Trans Am, Formula 5000, NASCAR Winston West, IMSA GTP and Grand-Am series.
Chevrolet wins at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca: 5
1993 – Paul Tracy – Team Penske
1991 – Michael Andretti – Newman Haas Racing
1990 – Danny Sullivan – Team Penske
1989 – Rick Mears – Team Penske
1988 – Danny Sullivan – Team Penske
Chevrolet poles at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca: 8
2023 – Felix Rosenqvist – Arrow McLaren
2022 – Will Power – Team Penske
1993 – Emerson Fittipaldi – Team Penske
1991 – Michael Andretti – Newman Haas Racing
1990 – Danny Sullivan – Team Penske
1989 – Rick Mears – Team Penske
1988 – Danny Sullivan – Team Penske
1987 – Mario Andretti – Newman Haas Racing
Chevrolet podiums at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca: 21
Chevrolet podiums at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca by driver: Mario Andretti (3), Danny Sullivan (3), Al Unser Jr. (3), Michael Andretti (2), Rick Mears (2), Will Power (2), Emerson Fittipaldi (1), Scott McLaughlin (1), Josef Newgarden (1), Bob Rahal (1), Alexander Rossi (1) and Paul Tracy (1)
Chevrolet podiums at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca by team: Team Penske (11), Newman Haas Racing (5), Galles Racing (3), Arrow McLaren (1), Rahal Hogan Racing (1)
Chevrolet laps led at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca: 556
Chevrolet laps led at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca by driver: Danny Sullivan (156), Michael Andretti (86), Mario Andretti (83), Paul Tracy (81), Rick Mears (52), Will Power (29), Pato O’Ward (15), Al Unser Jr. (14), Felix Rosenqvist (11), Josef Newgarden (10), Alexander Rossi (10), Emerson Fittipaldi (7), Callum Ilott (1), and Simon Pagenaud (1)
Chevrolet laps led at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca by team: Team Penske (332), Newman Haas Racing (169), Arrow McLaren (36), Galles Racing (14), Patrick Racing (4), and Juncos Hollinger Racing (1)
Manufacturer History at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca
Wins (with competition):
8 – Honda (2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2019, 2000, 1997, 1996)
5 – Chevrolet (1993, 1991, 1990, 1989, 1988)
5 – Cosworth (1987, 1986, 1985, 1984, 1983)
4 – Ford (2001, 1999, 1998, 1992)
1 – Ilmor (1994)
1 – Mercedes (1995)
1 – Toyota (2002)
Poles (with competition):
8 – Chevrolet (2023, 2021, 1993, 1991, 1990, 1989, 1988, 1987)
6 – Honda (2024, 2021 2019, 2001, 2000, 1996)
5 – Ford (1999, 1998, 1997, 1995, 1992)
4 – Cosworth (1986, 1985, 1984, 1983)
1 – Ilmor (1994)
1 – Toyota (2002)
Historical Chevrolet in the INDYCAR SERIES information
INDYCAR SERIES Manufacturer Championships (since 1979)
Chevrolet-Powered Wins in the Twin-Turbo 2.2L V6 Era (2012 – Present)
