Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing announced the addition of Christian Lundgaard as the organization’s third full-time competitor for the 2022 NTT IndyCar Series season.
The 20-year-old native from Hedensted, Denmark, is currently competing in his second full-time season in the FIA Formula 2 Championship for ART Grand Prix and has won two F2 events, both occurring in 2020. He is also a member of the Alpine Academy, a program that supports young competitors through a racing career and that started in 2002 when Alpine was known as the Renault F1 Team. In addition to F2 competition, Lundgaard is a former champion of the F4 Spanish Championship series.
“I’m very excited to join Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in INDYCAR,” Lundgaard said. “They are a fantastic team who made me feel very welcome earlier this year when I made my debut in the series. They are the perfect choice, and I’m happy to join them on this next chapter in my career. I was very much open-minded when I raced at Indianapolis in August, and the experience then only grew my hunger to give it another go, so to have the opportunity as a full-time professional racing driver is a privilege. I can only thank Bobby, Piers and the team, as well as my investors and Alpine for putting it all together. I’m determined to repay that faith with on-track performances beginning when the season starts in February.”
“Of course, this will be a completely new challenge for me, especially with oval racing, which I’ve never done before,” Lundgaard added. “I’d like to think I’m a fast learner, so taking this on is going to be an awesome experience. For now, I’m not setting too many expectations other than working hard and enjoying the racing and hopefully the results will follow. For now, though, my focus is on finishing the Formula 2 Championship before fully committing to taking on INDYCAR. I can’t wait for the experience to begin.”
Lundgaard, whose father, Henrik, is a former European Rally champion, made his IndyCar debut at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course in August, where he started fourth and finished 12th while driving the No. 45 Dallara-Honda entry for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.
For the 2022 season, Lundgaard will be piloting RLL’s No. 30 Dallara-Honda that was formely driven by Takuma Sato, a two-time Indianapolis 500 champion from Tokyo, Japan. Sato, who will not be remaining at RLL for 2022, has yet to announce his racing plans for the future.
“I’m very pleased that Christian will be joining us for the next several years,” Bobby Rahal, RLL’s co-owner, said. “His performance on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway certainly surprised everybody. For him to do the job he did was tremendous and certainly beyond our expectations. With a little more time under his belt, I think the performance would have been even stronger. Everyone within the team was very pleased and it created a lot of excitement and positive reactions from the fans on social media and online, as well as a positive buzz in the paddock…I look forward to a long relationship with Christian. He’s a great young man who fit well with the team immediately, and we are all excited about what we can do together.”
“The team is very excited to have Christian onboard beginning with the 2022 season,” Mike Lanigan, RLL’s co-owner, added. “With our current lineup with Graham and Jack, I believe the addition of Christian will take our team to the next level in competing for a championship.”
The addition of Lundgaard completes Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s three-car lineup for the 2022 IndyCar season with Graham Rahal and Jack Harvey scheduled to compete with the organization for the upcoming racing season. Harvey joins RLL following a two-year run with Meyer Shank Racing.
Christian Lundgaard’s first full-time stint in the NTT IndyCar Series with RLL is set to commence at the Streets of St. Petersburg for the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on February 27, 2022.
