CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
THE THERMAL CLUB INDYCAR GRAND PRIX
THE THERMAL CLUB
THERMAL, CALIFORNIA
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE RECAP
MARCH 23, 2025
PATO O’WARD AND CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD SCORE DOUBLE PODIUM FOR CHEVR0LET
Arrow McLaren Duo Continued Successful Weekend with Second and Third Place Finishes
- Pole sitter Pato O’Ward driving his No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, led 51 of 65 laps in today’s The Thermal Club Grand Prix for the NTT INDYCAR Series
o With an ambient high temperature of 94 degrees and track temperature in excess of 120 degrees, tire wear for both red and black tires was the determining factor for how the race played out in the final 10 laps of the race with the race winner saving a new set of reds for final stint
o O’Ward sits second in the standings after two races, 39 points behind race winner and points leader Alex Palou
- Arrow McLaren teammate Christian Lundgaard behind the wheel of the No. 7 Chevrolet, who started alongside O’Ward finished third to give the team and Chevrolet a double podium in the second race of the season
o Lundgaard now sits fourth in the standings, 42 behind the leader
- Chevrolet scored four of the top-nine
· Two-time series champion and Indianapolis 500 winner Will Power, No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet, was the biggest mover in today’s caution-free race driving through the field from 21st starting position to finish sixth
o Power gained 15 positions with performance behind the wheel and the fastest pit crew on pit lane
- Alexander Rossi, No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet, posted a solid top-10 finish in only his second race with the team
- Next on the NTT INDYCAR SERIES for Team Chevy is the Streets of Long Beach on April 11-13, 2025.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING:
David Malukas, No. 4 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet, Finished 18th:
“It was a toTwo-ugh race. We knew it was going to be tough going into it, and it was almost a little bit of a curse, making it to Q2 and using up our reds because to everybody’s [surprise], I guess, we didn’t expect it, but the Reds [alternate tires] ended up being the better tire by quite a big margin. And we only had one new Red set when everybody else had two, and everybody kind of filtered out from there on. So made it to P8 on the new Reds, and from there, it was just survival, holding on. We came out with a P18 in the end. So really rough race. We knew it was going to be tough. Definitely a weekend to forget and move on to Long Beach.”
Santino Ferrucci, No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet, Finished 14th:
“It was honestly a really good race on our red tire runs. It was a bit of a bummer to lose the hybrid due to heat soak. But I don’t think we were the only one struggling with something like that. Just our prime tire run, we didn’t account for the balance being as badly shifted as it was, and we kind of missed the strategy just a little bit, but overall, it wasn’t a terrible day. Could have been worse.”
Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, Finished 2nd:
“We took a gamble and it didn’t work out for us. We had used our new reds in the start because we didn’t really quite know what the deg was going to be like, the deg profile. The blacks really kind of took a turn in the negative towards the end of the race and that was it. We didn’t really stand a fighting chance. But thanks for all of the fans hanging in there with us. Thanks to you guys for tuning in and hopefully it was somewhat of an entertainment. Long Beach is what’s coming up and hopefully we can have a repeat weekend, maybe even go one better. We have fought for the championship every single year, and that’s where I expect to be. The weekends like this is where every point does count. Every win does count for so much more and we just missed it by that, you definitely feel like you’ve left some points on the table where if we would’ve gone tomorrow, we maybe would’ve done something different. But, yeah, happy with the points day and we’re going to keep pushing. It’s a long, long, long season ahead and the ovals are a different beast as well. We need to be strong everywhere.”
Nolan Siegel, No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, Finished 19th:
“That was extremely frustrating. I think we had good race pace, but we ended up on the wrong strategy. We did one more stop than everyone else and couldn’t make up that time again. I’m frustrated and disappointed, and I don’t think that’s what this group deserves. I feel like I’ve said that every weekend now and we need to do something to stop feeling that way. Hopefully, we have a better one in Long Beach.”
Christian Lundgaard, No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, Finished 3rd:
“I think the No. 7 VELO Arrow McLaren Chevrolet has done a very good job. The entire team has done a very good job all weekend. We just didn’t have it there. We gave it a shot and came up short, but having two cars on the podium is as well of a day we could’ve wished for coming into Thermal. It’s tough seeing this guy beat us every single event. We’ve got to find a way to stop him. Gotta thank the fans too for sticking in there. It’s a long race, it’s tough.”
Alexander Rossi, No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet, Finished 9th:
“Ultimately a strong weekend for the ECR Java House team, but still a bit disappointed with P9. We looked like we were on for a Top 5 but some things didn’t quite go our way. Despite that, super proud of all the effort this weekend and we will continue pushing forward in Long Beach.”
Christian Rasmussen, No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet, Finished 12th:
“We finished P12 from starting P19. It was a good race for us even though we struggled this weekend finding the balance on the primary tire. The No. 21 Splenda Chevrolet crew did an amazing job getting the car in the window which allowed us move forward a bit. We’ll keep building on these results and there is more to come in the future.”
Conor Daly, No. 76 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet, Finished 16th:
“At the start, we kind of just got boxed in and shoved off track there and we just kinda had to work forward from there on though. But honestly, we had a couple of good passes on track, a couple of good battles and worked our way forwards. We were really fast on reds and had good pits stops, which felt really good, but we just weren’t able to do anything crazy. I would say overall, happy with our pace on reds. We just keep stacking away points and keep getting better one race at a time.”
Sting Ray, No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet, Finished 23rd:
“Not a super exciting day for us. Being in the race was very fun. Lots of chaos, which welcome to INDYCAR racing. But really surprised the way the tires worked out. I think that having a it be red tire race kind of hurt us quite a bit. Not our cleanest day. Made up a spot on track, so write it up to a good experience. Thanks to the Goodheart Freedom Service Dogs car and all the crew that worked hard this weekend. We made some improvements and learned a lot.”
Robert Shwartzman, No. 83 PREMA Chevrolet, Finished 22nd:
“In the morning, the car felt pretty decent despite very few laps with it. Then, in the race, the first stint was mega. I came from the back towards the mid-pack and was battling with Scott Dixon. Honestly, at that stage, it felt really good and felt like we could challenge for the top 10. Then, again from that moment on, everything just started to fall apart. We came to pit, and we had a really slow pitstop. From then on, on Prime tires, I had zero grip. I don’t understand what was going on. And then at the end, to top it off, I had a hybrid issue. Overall, this is definitely a weekend to forget.”
Callum Ilott, No. 90 PREMA Chevrolet, Finished 26th:
“It was a shame about the contact on lap one. It was just a bit of a concertina, and way, way more damage than it should have been. It was quite costly. Unfortunately we had a bit of an issue in the pitstop with the with the fuel, which didn’t help. We had to do an extra pitstop to recoup that. But the positive was the pace and the car felt good. It’s a shame to have all those issues early on. We’ve got to work through these, there are some lessons for me and some lessons for the team, but the positive was that we had a top 10 pace-car and a lot of work has been going on behind the scenes and there’s been a lot of improvement.”
Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet, Finished 13th:
“Just a tough day for us on the No. 2 car. I had more potential, but I probably missed out on the tire game today, not utilizing the reds enough. That’s still a really strong effort from the team to try and make the most of it which I think we did with the 13th place. We can take those points and move forward. It’s a long season, so we had a tough weekend here, and we’ll try and get things turned around in Long Beach and get back towards the front.”
Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet, Finished 27th:
“Not the day we wanted for the XPEL Chevy. Tough weekend all around, really, but I was very confident going into today that we would have good race pace. I’m confident that we could have moved up through the field like Will (Power) and Josef (Newgarden) were able to do. Unfortunately, the issue we had with our MGU (motor generator unit) caused it to go into critical mode and we had to sit on pit lane for several laps while draining the battery and resetting everything. Very thankful that we got a solid finish to start the year at St. Pete. We’ll just go about climbing back out of this points hole.”
Will Power, No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet, Finished 6th:
“Yeah, that’s a big day considering it was full green. They didn’t get any lucky yellows or anything. That was pure pace there. The guys had a great strategy and we had great speed. I was really patient and methodical getting through the field. I think we’re all pretty disappointed with qualifying. I thought we certainly should’ve been in at least the top 10. That’s racing. That’s a good day. You look on those days and that’s the sort of thing that will help you win a championship there. We had an extra set of reds there. It helped, yes. Big time. It was kind of cool because at St. Pete, you didn’t have that luxury because the green was so soft, you couldn’t event use it in the race. But in this race, the (alternate) was the preferred tire. It was just, man, you had one lap to do it. Made a mistake starting the lap. The tire wasn’t quite in and I was disappointed with that because I’d been very fast in practice, running in the top six most of the time. But, you know, this is INDYCAR, anything can happen. Keep your head on and keep rolling.”
NTT INDYCAR SERIES News Conference
Sunday, March 23, 2025
Pato O’Ward
Christian Lundgaard
Press Conference Transcript
THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, as we wrap-up Thermal Club INDYCAR Grand Prix here at beautiful Thermal Club.
Joined now by Pato O’Ward, who led a race-high 51 laps today, his first runner-up finish since Nashville last year. 27th career podium finish. And his teammate Christian Lundgaard, his fourth career podium.
Pato, we’ll begin with you. Your thoughts on a podium and a second-place finish, although I’m sure you are a little disappointed not being on the top step today.
PATO O’WARD: No, it’s all very good points day for the team today. Obviously we were the car that had everything to lose because we were starting on pole. I think we led like 50-something laps.
THE MODERATOR: 51.
PATO O’WARD: 51 laps. It kind of sucks to lose it there in the end.
Yeah, we need to keep pushing. We obviously weren’t perfect. There is obviously something that we could have done better in order to give it more of a proper fight to the 10 car.
Yeah, great weekend all around. Great recovery. Looking forward to Long Beach.
THE MODERATOR: Christian, congratulations on the podium. First one since last May at the IMS road course. You share Pato’s thoughts on a good weekend for Arrow McLaren?
CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: Yeah, I think where we were in St. Pete to where we are now, I think it’s a clear step. The 7 car, we had a good weekend. We scored some points in St. Pete coming here. I think overall looking across the three cars, we’re more competitive. Leaving with two podiums, a first and second, qualifying, I think we can be very happy with the weekend.
He keeps beating us every time, so we need to stop that (smiling).
THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. Pato, on the radio quite a few times you were told that you were not able or not supposed to use hybrid. Can you explain why and if that had an impact on your race?
PATO O’WARD: Yeah, for 50% of the race I couldn’t use the thing. Just overheats (smiling), so…
Obviously here it’s probably one of the most helpful areas where the hybrid is of good use because of those very stop-and-go corners and long straightaways.
In race trim, like, if you’re asking me if I would have won that race if I didn’t have those issues, the answer is still no (laughter.
Q. Christian, did you have the same issues with yours?
CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: Yes.
Q. Lap traffic an issue either at any point?
CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: Yes.
PATO O’WARD: I mean, I hate to whine about it, but it sucks to be the leader. All of our Chevy affiliate teams are worthless with helping when a Chevy leader is coming up on them. Honda seem to work as a team very, very well because Foster was doing everything in his power to keep me behind. Palou gets right behind him, and he just lets him cruise by.
I still think Palou would have gotten us sooner or later. Obviously that just makes it a bit more of an annoyance rather than a joy.
Q. When F1 teams go 1-2, is that any extra motivation, or are you aware of it? Does it change your mindset?
PATO O’WARD: Oh, we’re aware, man. We want to be doing what F1 is currently doing.
I think the fight here in INDYCAR is different, definitely different. I think McLaren right now are leading the way in their situation, and we’re still chasing. We’re still chasing to be the best, so…
We’ll get there.
Q. As far as how much further you have to go to catch, how much further do you feel like you are along now compared to a year ago?
PATO O’WARD: Definitely better. Definitely. I mean, to be fair, this probably was one of the tracks where I personally felt like we really didn’t have a fighting chance. We put two cars on the front row, and we got some hard work today.
Yeah, like Christian said, it just seems like every time someone is winning, it’s always Palou in the 10. He’s obviously figured it out. He’s got a great team behind him. We just need to keep pushing. There’s really not another way.
Q. Christian, probably one of the most exciting portions of the race was when you and Alex were battling for second place. How intense was that from your point of view?
CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: Yeah, I mean, I knew I lost that fight. He was out on the sticker set of alternates at the end of the race. I was on a sticker set of primes. I knew he was going to have the advantage.
I knew Pato was five seconds up the road, so I tried to make him lose as much time fairly as possible. We had some fun, but it didn’t really seem to bother him.
Q. When you race a guy like Alex Palou, do you have a lot of trust that he’s going to race you hard, but it’s going to be clean?
CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: I mean, yeah, it is clean. Don’t get me wrong, there is going to be a point when you’re racing someone that you think is clean isn’t.
But at this point it was, so that was good.
Q. Under these very hot circumstances, the conditions, how difficult was it totally for you? Any dehydration problems? Once Alex Palou passed you both, when he passed you, could you see or recognize some little secrets in the car, why he’s so dominant?
PATO O’WARD: Sticker set of red tires. That was the answer for losing the lead.
And I would say that I have forgotten what you asked first.
Oh, the heat. No, honestly the pace was super slow, the whole pace of the race. We were just kind of out there controlling it really because you’re just taking care of the tires. Physically for me really wasn’t an issue.
CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: I agree. I agree, so… Simple.
Q. Did you feel like you did everything you could do today and just got beat by the strategy and what they were able to do?
PATO O’WARD: Yeah. I think the team did a phenomenal job in the pits. I mean, the car has been a joy to drive all weekend. In the race, as well.
We ran a red, black, black, black race. I think it should have been a red, red, black, black or any sort of combination with two reds and two blacks. I think we missed it on the 5 car. We can only see why we chose that, try not to make that mistake again.
CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: Yeah, I mean, I think the car that I had yesterday was potentially a little more preferred for me than today. I think we made some changes going into warm-up that felt nice in warm-up, but it was 40 degrees cooler. We carried those into the race. To me that didn’t really seem to be the preferred.
But I think in terms of strategy, I think we did what we could. I’m still a little doubtful why we went new stickers on the second stint instead of trying to do a little bit like Alex did, but it’s always easy to be smart after the fact.
I think we need to sit down and look at the facts and all the information that we have and come back in Long Beach and learn from those mistakes.
THE MODERATOR: We’ll let you go, Christian and Pato. Thank you.
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