Alpine F1 junior Christian Lundgaard has finally made his way to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway the very morning he is set to put in his first laps around the track’s road course.
Lundgaard is currently in the middle of a full F2 season racing for ART, and has made use of his summer break to sample an IndyCar for the first time.
The Danish driver is racing this weekend for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in a one-race deal that will see the 20-year-old sample a different form of motorsports.
Ahead of the first practice session around the Indianapolis road course, Lundgaard pointed to the lack of time at the track as the strangest part of his experience so far.
“I think what’s been the weirdest is only being at the track today,” said Lundgaard. “I got here [into the US] on Saturday last week, and I haven’t been to the track yet.
“For me, to go to the track for the first time, only about three or four hours before practice, it’s very different.
“Barber was a good track to test at. It’s physical. We survived that, so I think we’ll survive here as well.
“For me, it’s not about position. Yes, there’s positions to play for, but it’s just getting the track time. It’s about track time and taking everything in I can and learning as much as possible.
“I’m just looking forward to running the course and seeing what we can get out of it.”
Lundgaard has had one day of IndyCar testing at Barber Motorsports Park earlier in the week, but otherwise has had no experience behind the wheel of an IndyCar before today.
He did not even get a chance to drive the 2.44-mile IMS course in one Honda’s state-of-the-art simulator, instead relying on some computer driving at home as his main source of knowledge.
The shortened weekend schedule will see Lundgaard get only one hour of practice under his belt before qualifying takes place later in the afternoon.
