Christian Lundgaard went from pole position to a sensational win becoming the newest first time winner in the NTT IndyCar Series, as Alex Palou finished second to open up his points lead to 117.

Lundgaard was put on an alternate strategy to Palou having been caught out by a mid-race caution, but executed a stunning pass on the championship leader who was wounded with front wing damage. RLL’s Lundgaard never looked back after passing Palou, finishing 11.7 seconds out in front.

Colton Herta chased Alex Palou all the way for second, but ultimately had to ease off in order to make the chequered flag with enough fuel, something which evaded both Will Power and Marcus Ericsson, who were comfortably running in the top 5 before they had to pit on the final lap.

As a result, behind Herta came Scott Dixon and Josef Newgarden in 4th and 5th, whilst Scott McLaughlin battled his way through the field to finish 6th. Marcus Armstrong continued his impressive rookie season to come home in 7th, whilst a fuel-limited Pato O’Ward struggled his way to 8th. Graham Rahal came from the very back of the grid to finish 9th, whilst the two Swedish drivers Felix Rosenqvist and Marcus Ericsson finished 10th and 11th respectively.

Christian Lundgaard reigns supreme in Canada underling RLL’s resurgence

In a season filled with lows for team RLL, Lundgaard’s maiden win certainly proves that progress is being made in the garages of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.the team has come a long way since that fateful day at Indianapolis which saw 3 of the 4 RLL cars have to battle to get into the Indy500. Graham Rahal was dramatically bumped by teammate Jack Harvey at the end of that session, and this was humiliating for all involved with the team.

Since then, the team has qualified on the front row at Mid-Ohio, scored multiple top 10 finishes, and now in Toronto, Lundgaard mastered his way through challenging qualifying conditions to secure a second pole position of the season.

The race featured multiple incidents, include a multi-car shunt on lap 1 which saw Tom Blomqvist’s debut race in the series last a matter of metres. Graham Rahal was caught up in the back end of the shunt, but smartly engaged reverse almost immediately after coming to a stop. This allowed Rahal to remain on the lead lap, and negotiate his way up to a strong 9th place finish.

Lundgaard had been dominating the early phase of the race, establishing a sizeable gap over Scott McLaughlin in the first stint. However, the biggest turning point in the race came on lap 41 as Romain Grosjean’s day came to an abrupt end at turn 8.

The resulting caution period saw Kirkwood, Palou and Herta pit for fresh tyres, gambling on fuel strategy hoping that this caution period would lead to more caution periods, allowing for them to save the required fuel and thus make a stop under caution work in their favour.

This hope turned into reality rather fast, as another caution flag was waved almost immediately. However, those that had gambled were in fact caught up in the incident. Kyle Kirkwood clipped the back of Helio Castroneves, causing him to spin. Alex Palou took avoiding action, but in doing so damaged his front wing, and left him wounded for the remainder of the race.

This damage was significant enough to allow Lundgaard to close in and pass the Spaniard around the outside of turn 3 on lap 61, moving him into the lead on lap 65 when Scott Dixon pitted.

From that moment on, Lundgaard never relinquished the lead, bringing RLL their very first win since Takuma Sato at the 104th running of the Indianapolis 500 in 2020. Lundgaard was also able to shave off his moustache, having promised that it would not be removed until he had won for the first time in the NTT IndyCar Series.

Palou expertly nurses broken car to second, stretching championship lead

Off the back of three consecutive wins at Detroit, Road America and Mid-Ohio, Alex Palou arrived in Canada with a vast 110 point championship lead. However, he was quickly back down to earth after being knocked out in Q1 in qualifying, having been caught out by a late shower.

The driver of the #10 car lined up 15th, and made up many places throughout the first stint. After Grosjean’s crash, Palou was one of the drivers who pit during that caution period, attempting to go to the end of the race without having to top up with fuel.

The race very nearly unravelled for Palou, as he was caught up in the incident between Kirkwood and Castroneves, which resulted in a cracked nosecone, meaning the front wing was dragging along the floor.

Despite this, Palou was able to calmly drive his car around at a sufficient pace, and although he lost out to a much faster Lundgaard, he held off Colton Herta and Will Power throughout the final stint to come home in 2nd.

In a drive of maturity and precision, Palou’s careful navigation of the bumpy Toronto street course to put him on the podium from 15th on the grid allowed him to gain even more points over his rivals in the championship hunt, as others failed to capitalise on his qualifying misfortune. The lead is now at a staggering 117 points over Scott Dixon, who recovered to 4th.

Fuel dilemma harms championship contenders

If there was to be a weekend in which drivers could closing on Alex Palou, Toronto look like the perfect opportunity. Palou qualified lowdown on 15th, whilst championship protagonists O’Ward, Ericsson, Newgarden and Dixon all made the fast 12.

Yet all the drivers were caught out by strategy, allowing the Spaniard to jump them in the middle part of the race, where fuel conservation was key. For O’Ward and Newgarden, they were made to save lots of fuel during the final stent, in order to reach the chequered flag without pitting. Newgarden almost run out of fuel, coming to a standstill just a few hundred metres after the finish line.

The Chip Ganassi Racing cars of Dixon and Ericsson suffered almost completely different issues. For Dixon, he did not pit under the caution, and as a result was forced to do so when the field was at full racing speed. This left Dixon 20 seconds down on the rest of his protagonists, but in a drive of pure class he made his way back up to 4th.

Ericsson’s team miscalculated the amount of fuel needed to make the flag, and from a very solid fourth place, Ericsson dived into the pits on the final lap, needing emergency service. The Swede would finish in 11th, losing yet more ground to Palou in the championship.

Attention turns to Iowa

After Palou’s impressive performance in Toronto, extending his already vast championship lead, Iowa’s double header looks to be the defining moment in this year’s championship. The Indy500 is now longer double points, as so the 108 points on offer in Iowa is now the largest amount of points available to a driver over the course of a weekend in 2023.

Scott Dixon and Josef Newgarden are the two to watch, as their oval records in the modern era are quite simply remarkable – for Dixon, he has finished in the top 5 11 times at the Iowa speedway, and although a win at the bullring has evaded him, he can arrive there with confidence that his #9 PNC Bank Honda will have the speed to take him to victory lane. Newgarden is a 5 time winner at the short oval, and can take confidence in the fact that there is a real chance he could come away from this weekend with over 100 points in his back pocket.

Other drivers within 150 points of Palou are Pato O’Ward, who won race 2 at Iowa last year after a suspension failure for Newgarden gifted him the lead, and Marcus Ericsson, who finished in the top 8 at Iowa in both races last year.

All the drivers chasing Palou will know that they must benefit from the points available this weekend, and hope their rival suffers misfortune. The outlook of the championship may look very different after 500 laps of the bullring.

However, Lundgaard will be celebrating long into the night in Canada after his maiden indycar win.