Christian Lundgaard overcomes qualifying crash to…

On Saturday, a mistake from Christian Lundgaard threatened to keep Arrow McLaren from podium contention in the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.

But with the right strategy and a quality drive, the Dane was able to salvage a third-place effort himself. He knew immediately who the credit should go to.

“This one’s dedicated to the crew,” Lundgaard said of his run. “Thank you everybody on the No. 7 Velo Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.

“(They) got to rebuild the car yesterday. I (damaged) the car in the crash yesterday in qualifying. This is to them. It’s to Jon Edwards, who unfortunately passed away [who is] Close to Kyle Larson, who will join us for the month of May. This one’s to everybody on the entire Arrow McLaren team.”

The aftermath of qualifying drama

Christian Lundgaard, Arrow McLaren (Photo by: Penske Entertainment)

Lundgaard set himself and teammates Pato O'Ward and Nolan Siegel back on Saturday, slamming into the tire barrier in the closing moment of the Fast 12. The incident took him out of the top-six and fell at a time when both teammates were trying to set their fastest laps, leaving the group all out of the Fast 6 and forcing his No. 7 team to complete a rebuild ahead of Sunday’s race.

Looking to make something of a 12th-place starting spot on a tight street circuit, Lundgaard’s crew elected to start the race on the preferable primary tire. He was the first to do so, with the frontrunners all electing to start on the softer alternate tire in hopes of abandoning them early in the race.

It was a risky move, but one that paid dividends. Lundgaard was able to run to lap 27 on his opening stint while those around him pitted early, leaving him in clean air. He took softs on the first stop, stretched them to lap 39 and then got back onto the primaries with the rest of the field.

By that point, the benefit of the alternative strategy was clear. Lundgaard emerged from pit road in third. While he was quickly overtaken by Felix Rosenqvist, the 23-year-old was up from 12th to fourth with a chance to challenge for the podium.

Lundgaard came in for his final stop at the end of lap 60 and chased Rosenqvist down for third. Coming to take five to go, Lundgaard was able to close to Rosenqvist’s rear and make an aggressive lunge into turn 1, securing the final spot on the podium for his team.

Rosenqvist didn’t force the issue. But as it turned out, being forgetful may also have aided Lundgaard’s late rally.

“It’s funny, because on Lap 42 I saw I had 109 seconds (of overtake) left,” Lundgaard said. “And then I forgot about my overtake. I think that paid dividends at the end of the race. We were able to get Felix there.

“I think he was being nice at the end there, in turn 1. But I’m just proud to get this one for the team. The work that they put in yesterday.”

Sunday’s surge forward was huge for Lundgaard’s early championship hopes. While Alex Palou continues to pummel the field with two wins and a runner-up result, Lundgaard now joins a group of surprising early challengers in third, slotted between race winner Kyle Kirkwood and Rosenqvist. He’s the lead Arrow McLaren driver and the top Chevrolet competitor heading into May.

That should come as some reprieve for his No. 7 team after a long weekend in Long Beach - particularly when paired with Lundgaard’s other plan to make the crash up to them.

“I told them I would buy them a couple beers when we got home next week, but I think giving them a trophy’s good on top of that, too,” he said.