Arrow McLaren driver Christian Lundgaard is excited to carry on the positive “momentum” into the 2026 IndyCar season.
Arrow McLaren is coming back strong to the 2026 IndyCar season after 2 wins and 12 podium finishes last year. Additionally, Pato O’Ward and Lundgaard finished as the Top 2 Chevy drivers in the championship. The 24-year-old is entering his second season in Papaya after his champoinship best finish, 5th.
Lundgaard learning from last year
Continuing with Arrow McLaren in 2026, Lundgaard noted “the progression” with the team in 2025 during IndyCar’s media days.
Although Lundgaard did not finish at the last race of 2025 in Nashville that cost him 3rd in points, the Danish driver told Pit Debrief and other media outlets he is ready to continue the team’s success.
“Yeah, I mean, I ended the season and left Nashville feeling like at least we were a top-three car in the championship. We didn’t get to finish Nashville, which was very unfortunate. But just thinking about the progression we made throughout the year, how we got better as a group — obviously Graham just mentioned we lost Brian, who was on my car. I don’t see that really affecting us because the rest of the group is the exact same. I think just carrying that momentum going into 2026, continue the work that we are doing.”
Continuing on a good trajectory for the 2026 IndyCar season
Lundgaard felt “comfortable” at Arrow McLaren during his first season with the team. The 24-year-old was successful as the 7 car was fast from the start with “two podiums within the first three races“.
When asked how he grew with the team in 2025, the driver noted that the growth was evident from the beginning.
“I mean, I would say I was very comfortable from the first day in St. Pete. We started the season a lot better than I think we expected, but it was the hope. I think we started exactly where we hoped to start. I remember being vocal about it last year, that I wasn’t going to spend a year in the team trying to figure out how to get fast. We want to be fast from the get-go. I think we were. We had two podiums within the first three races. We were right there.
“The ’26 kind of goal is obviously to finish in the same area as a bare minimum of where we finished 2025. It leads back to we have to continue the momentum we gained throughout ’25 and start where we left off in ’26. I think we have a lot of good to come in ’26.“
Working on ovals
Although there is no “one big thing,” Lundgaard pointed out, the Danish driver spent the winter break focusing on and improving on oval tracks. It’s an area his teammate Pato O’Ward is exceptionally strong in.
“There is not specific areas where I feel I personally need to take a big step. I think where we ended the ’25 season on ovals I think is really where we want to carry on from. I’ve done a lot of work at home in the simulator just doing laps because at the end of the day it’s the only thing we really can do.“
Lundgaard expressed the importance of progression in perfecting a track type. With Phoenix, the first oval track on the 2026 calendar, the Arrow McLaren driver hopes to show his continuous work on the track.
“Had a lot of meetings within the team what do we need, what do I need, as a group, which direction do we need to take, set-up, for it to help more. Again, it’s really just a progression. You can’t jump from A to F from one year. You really have to take it in small increments. I think that’s what the ’25 season was really for. As I said before, the 500 was the first race last year and it’s the one that counts the most. This year we have Phoenix before. I think looking at where we are in Phoenix will really determine where I am, where the team is, in May.“
Lundgaard’s lessons to improve on in 2026
When asked about specific circuits to improve on, Lundgaard noted Road America and Iowa as tracks to target in the 2026 IndyCar season. Even though other weekends felt good for the Danish driver, he noted that consistent wins take championships.
“The inconsistencies were I guess Road America. We had St. Louis, Iowa. Other than that, it was relatively consistent in sort of the same area of results. We got to eliminate those weekends ultimately. That’s why you see the cars that are fighting for the championship, they have multiple wins that carries them and even those weekends out or they’re consistently better. That’s where we need to be.“
When asked by Pit Debrief about his driving style compared to his teammates, Lundgaard noted that the team balances each driver’s “strengths and weaknesses“. The 24-year-old noted that each driver has their own preferences and setups between races.
“I think it depends, I think we all have strengths and weaknesses. I think the way Pato drives on ovals might not make so much sense to me. Again, we are still in a little bit of a separate direction on types of tracks. We can have the same setup at Barber, but a different set-up at Indy GP or vice versa. We’re always trying to maximize for the setup and the feeling and handling of the car to each driver.”
