Lundqvist wins on Belle Isle in Detroit, takes latest step toward being IndyCar's next big thing.
Linus Lunqvist knows that he’s got next.
The Indy Lights Series points leader continued his march toward a championship in the NTT IndyCar Series with a dominating performance in the Indy Lights Detroit Grand Prix on Belle Isle on Saturday. Lundqvist led all 25 laps and stayed ahead of the trouble en route to his third win in the first five races of the Lights season.
Swedish driver Lundqvist drove his No. 26 HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing car to a 3.7232-second victory from pole over the No. 24 Global Racing Group with HMD machine of teammate Benjamin Pedersen. St. Petersburg race winner Matthew Brabham finished third in the No. 83 Andretti Autosport car.
Lundqvist completed the first half of the Indy Lights doubleheader in Detroit with 230 points in the championship, while Pedersen is second with 171 and Daniel Frost third with 161.
Linus Lundqvist won on Saturday on Belle Isle to increase his Indy Lights points lead.
Penske Entertainment/Chris Jones
Lundqvist’s timing couldn’t be better to put on a good show. Earlier this week, Kyle Kirkwood—last year’s Indy Lights champion and current A.J. Foyt Racing driver in the IndyCar Series—was the talk of the paddock after he agreed to a deal with Andretti Autosport for 2023.
This past Sunday, Lundqvist saw last year’s Indy Lights season runner-up, David Malukas, finish a strong 16th in the Indianapolis 500. Malukas followed that up on Saturday with a surprising sixth in qualifying for Sunday’s Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix.
The 23-year-old Lundqvist knows that next year, he could be the Indy Lights graduate everyone is talking about.
“I never doubted for a second that both Kyle and David would do well in IndyCar, and the target is obviously to join them next year,” Lundqvist told Autoweek after his win on Saturday. “The good part about being part of IndyCar is that you’re racing on the same weekend, you’re in the series just below. Our race is just before their qualifying, which means that the team bosses just preparing for their session see our race.
“And obviously, if you do well and win races, they’re bound to know who you are, which is good for us. It’s great to see that they have the scholarships and really promote their drivers to go to IndyCar, because that is our target.”
The Road to Indy scholarships that go to series winners and allow them to progress up the Road to Indy ladder only get a driver so far. At the top of the ladder, the Indy Lights Series, timing is everything.
“It’s never a bad time to be on a winning streak,” said Lundqvist, a native of Stockholm. “But the season is long, and I think the racing we’ve had so far, we’ve done well, but we’re coming up to some of the more challenging races for us last year. We’ll see if we’ve I’ve we’ve taken a step over the winter.
“I feel confident. It’s a good atmosphere on the team. We’ve just got to keep on rolling.”
Keyword: Indy Lights Leader Linus Lundqvist Knows Timing Is Everything on Road to Indy