| CHEVROLET IN THE NTT INDYCAR SERIESJava House Grand Prix Of Monterey2.238-mile, 11-turn road courseMonterey, CaliforniaRace ReportJuly 27 Christian Lundgaard brought the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet to the checkered flag in the runner-up spot to score his fourth podium of the year The first-season Papaya adorned driver led a six Chevrolet powered contingent in the top-10 finishers in today’s 95-lap race around the 2.238-mile, 11-turn Weathertech Raceway at Lagua Seca road course for the Java House Grand Prix Of MontereyLundgaard’s finish is Chevrolet’s 22nd podium at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna SecaIt is the second year that an Arrow McLaren Chevrolet has been on the podium Pato O’Ward finished fourth behind the wheel of the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet to score his fifth consecutive top-five, ninth of the year and 47th of his career, tying him at 40th overallToday’s charge from 24th starting position to sixth in the finishing order, marked Callum Ilott and PREMA Racing’s best finish of the year coming off his eighth at Toronto piloting the No. 90 PREMA Racing ChevroletToday’s run is the fourth top-ten for the team, building consistency with three races in a row one driver scoring a top-tenWill Power, No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, scored the seventh finishing spotl his seventh top-ten of the yearChristian Rasmussen fifth top-ten of the year driving the No. 21 SPLENDA Ed Carpenter Racing ChevroletHis ninth place finish ties his best finish on a road or street courseScott McLaughlin brought the No. 3 XPEL Team Penske Chevrolet, to the finish line in 10th place, his seventh top-10 of the seasonNext on the schedule for Chevrolet Motorsports in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES is the BITNILE.COM Grand Prix of Portland at Portland (Oregon) International Raceway on August 8-10, 2025Tune-in: 3pm (ET)/2pm (CT)/1pm (MT)/noon (PT) – FOX/INDYCAR Radio Network/SIRIUSXM 218 Java House Grand Prix Of Monterey Race Results |
 |
 |  |
| WHAT THEY’RE SAYING (QUOTES): Christian Lundgaard, No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet finished 2nd:“I knew the pit sequences are really key around here, and we went into this race not knowing if it was going to be a primary or alternate tire race. It ended up being a red race, and I can’t thank this team enough. This is the most podiums we’ve ever had in a year, and I’m very proud of the No. 7 VELO Arrow McLaren Chevrolet team.” Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet finished 4th:“I just didn’t feel like I had the performance today. There were cars giving me a lot of pressure from behind. It felt like we extracted the most out of what we had. Congrats to Christian on the podium, and I’m happy for Arrow McLaren with our most podiums we’ve ever had in a season. There are still three races to go. We’re going to keep pushing, but the 10 car just keeps winning.” Callum Ilott, No, 90 PREMA Racing Chevrolet finished 6th:“It was a really solid race. We got the strategy right, so the team did an amazing job on that side. Also with the pit stops they have really improved throughout the season and it’s paying off now. We started on the black tires and as a soon as the second yellow came out it opened up the pit window and we switched to the reds. I had really good tyre degradation, and I was able to maintain a good pace. It was a shame I couldn’t quite get past Pato as I think that would have been nice to set me up for the end of the race. But overall really happy with the team and being able to bring the result home.” Will Power, No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet finished 7th:“I think we end up around the top five if we start on the primary tire. That would have allowed us to run reds to the end but also come in under that second yellow flag. If we are able to pit there for the red tires we run with Dixon and Illot and I think we may have had them on pace. The weekend break comes at a good time for everyone on the Verizon Chevy team because there has been a lot of work going on the last few weeks.” Christian Rasmussen, No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Liquid Science Chevrolet finished 9th:“Good race for us today, overall, a good weekend. You know, starting 11th and gaining a couple spots and finishing ninth. Had a really good first stint. And, you know, we were passing people, even on our same strategy. I think we got up to P3 on our strategy, which is very positive. Super good pace on the black tire. We really were strong in the pit lane today, really proud of the boys for that. That was awesome to see. We’re just struggling with a little bit too much deg(radation) on the reds, on the new reds, really. I think my best, my best stint on the reds were my used reds. So, it was weird. I had a lot of oversteer, a lot of understeer in the middle. So just, it was just really, really hard to drive. So unfortunate too, because that kind of made me drop a wheel there out of turn four, which cost us a couple positions. So, it really should have been P7 but it’s still a good day for us. We’re moving forward as a team. We’re getting more consistently up there, fighting for top 10s on a fairly regular basis. So, I’m looking forward to see what we can bring to Portland and super excited for the ovals at the end of the year.” Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 XPEL Team Penske Chevrolet finished 10th:“Not a bad day for XPEL Chevy. I felt like our potential was probably into the top five or top eight, but we still salvaged a top ten. Not everything went our way, but we finished, and it’s nice to get a full race in with the boys. The car was OK. It can be better, but making improvements. Just trying to get a little bit of our mojo back, and we started that this weekend.” Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Astemo Team Penske Chevrolet finished 11th:“Honestly, it was great to get a solid, fairly stress-free finish this weekend. We’ve had a tough stretch here with DNFs and that has us behind a bit from where we need to be. Everyone on the Astemo Chevy has kept their head down and has put in the work necessary for us to pull out of this valley we’re in currently. Today was a lot about pit and tire strategy and we just came out on the wrong side of that, particularly on our second stint when we were overcut on a primary tire run. That cost us quite a bit of position and we did our best to claw that back before the checkered.” David Malukas, No. 4 A.J. Foyt Racing Clarience Technologies Chevrolet finished 13th:“For some reason we did not have a race car today. We kind of figured that out after first four or five laps, so we knew it was going to be survival till the end. So just praying and holding on and trying to make it out. Very thankful that we managed to come out with the P 13. There were some crashes at the end that pulled us forward. Obviously need to get our heads down, study on what’s going on with these road courses this year. A lot of work to do.” Conor Daly, No. 76 Juncos Holliger Racing Chevrolet finished 14th:“Obviously, we hate getting fired into the gravel and doing donuts in the sand on lap one. I am literally covered in dirt, because we got fired into the gravel by someone else, so that was a shame. But somehow, we managed to get out of the gravel, which was awesome. Eventually, we came from last to 14th. So, I honestly was really happy with the car once we got to the last stint. And I think the team, we knew we had a decent car, and to be right up on the gearbox of Malukas, Rahal and Josef (Newgarden), felt good for us. We weren’t going backwards, we were only going forwards, and that’s a good step forward for us. If we didn’t get wrecked at the beginning, maybe we would have been a better day. But I think we definitely salvaged what we could.” Alexander Rossi, No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Java House Chevrolet finished 15th:“This was a tough weekend all around. We never really found our way. Definitely not what we wanted for a race that Java House is the presenting sponsor of! Everyone did a good job to push through and get everything we could out of it.” Nolan Siegel, No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet finished 18th:“An up and down day for the No. 6 NTT DATA Arrow McLaren Chevrolet crew. I led laps for the first time in INDYCAR, but I’m ready for that to translate into a strong result. We had a puncture early on, which shifted our strategy a bit. That set us back, and then we lost some pace later in the race. We’re going to look into what happened there, but I’m confident we can reset and come back strong in Portland.” Sting Ray Robb, No. 77 Juncos Holliger Racing Chevrolet finished 19th:“That was a bit of a dogfight out there. There’s a lot of chaos, as per usual. I really love this track. The way he races is fun and unique and I think that we had an OK day. We just struggled in the early stints with the black tires, and I think that we stayed on those a little bit too long. The degradation level was just super high this year, compared to other years. It was a new racetrack for us, a new game to play. So, I think that we did a good job to adapt to move forward in the field, Heads up for the next one. I think that Portland, we have a lot more to learn. We have some testing to do, and hopefully that will help us start the weekend a little bit better. Get us a better window, so we can go fight at the front.” Robert Shwartzman, No. 83 PREMA Racing Chevrolet finished 21st:“At the start of the race I was pushed wide into the gravel and from there on I just tried to recover as much as I could as it changed our strategy. I was really struggling with the pace of the car though throughout the race which meant I couldn’t gain as many places. I had some moments where I felt like I was going to spin and I was trying to use the tools to help the car balance, but this didn’t seem to help. It seems like we are missing something, so we will work hard to try and figure it out ahead of the next race in Portland.” Santino Ferrucci, No. 14 A.J. Foyt Racing Sexton Properties Chevrolet finished 22nd:“Overall, really long stretch of four weekends in a row, just really happy for it to be over. The only thing that went right were our pit stops. Guys were good in the pits. Otherwise, it was just terrible and unlucky; we finished it off with the same exact streak that we started with. We’ve had pace here and there but we just haven’t been good. And I think we need to sit down and really understand what was wrong over the next week that we have off and come back to Portland really strong.” |
 |
| NTT INDYCAR SERIES News ConferenceSunday, July 27, 2025Christian LundgaardPress Conference THE MODERATOR: Wrapping up today’s Java House Grand Prix of Monterrey. We are now joined by the second- and third-place finishing drivers. Coming home second, Christian Lundgaard, driver of the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet with his second runner-up finish of 2025. Fifth podium here of the season. Fifteen on-track passes. That’s a race high for Christian today in what is now his eighth career podium. Colton Herta also joins us, driver of the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda for Andretti Global with Curb-Agajanian. Second podium of the season, 20th career podium, and fourth podium here at Laguna Seca. Christian, really one of the stories between you two was the second exchange and the second stint getting out in front of Colton. What was key in that one? CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: I think with the amount of deg that we had, the alternates weren’t — they were lasting from a pace perspective, but again, balance was very tough at the end of stints, and I knew that from my own first stint. Really it was just a very similar race for me compared to Barber. Used the undercut and attack. Obviously it worked. I knew I had to surprise him. So I did it into 11 instead of waiting for the main straights. Always fun racing. Q. Christian, at the last restart when the last yellow came out, the gap to Palou was only 0.3 seconds. You were thinking then there would be a realistic chance to catch him after the restart? CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: I mean, yes and no. I would say he had a pace advantage. I was really struggling on the last stint. We were on a used set of alternates that we knew we had to run longer than we’ve run the other two new alternates stints. I knew it was going to be tough, but, I mean, I was just trying to keep it on the track, in all honesty, and stay ahead of Colton. It just made it a lot tougher having to keep Colton behind as well. Q. Christian, could you kind of go into a little bit more detail on the strategy choice today? You kind of did something different than everybody else. It seemed to work out. CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: You know, I think it was a big question mark going into the race. I think it was one of those weekends where it’s very tough to really decide the strategy because you had to decide it last night right after warmup, which we call cool-down when it’s on Saturday evening. You have all night to sleep on it, and you don’t — I mean, you know already Saturday night what people are going to start on, but you don’t know if it’s going to be a red race. You don’t know if it’s going to be a prime race. And specifically this weekend, with the lack of running we’ve had, not running P2, it’s been extra hard. The 7 car did it last year. Obviously when I wasn’t in the car. They made it work. We were very determined to try to do something different and kind of do something similar. Obviously it worked out today, but we also knew that the undercut would work. I wasn’t quite expecting to be on the used alts at the end. I would much more prefer that to be the second to last stint, you know, have a new set at the end. It’s easy to complain after the fact, but looking at us finishing second from seventh is certainly great. Q. For the two of you, just kind of describe the difference in feel between a new set of reds and a used set of reds during this race, because that seemed to make a pretty big difference. COLTON HERTA: I think the overall grip is similar. Like when you are on the new or the used, when you get like that third or fourth lap peak, it’s a similar feeling. Then those kind of minor twitches or minor snaps, they happen sooner than the new tires. Really it’s just kind of — the pace just kind of degs evenly, I think, with the new reds, but it’s just below it the whole time after, like, lap four.All those little minor twitches that you hope to feel on lap 10 or lap 12, on the new reds you feel it on, like, lap 6 or lap 7. When you feel that, you think, oh, boy, this could go really wrong. CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: Yeah, I mean, I think it’s very similar, from my point of view. It’s kind of just an offset, right? They do have a memory, in a sense. If you’ve had an understeery or an oversteery balance the first time you run the tires, that’s kind of the balance you’re going to have the second time you run it. I think all of us were more on the oversteery side, and it’s not necessarily a fun track to have oversteer at. Q. During Rinus VeeKay’s sort of accident in turn 3, the series delayed the caution to give an opportunity for the frontrunners to pit. Do you think that’s the right thing for the series to do, to delay cautions to let everybody pit? Or do you think that’s just the nature of the danger zone, and by staying out you do get penalized for it? CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: I think there are pros and cons to it in a sense. I mean, I was definitely driving around thinking, why is there a car sideways — well, technically backwards going into the corkscrew, and we’re green for two laps? Yes, there’s a local yellow, but if someone isn’t really paying attention, changing a switch on the steering wheel, it can go terribly wrong. The one with VeeKay in turn 3 I think was more fair in a sense because you see him parked in the gravel. You’re not really going to end up there unless you really aren’t paying attention. I think INDYCAR in a sense has been consistent with that. Not necessarily to say that I agree with it, but I do appreciate that they are consistent with it. Q. Alex has won pretty much the majority of races this year, and you’re having quite a lot of good weekends, a lot of podiums this season, but you can’t really get the upper hand on him. How do you think you can turn it around and he can be beaten? CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: I think what’s very interesting with the 10 car is even though they’re having bad weekends, they still come out ahead, right? That’s what’s super frustrating for all of us. Even if he makes a mistake, the team makes a mistake, they make it up somehow, which I feel like we’re all kind of struggling to do in a sense. They’re there every single time. You have to give them kudos for being that competitive every time, and they’ve raised the bar. I think we’ve all said that before. I thought I had a tremendously good start to the season, and I was still way behind the 10 car in the championship after five races, and I had three podiums. The only difference is he won four out of those. Q. I know you were pretty unhappy after Friday. How do you think you were able to turn it around this weekend to bring in a pretty strong result? CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: Yeah, I think it’s very interesting for me. I sat in this very chair with Colton after practice one, and I was probably the least happy driver on the grid leaving practice one. We turned it around somehow without a practice two. The car was really good in qualifying, and we got hurt by a yellow in the Fast 12. That hurt us from advancing into the Firestone Fast Six. In a sense, I think that helped us today. We had two sets of new alternate tires, which I think helped our strategy. Q. When you are able to take a weekend where you weren’t happy on Friday and deliver this result with a second-place finish, even though you didn’t win the race, how happy are you, and how fulfilled do you feel what you were able to accomplish today? CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: You know, that’s the thing, right? I love coming to Laguna Seca. Obviously I’ve been faster in the past. I got to race here before the pavement, and I raced here with the new pavement. I think it produced very different racing. I think we also remember how big of a chaos 2023 was with, I guess, turn 11 with all the yellows that happened. I wanted to really showcase the racing that this track can produce. I was very frustrated after P1, and we just kept our head in it and focused on trying to make the car better. It’s a very similar situation to what we had in Toronto last weekend. We just weren’t able to turn it around. It kind of feels like a win for us on the 7 car, but we have to do it every single weekend. That’s what the 10 car is doing, and that’s what we need to do better, but I guess that’s what everybody needs to do better. |
| Chevrolet wins at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca: 5 1993 – Paul Tracy – Team Penske1991 – Michael Andretti – Newman Haas Racing1990 – Danny Sullivan – Team Penske1989 – Rick Mears – Team Penske1988 – Danny Sullivan – Team Penske Chevrolet poles at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca: 8 2023 – Felix Rosenqvist – Arrow McLaren2022 – Will Power – Team Penske1993 – Emerson Fittipaldi – Team Penske1991 – Michael Andretti – Newman Haas Racing1990 – Danny Sullivan – Team Penske1989 – Rick Mears – Team Penske1988 – Danny Sullivan – Team Penske1987 – Mario Andretti – Newman Haas Racing Chevrolet podiums at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca: 22 Chevrolet podiums at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca by driver: Mario Andretti (3), Danny Sullivan (3), Al Unser Jr. (3), Michael Andretti (2), Rick Mears (2), Will Power (2), Emerson Fittipaldi (1), Christian Lundgaard (1), Scott McLaughlin (1), Josef Newgarden (1), Bob Rahal (1), Alexander Rossi (1) and Paul Tracy (1) Chevrolet podiums at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca by team: Team Penske (11), Newman Haas Racing (5), Galles Racing (3), Arrow McLaren (2), Rahal Hogan Racing (1) Chevrolet laps led at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca: 567 Chevrolet laps led at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca by driver: Danny Sullivan (156), Michael Andretti (86), Mario Andretti (83), Paul Tracy (81), Rick Mears (52), Will Power (29), Pato O’Ward (15), Al Unser Jr. (14), Felix Rosenqvist (11), Nolan Siegel (11), Josef Newgarden (10), Alexander Rossi (10), Emerson Fittipaldi (7), Callum Ilott (1), and Simon Pagenaud (1) Chevrolet laps led at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca by team: Team Penske (332), Newman Haas Racing (169), Arrow McLaren (47), Galles Racing (14), Patrick Racing (4), and Juncos Hollinger Racing (1) Manufacturer History at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca Wins (with competition): 9 – Honda (2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2019, 2000, 1997, 1996)5 – Chevrolet (1993, 1991, 1990, 1989, 1988)5 – Cosworth (1987, 1986, 1985, 1984, 1983)4 – Ford (2001, 1999, 1998, 1992)1 – Ilmor (1994)1 – Mercedes (1995)1 – Toyota (2002) Poles (with competition): 8 – Chevrolet (2023, 2021, 1993, 1991, 1990, 1989, 1988, 1987)7 – Honda (2025, 2024, 2021 2019, 2001, 2000, 1996)5 – Ford (1999, 1998, 1997, 1995, 1992)4 – Cosworth (1986, 1985, 1984, 1983)1 – Ilmor (1994)1 – Toyota (2002) |