Credit to Wikimedia Comms: Linus Lundqvist British F4
It was about a year ago today that the green flag dropped for the season opener of the 2023 Indycar series championship in St Petersburg Florida. It was a typical mix of classic Indycar excitement and drama mixing the old guard of the Indycar with the new wave of young talent. Graduates that year included that of Benjamin Pedersen and Sting Ray Robb (yes that is his name) who both made the step up after their Indy NXT campaigns in 2022. However the campaigns they came off of were not exactly mesmerising. Robb had the headlines by coming runner up in his second year of Indy NXT competition but only took one win at the season finale at Laguna Seca. Meanwhile Pedersen was down in fifth with a consistent but mediocre campaign. He, also like Robb, only had one win in his sophomore year but for him it was the penultimate round at Portland. For a series that prides itself in hosting the best talent in open wheel racing, it was especially difficult to market these two as the newest generational superstars when their career statistics are so underwhelming.
Truth be told, the reality is that their step up to the Indycar series was done because of their huge funding and the sponsors they brought. The talent was undoubtedly there but realistically, their promotions were too sudden. And as the 2023 Indycar season progressed, this statement rang true as Robb and Pedersen quickly slumped into mediocrity. Both Robb and Pedersen suffered scrappy and inconsistent campaigns marred with a myriad of huge crashes. Robb’s best finish all year was 12th and Pedersen could only muster a best of 15th. Ideally, they both needed another year in Indy NXT and further Indycar testing to really flourish. But the financial backing they brought was too tempting and as a young driver, any opportunity for a seat in Indycar you would absolutely take with no hesitation. From their team's perspective, Dale Coyne and AJ Foyt respectively for Robb and Pedersen, bringing these two on was vital for funding their operations but the unfortunate reality for the viewers is that it denied higher skilled drivers from entering the series. And speaking about one of those drivers, they were the eventual champion of that year's Indy NXT championship. He took five incredible victories, won the title by nearly 100 points and demonstrated tenacity and composure wherever he drove. He is finally entering Indycar in 2024 as a rookie but is already being touted as a future superstar. And by looking through his career up to this point, we can see why he will be the next big thing in Indycar racing. That driver being Sweden’s Linus Lundqvist.
In comparison to Robb and Pedersen, Lundqvist was in an entirely different league in the 2022 Indy NXT championship. The stats of his championship campaign looked like this. Of the 14 rounds he contested that season, Lundqvist took five victories, nine podiums, seven pole positions and three fastest laps. Of the fifteen regular drivers that competed, Lundqvist’s lowest finishing position all season was sixth. The rest of his finishes were all within the top five and he never retired once. His points margin to Sting Ray Robb at the end of the season was 92 points. It was very nearly six wins if not for a penalty at Iowa but on a whole it was domination from Lundqvist. Majority of the time he was in cruise control no matter the conditions, like in the Detroit double header, and even when circumstances went against him he fought all the way back to the top against the odds. The first race at Indianapolis shows this mantra where contact between Lundqvist and Christian Rasmussen sent him to the rear of the field with front wing damage. But by the end of the race, he clawed all the way up the field and came home fifth by the chequered flag. There was no comparison between Lundqvist and any of the Indy NXT drivers. He was leagues ahead of everyone else. Sting Ray Robb and Benjamin Pedersen are no doubt accomplished junior drivers but Linus Lundqvist is a generational talent.
But this was not a one off by any means. Looking through his whole career, Lundqvist has always been a seriously strong driver. Including his Indy NXT championship, Lundqvist has five single seater titles to his name which include Formula Nordic, Formula STCC, British Formula 3 and Formula Regional Americas. Championships outside of this included British F4 and Euro Formula Open but even there he was still mightily consistent. The lowest he ever finished in those junior championships was fifth and he was still picking up race wins, podiums and pole positions on regular occasions. Of the above championships mentioned, the crowning achievement in his junior career came with his Formula Regional Americas Championship in 2020. In comparison to his five wins in Indy NXT in 2022, his Formula regional title run saw him take fifteen victories in a seventeen race championship and a clean sweep of pole positions in every single race! His closest competitor was the now Arrow McLaren driver David Malukis and he trounced other future Indycar drivers in Benjamin Pedersen and Kyffin Simpson. His statistics actually rival those of the best young drivers on the planet right now across all series and that even includes current Formula 1 drivers.
So the fact that we are now talking about Lundqvist not getting an Indycar seat in 2023 must seem criminal given how much we just praised him. The difficulty for Lundqvist is that he has had to earn his way to every seat in his career without financial backing. Now that might seem ridiculous to some as motorsports should be a results based game but sometimes money prevails above all and 2023 was about to prove that mantra. As mentioned before, Sting Ray Robb and Benjamin Pedersen had so much wealth behind them to make the step up meaning they essentially outbid Linus Lundqvist for a seat. Lundqvist in comparison had nothing and the HMD Motorsports backing did nothing for Lundqvist’s campaign either due to the ties that David Malukis had with the HMD seat in Dayle Coyne Racing. Now the Indy NXT championship does offer a one million prize pot for the eventual champion which should be enough for a part time drive. But Lundqvist would be receiving only half the prize fund and no Honda scholarship. The Indycar and Indy NXT series was just entering its period of ownership with Penske Entertainment and resulting changes were made to the whole ladder system which included the loss of half the Indy NXT prize pot. This was a huge deal as the shining achievement for Indy NXT was how the winning funds created opportunities for a part time seat in Indycar. Every champion since Jean-Karl Vernay in 2010 got a part time or a full time shot at Indycar through this scholarship scheme so for Lundqvist to lose out on that extra funding for his career was huge for derailing his progression to Indycar. For a small team he was now invaluable and for the big teams, he was unfortunately stuck waiting for expiring contracts in the hope a top team would take him on. Various tests were conducted with Rahal Letterman Lanagin and Ed Carpenter Racing but seemingly no offer came. A Formula E rookie test in Berlin and a cameo in Porsche Carrera Cup Scandinavia saw Lundqvist desperately seeking drives wherever he could. But to be knocking on Indycar’s doors, he needed to put himself into a race seat in some capacity in 2023 to demonstrate his value to the paddock. And by a stroke of luck, that is exactly what he got.
Simon Pagenaud suffered one of Indycar’s biggest crashes of its modern era at Mid Ohio Road Course when a brake failure sent his car into the gravel and rolled upwards of six times into the tyre barrier. He was, and still is today, unclear to race from concussion symptoms and Meyer Shank Racing were consequently in need of a reserve driver to fill his place. Subsequently though, this also unintentionally opened up an opportunity to host auditions for next season's seat at Meyer Shank Racing. The chances of Simon Pagenaud returning even before the crash were looking slim as he was struggling all season with his Meyer Shank car. In fact both seats were potentially up for grabs as teammate Helio Castroneves was also suffering a performance slump leaving the possibility of two seats being freed up. Mike Shank saw this as a chance to test the waters for new drivers heading into 2024 and began experimenting with an array of veterans and series rookies. American stalwart Conor Daly took the wheel at Mid Ohio Road Course and Iowa Speedway whilst sportscar ace Tom Blomqvist drove in the streets of Toronto. Blomqvist arguably was up against the worst being thrusted into a slow car on a soaking wet track he had never driven before resulting in a lowly qualifying position. His day then came to a premature end after a first lap pile up he was unfortunately collected in. The narrative was that Blomqvist would be given more seat time to adjust to Indycar as he was still in the hot seat for a drive next season with Meyer Shank. But coming to Nashville, the toughest street course on the calendar, Blomqvist was on the side lines for his IMSA commitments and Linus Lundqvist was finally given a shot.
Against a full field, he immediately punched himself a ticket into the fast 12 shootout and qualified 11th on his debut. The top ten was in reach during the race but unfortunately crashed out with just over ten laps to go. But as far as a debut is concerned, this was a mighty effort from Lundqvist. He took that car to places it had never been in 2023 and in the process set the fastest lap of the race. The pace he had was seriously strong so Meyer Shank Racing gave Lundqvist another race at the Indianapolis Road Course. He put in yet another solid performance and finished the race in 12th place ahead of all the rookie drivers. That was a street course and a road course and he impressed on both tracks. The St Louis oval was up next and Lundqvist came home in 18th place. It was a solid enough result for Meyer Shank but he yet again came home with the fastest lap, the second in his three starts to date. An 18th place finish may not seem the most ground breaking but what made this noteworthy was how he had never tested an Indycar on a short track before. This also rings true to his Nashville and Indianapolis races. His testing had been limited to one session at the Indianapolis Road Course with Andretti Autosport and one at Sebring with Ed Carpenter Racing. But even with very little experience in an Indycar prior to these races, he was already outpacing series veterans in much inferior equipment. He adapted so quickly to the characteristics of the Indycar and was immediately on pace with the rest of the field. The statistics of his junior career were no fluke. Lundqvist was the real deal. He did not waste a single one of his chances and demonstrated that he was the real deal to Indycar. And as a result, his hard work paid off.
We now reach 2024 and Linus Lundqvist is finally a part of the NTT Indycar Series. Not only in a full time seat but with arguably the most competitive team on the grid, Chip Ganassi Racing. He is also occupying the No.8 car now left free by the Andretti bound Marcus Ericsson, the same team that won the 106th Indianapolis 500. He is also entering with full backing from one of Ganassi’s primary sponsors American Legion, the previous sponsor of the No.10 car run by last year's champion Alex Palou. Chip Ganassi is placing his full trust in Lundqvist to perform and speaks volumes with how confident he is in Lundqvist’s abilities and his desire to bring in into the team. Supporting this point is how Ganassi signed their long term development driver Kyffin Simpson from Indy NXT to Indycar in a fifth car for 2024. Simpson brings a raft of sponsors onboard for Chip Ganassi Racing that includes the Ridgeline sponsors on the No.11 car. Not only does this help fund the development of the cars but in this scenario, it gives Chip Ganassi more money to pay for driver salaries and thus allowing Ganassi to give Lundqvist a drive. The topic of Kyffin Simpson can be for another day but the intent behind his signing is key for this whole story as it allowed for Lundqvist’s place at the team to even exist.
The lengths gone to sign Lundqvist and the trust placed on him is insane. But for a driver of this calibre, the trust is absolutely warranted because he is one of the most exciting prospects entering Indycar today. Through every rank of the junior ladder, he has adapted to driving so many different cars so quickly and has been fast on every sort of track throughout his ascension in America. Road courses, street courses, ovals, he has demonstrated supreme versatility in every scenario. Even in his brief stint with Meyer Shank Racing, he proved his metal immediately against the very best on the grid and gathered vital experience in both qualifying and race scenarios at the top level. Lundqvist now has a broad understanding of the challenges the Indycar calendar offers and given his strong versatility, it is safe to say he will adapt very quickly. Are we going into this season expecting podiums and race wins immediately? Absolutely not. He is ultimately still on a learning curve and it will take him time to reach that elite level he was famous for in the junior formula. But he now has two of the best drivers to learn from in Scott Dixon and Alex Palou in a championship winning organisation. And compared to where he was at the start of 2023, momentum for him has never been stronger by finally achieving his dream of becoming an Indycar driver. He is such an exciting prospect for the Indycar series and will undoubtedly be a key driver to watch in the forthcoming future.
Image Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Linus_Lundqvist_-_2017_British_F4_Knockhill_%28Sunday,_R3%29_%28cropped%29.jpg
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