Christian Lundgaard aims to overcome recent qualifying…

Christian Lundgaard is hoping to unlock the puzzle to his early season qualifying woes this weekend at Barber Motorsports Park.

Race pace hasn’t been an issue for the 24-year-old Dane, but qualifying has. In the season-opening Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, he started 12th and methodically marched through the field to finish third. The next week he progressed four spots after rolling off a lowly 17th at Phoenix Raceway. At the most recent round on the streets of Arlington, he was the victim of backmarker chaos and spun from contact on the second lap after starting 18th, but played damage control with a charge back to finish seventh.

And that race pace is why, after being fourth-fastest in opening practice (0.0539s behind leader Scott McLaughlin’s 1m07.3840s) at the 2.3-mile, 17-turn road course on Friday, Lundgaard is putting an emphasis on getting his #7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet into the Firestone Fast Six.

“The one focus on the #7 car for this weekend is just execution,” said Lundgaard, who finished runner-up at the Alabama circuit last year.

“I don't think we need to try to find a lot of pace. I think we just need to go out there and execute. Qualifying has been a struggle for us this year. We've been good on Sundays.

“For us, it's see if we can get into the Firestone Fast Six. We weren't last year. Nolan (Siegel, his teammate in the #6 Chevrolet) was in last year. I think that's really where we need to gain some ground to be able to fight for the win.”

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

If there is one concern for Lundgaard coming out of the day’s only practice session, it’s that of his 23 laps run, his best were on the softer alternate tires (red sidewall) and not on the harder primary compound (black sidewall).

“We were only fast on the alternates,” Lundgaard said. “We weren't fast on the primaries.

“Obviously Pato (O’Ward, teammate in the #5 Chevrolet) was a lot faster than we were. That's really where the surprise was, the shift from alternates to primaries on the #7 car. Every time I'd come into the box, I'd be like, ‘I don't know where I'm going to find half a second.’ Put on the alternates and there it was.”

Lundgaard, who sits seventh in the championship, has finished seven times since joining Arrow McLaren ahead of the 2025 season, but none have been on the top step. So, while his teammate, O’Ward is leaning on consistency with finishes of fifth, fourth, and fifth to start the year, Lundgaard is pushing for his second career win and first with Arrow McLaren.

“Yeah, I can promise you right now we're not aiming at finishing fourth or fifth,” Lundgaard said. “Those are good points, but we're trying to win every single race.”