Lundgaard tops second Mid-Ohio IndyCar practice

Christian Lundgaard fired in the fastest lap of the morning during the closing minutes of the second practice session at Mid-Ohio’s Honda Indy 200 with a 1m05.215s in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevy.

Lundgaard edged teammate Pato O’Ward – a winner at Mid-Ohio in 2024 – in second with a 1m05.439s tour in the No. 5 Chevy as both used late new-tire runs to eclipse Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood in the No. 27 Honda (1m05.819s).

“Obviously, we knew today would be a lot faster because it’s cooler,” Lundgaard said. “The session today is much earlier than yesterday. I would definitely say we found some issues in balance that we didn’t have yesterday, because I think the tires were overheating yesterday.

"We’re in a good spot. We’re going in one direction. I feel like the speed is in the car and it was there yesterday as well. It’s really optimizing from here and fine tuning from here; the last little things us drivers really want. I feel like the car is in the spot it needs to be.”

It was a great morning for Sting Ray Robb who rocketed to fourth in the No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevy (1m05.854s) after recovering from a harmless spin and stall. Ohio product Graham Rahal was fifth in the No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda (1m05.857s) and ECR’s Christian Rasmussen closed the top six with the No. 21 Chevy (1m05.868s).

Elsewhere, Chip Ganassi Racing was relegated to eighth with its best performer in Alex Palou (1m05.977s) and Team Penske’s highest representative was Scott McLaughlin in eighth (1m06.110s) as the remarkably tight field was covered by just 0.356s from Kirkwood in third to Alexander Rossi in 17th.

UP NEXT: Qualifying, 2:30pm ET