Starting from 4th place Car 7 Christian Lundgaard won the Sonsio Grand Prix for his 2nd NTT INDYCAR SERIES win. This is his 1st win & 3rd Top 5 of 2026. 2nd Place Car 12 David Malukas, started from 5th place posted his 3rd Top 5 of 2026. 3rd Place Car 15 Graham Rahal, started from 7th place posted his 2nd Top 5 of 2026.
4th Place Car 2 Josef Newgarden, started from 10th place followed by 5th place Car 10 Alex Palou, started from pole. 6th Place Car 9 Scott Dixon, started from 8th place followed by 7th place Car 45 Louis Foster, started from 6th place. 8th Place Car 19 Dennis Hauger, started from 24th followed by 9th place Car 27 Kyle Kirkwood, started from 9th place. Lastly in the Top 10 was Car 6 Nolan Siegel, in 10th lace, started from 16th place.
The race had 3 Cautions for 12 Laps: 1st Caution on lap 1 for Contact: Cars 4, 5, 9, 45 and 60 in Turn 1. 2nd Caution on lap 22 for Mechanical: Car 20 on Front Straight. 3rd Caution on lap 28 for Contact: Cars 8, 60 and 66 in Turn 13.
The race had 6 Lead Changes among 4 drivers. Lead Change Summary: 1 10 Palou, Alex. 24 26 Power, Will. 30 12 Malukas, David. 47 7 Lundgaard, Christian. 49 26 Power, Will. 58 12 Malukas, David. 68 7 Lundgaard, Christian. Leader Summary: Car Driver Laps Led, 12 Malukas, David 27. 10 Palou, Alex 23. 7 Lundgaard, Christian 20. 26 Power, Will 15.
Photo Courtesy of INDYCAR
NTT INDYCAR SERIES Statement:
Lundgaard Breaks Long Drought To Win Sonsio Grand Prix
INDIANAPOLIS (Saturday, May 9, 2026) – Christian Lundgaard prevailed in a race filled with thrills, incidents and enough pit wall decisions to prematurely age strategists to win the Sonsio Grand Prix on Saturday on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, his first NTT INDYCAR SERIES victory in nearly three years.
Lundgaard drove his No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet to his second career victory by 4.6713 seconds over the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet of David Malukas. Lundgaard’s first career win came at the Honda Indy Toronto on July 16, 2023, while driving for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. This victory ended a 47-race winless drought for the Danish driver, and he became the third McLaren driver to win in the INDYCAR SERIES, joining Johnny Rutherford and Pato O’Ward.
“Very happy,” Lundgaard said. “I really didn’t expect this today. I hoped for it. This was a long wait for this win, especially around this place. You know how fast I’ve always been around here, and it’s just been time after time after time disappointments. Now we’re here. Let’s go!
“We did it. Let’s go. Good start to May.”
Graham Rahal was the final podium finisher today, third in the No. 15 Fifth Third Bank Honda to tie his season-best result.
Josef Newgarden placed fourth in the No. 2 Astemo Team Penske Chevrolet to put two Penske cars in the top four. NTT P1 Award winner Alex Palou, who led every session he was on track this weekend entering the 85-lap race, rounded out the top five in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
Lundgaard, who started fourth, took the lead for good with a scintillating pass of Malukas on Lap 68. The two drivers raced side by side through Turns 3 and 4 before Lundgaard slipped through a small opening in the Turns 5 and 6 chicane leading to the backstretch of the 14-turn, 2.439-mile circuit.
Then Lundgaard, who last pitted for the final time one lap earlier than Malukas on Lap 65, pulled away over the closing laps. Malukas led a race-high 27 laps, four more than Lundgaard, as he fell just short of earning his first career victory.
“We were very strong in those middle stints, and then toward the end, we maybe made the wrong decision on wing (adjustments) there,” Malukas said. “We were just falling apart. I was doing everything I can just to survive, and Rahal was coming from behind.
“But either way, that is a fantastic result. We went into this weekend knowing it was going to be a struggle for us. We thought we wouldn’t even make the (Firestone) Fast Six (in qualifying), and here we are P2 on the podium. We’re one step closer to getting that win.”
Chaos and snap decisions from strategists reigned from the drop of the green flag until the race settled into a rhythm after the final round of pit stops for the field with 20 to 25 laps to go.
Palou led into Turn 1 at the start, seeking his fourth consecutive victory in this road race that opens the Month of May at IMS. Behind him, O’Ward in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, Scott Dixon in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, Felix Rosenqvist in the No. 60 SiriusXM Honda and Caio Collet in the No. 4 Combitrans Amazonia Chevrolet were collected in a chain-reaction accident as the 25-car field funneled from the front straightaway to the tight Turns 1-2 complex.
That incident helped Malukas jump from fifth to second and triggered the first of three full-course cautions in the race. Many teams began to adopt alternate strategies to cope with the early field shuffle, entering for tires and fuel when the pits opened on Lap 3.
Meanwhile, Palou stayed on track and began to pad his lead. Kyle Kirkwood drove his No. 27 JM Bullion/Gold.com Honda of Andretti Global past Malukas for second place on Lap 7, and the top two drivers in the series point standings started to pull away and possibly set up a one-on-one duel for victory.
The race turned on its head on Lap 22 when the No. 20 Java House Chevrolet driven by Alexander Rossi of ECR stopped along the pit wall near the Yard of Bricks start-finish line on the front straightaway with a mechanical problem. Many other cars had started to pit before the full-course yellow, but Palou and Kirkwood did not from the top two spots.
Palou and Kirkwood entered the pits on Lap 25, dropping them to 19th and 20th, respectively, when they returned to speed. Palou and Kirkwood just avoided calamity on the restart on Lap 28, darting around another chain-reaction collision – this time in Turn 13 – between Rosenqvist, O’Ward, Sting Ray Robb in the No. 77 Juncos Hollinger – Goodheart Chevrolet and Kyffin Simpson in the No. 8 Sunoco Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
Kirkwood’s chances at contending for victory ended during his pit service on Lap 39, when a slow right-front wheel change resulted in a 15.2-second stop. Palou’s stop was 7.2 seconds on the same lap, allowing him to continue to march toward the front. But he never got any closer than fifth, ending up 14.3630 seconds behind winner Lundgaard.
Palou’s two-race win streak this season ended, but he still padded his series lead over Kirkwood to 27 points. Kirkwood finished ninth.
Lundgaard will try to repeat Palou’s 2025 “double” of winning the Sonsio Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge when the 110th edition of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” takes place Sunday, May 24. Practice on the fabled 2.5-mile oval opens Tuesday, May 12.
Sonsio Grand Prix Results
Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course May 9, 2026
Position Starting Position Car Driver Lap Status
1. 4. Car 7 Lundgaard, Christian D/C/F 85 Running
2. 5. Car 12 Malukas, David D/C/F 85 Running
3. 7. Car 15 Rahal, Graham D/H/F 85 Running
4. 10. Car 2 Newgarden, Josef D/C/F 85 Running
5. 1. Car 10 Palou, Alex D/H/F 85 Running
6. 8. Car 9 Dixon, Scott D/H/F 85 Running
7. 6. Car 45 Foster, Louis D/H/F 85 Running
8. 24. Car 19 Hauger, Dennis (R) D/H/F 85 Running
9. 9. Car 27 Kirkwood, Kyle D/H/F 85 Running
10. 16. Car 6 Siegel, Nolan D/C/F 85 Running
11. 20. Car 66 Armstrong, Marcus D/H/F 85 Running
12. 22. Car 8 Simpson, Kyffin D/H/F 85 Running
13. 25. Car 26 Power, Will D/H/F 85 Running
14. 15. Car 14 Ferrucci, Santino D/C/F 85 Running
15. 21. Car 76 VeeKay, Rinus D/C/F 85 Running
16. 17. Car 3 McLaughlin, Scott D/C/F 85 Running
17. 23. Car 77 Robb, Sting Ray D/C/F 85 Running
18. 2. Car 5 O’Ward, Pato D/C/F 85 Running
19. 12. Car 4 Collet, Caio (R) D/C/F 85 Running
20. 18. Car 47 Schumacher, Mick (R) D/H/F 85 Running
21. 11. Car 18 Grosjean, Romain D/H/F 84 Running
22. 14. Car 28 Ericsson, Marcus D/H/F 61 Mechanical
23. 3. Car 60 Rosenqvist, Felix D/H/F 28 Contact
24. 19. Car 21 Rasmussen, Christian D/C/F 28 Mechanical
25. 13. Car 20 Rossi, Alexander D/C/F 20 Mechanical
Stats:
Time of Race: 01:55:40.2894 Avg Speed: 107.536 Lead Changes: 6 Caution Laps: 12
Fastest Lap: 121.744 mph ( 72.1221 sec) on lap 42 by 10 – Alex Palou
Fastest Leader Lap: 121.582 mph ( 72.2177 sec) on lap 33 by 12 – David Malukas
Next Event: Sunday, May 24 The 110th Indianapolis 500 FOX 10 a.m.
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