He’ll as soon as once more stand in for former champion and Indy 500 winner Simon Pagenaud, who continues to be sidelined with concussion-like signs following his horrendous accident at Mid-Ohio.
As reigning Indy NXT champion, Lundqvist is not any stranger to oval racing and has raced at World Large Expertise Raceway close to St. Louis on three earlier events. However this Sunday’s Bommarito Automotive Group 500 might be his first IndyCar begin within the 260-lap race across the 1.25-mile oval.
“I’m extraordinarily pleased to be becoming a member of MSR once more in St. Louis this weekend,” mentioned Lundqvist. “The previous few weekends in Nashville and at Indy have been the time of my life and I can’t wait to proceed to work with this group.
“We’ve been by some difficult race codecs – Nashville a road course, Indy a highway course, and now St. Louis, an oval. I might be studying as soon as once more.”
Linus Lundqvist, Meyer Shank Racing Honda
Photograph by: Josh Tons / Motorsport Images
Lundqvist received the pole in Indy Lights (which was renamed Indy NXT for 2023) final yr however is aware of he has an enormous problem forward of him.
He added: “I do know that it’s going to be robust and tough, however I do know the group goes to offer me automotive to have a stable end result like we had at Indy. I’m additionally very a lot wanting ahead to working with Helio [Castroneves] as a team-mate.
“Working with him on an oval is one thing that each driver would wish to do and I’m simply going to be taught from it as a lot as I can this weekend.”
Castroneves received from pole at Gateway in 2003, main for 96 laps, and completed third on two different events. The four-time Indy 500 champion solely has 4 begins on the WWTR oval however has led greater than 50 laps in three of these.
“I’m undoubtedly very excited to get again to a different oval, they’re undoubtedly tracks that I like,” mentioned Castroneves. “Up to now, we’ve had some good outcomes on ovals, so right here’s to ending out the ultimate oval of the season with end result.”