In a mixed-up strategy race, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver Lundgaard dominated the opening stint but a yellow at half-distance after Romain Grosjean crashed his Andretti Autosport car set off a chain of events that meant he had to battle his way back to the head of the field.
Lundgaard passed points leader Alex Palou, up from 15th on the grid, for the victory in the final third of the race for his first win in the series.
Palou finished second despite his poor starting position and a badly damaged nose section on his Chip Ganassi Racing car that was hanging off his car by the finish.
Polesitter Lundgaard, who started on the softer alternate tires, led the field to green at the 11-turn, 1.786-mile Exhibition Place street course from McLaughlin on the harder primary rubber, Pato O’Ward (Arrow McLaren) and the Ganassi entries of Marcus Ericsson and Scott Dixon – the latter jumping up to fifth from seventh on the grid.
An eight-car pileup occurred on the exit of Turn 1, as an initial three-car collision between Jack Harvey (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing), debutant Tom Blomqvist (Meyer Shank Racing) and Ryan Hunter-Reay (Ed Carpenter Racing) got collected by Alexander Rossi (McLaren), Sting Ray Robb (Dale Coyne Racing) and the AJ Foyt Racing cars of Santino Ferrucci and Benjamin Pedersen. Graham Rahal also ploughed into Pedersen but smartly reversed and used the run-off loop beneath Princes’ Gate to avoid going a lap down.
The race went green again on lap 10, Lundgaard leading McLaughlin, O’Ward, Ericsson and Dixon. Kyle Kirkwood (Andretti Autosport) grabbed sixth from Arrow McLaren’s Felix Rosenqvist at Turn 3.
From 14th and 15th on the grid, the out-of-position Colton Herta (Andretti) and Palou (Ganassi) both gained a couple of spots at the start. They switched positions straight after the restart, but Palou then clipped Grosjean at Turn 3 and dropped back behind Herta, who jumped ahead of Grosjean and Marcus Armstrong (Ganassi) on successive laps to run 10th by lap 14.
Source: Autosport