#45 – Christian Lundgaard, 8th in the championship standings (390 points) – 17 races
#15 – Graham Rahal, 15th in the championship standings (276 points) – 17 races, 16 w/ RLL
#30 – Jack Harvey, 24th in the championship standings (146 points) – 14 races
#30 – Juri Vips, 33rd in the championship standings (18 points) – 2 races
#30 – Conor Daly, 25th in championship standings (134 points) – 11 races, 1 w/ RLL
#44 – Katherine Legge, 37th in championship standings (5 points) – 1 race
Joey Barnes: While there were frustrations on ovals, RLL was a force to be reckoned with on road and street circuits. The organisation’s mark of four poles tied Team Penske for second-most on the year.
It wasn’t a surprise to see Christian Lundgaard capture his first-ever IndyCar Series win, but manner in which he did so certainly was. The Dane was a delight with a cerebral performance, leading 54 of 85 laps from pole at Toronto, keeping calm despite the calamity of cautions; and just a week prior to turning 22 years old. While that was his only trip to the podium, he collected three fourth-place results, too. Finishing eighth in the championship in only a second full-time season, ahead of every driver of Andretti Autosport and only 35 points behind Team Penske’s Will Power, is certainly something to build on moving into 2024.
For as demoralising as it was for Graham Rahal to not qualify for the Indianapolis 500 (later replacing for the injured Stefan Wilson at Dreyer & Reinbold Racing), there were glimpses of resurgence during the year. The pole at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course was impressive, and was the only one pressing Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon for the win that day.
Although not converting pole into a podium – or top 10 – at Portland was likely maddening, the one I keep thinking of as the one that got away was Mid-Ohio. He started on the front row and was pushing pole-sitter Colton Herta, especially the further a stint went on, but both ultimately lost out to strategy as Alex Palou jumped both from fourth. Rahal’s early pace at Mid-Ohio was stout and likely would have only been enhanced with clean air and consistent time out front, but it didn’t come to be.
Still, there were flashes of the version of Rahal that routinely fought for podiums and wins not that long ago. So, definitely something to build on for next year.
Source: Autosport