The driving force from Denmark was a thriller to IndyCar groups in 2021. He had everything of the paddock reaching for his or her telephones and asking Siri and Alexa, “Who the hell is Christian Lundgaard?”

These primary web searches revealed he was 20, drove for the ART Grand Prix Components 2 outfit, and gained two F2 races in 2020 on the way in which to inserting seventh within the championship. In 2021, although, Lundgaard wasn’t trending upward. He was in Alpine’s F1 Academy, and but, his possibilities of reaching Components One had been fading.

By an outreach to the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing IndyCar staff, an alternate path was mapped out for Lundgaard. He’d make a one-off look with RLL late within the 2021 season to check the waters on rerouting his profession by way of America. The child would get a shot on the Brickyard Grand Prix in Indianapolis.

What a shot he made.

Qualifying fourth, Lundgaard stole the present in time trials on the Indianapolis highway course. Within the race, his inexperience with the Honda-powered Indy automotive and its Firestone tires proved troublesome, however he held on to complete twelfth. Behind him had been main IndyCar stars who’d amassed 12 championships and gained seven Indianapolis 500s.

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If a man they’d by no means heard of from F2, who wasn’t precisely drawing curiosity from F1 groups, might rock up and scare the daylights out of the IndyCar institution, who else was simmering beneath the floor in F2 that may be deserving of a glance by American open-wheel groups? The solutions have been somewhat attention-grabbing.

Heading into subsequent season’s IndyCar championship, an ever-growing variety of F2 graduates will likely be on the grid, led by Lundgaard, who gained his first race for RLL in July. In his sophomore IndyCar marketing campaign, Lundgaard sits eighth within the drivers’ standings coming into the ultimate race; he is instantly behind defending champion Will Energy and forward of names like Colton Herta, Romain Grosjean and properly away from teammate Graham Rahal.

England’s Callum Ilott, the previous Ferrari F1 driver academy standout who positioned second within the 2020 F2 championship, will proceed to steer the upstart Juncos Hollinger Racing staff. His shut good friend, New Zealand’s Marcus Armstrong who additionally skilled within the Ferrari Academy, is main IndyCar’s Rookie of the Yr standings with new champions Chip Ganassi Racing. The Kiwi arrived on American shores after inserting thirteenth in final season’s F2 championship on the power of three wins, and simply signed a multi-year deal to stick with Ganassi.

Swayed by the diamond it unearthed with Lundgaard, RLL is strongly contemplating dipping into the F2 driver properly as soon as extra because it refines its driver choices for 2024. Estonia’s Juri Vips, the previous Pink Bull F1 Junior Workforce member, has been introduced in to run the final two rounds of 2023 and is more likely to be paired with Lundgaard and Rahal in 2024, which might convey the tally of F2-turned-IndyCar drivers to 4. And extra are on the quick lists held by IndyCar groups with vacant seats to fill.

The rise in curiosity for F2 drivers represents a serious shift for IndyCar groups.

The finer drivers on the European open-wheel ladder have all the time carried one important drawback when in comparison with their counterparts on the American junior open-wheel ladder, and that is with their full lack of oval racing expertise. Given the possibility to select between a F2 champion whose solely disciplines are highway and avenue course racing, and a domestically skilled Indy Lights (now Indy NXT) champion who had the identical highway and avenue training plus a strong basis of oval racing, the Lights driver historically obtained the nod.

That is altering, nonetheless, because the possession of IndyCar and Indy NXT moved to Penske Leisure in 2020.

The cross for the win and the feelings that observe ❤️🏁@lundgaardoff • @HyVee pic.twitter.com/vlkxoVOWhz

— Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (@RLLracing) July 17, 2023

The marquee Freedom 100 race, the place NXT drivers obtained their first likelihood to race and study on the identical Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval that hosts the Indy 500, was faraway from the calendar. Citing fears of a giant crash which may maim or kill younger drivers, the perfect NXT race of the season was erased, leaving two quick ovals — one on the 0.875-mile Iowa Speedway and the opposite on the 1.25-mile circuit on the outskirts of St. Louis — as the one locations to amass oval mileage earlier than making the leap to IndyCar.

With the large sequence operating on the two.5-mile Indianapolis oval and the daunting, high-banked 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway oval, the scarcity of widespread oval education for NXT drivers has IndyCar staff leaders viewing F2 skills with new curiosity.

As the brand new pondering goes, a high quality F2 driver with F1 academy hyperlinks and no oval information is simply as coveted — if no more — than the same NXT driver who’s quick however lacking huge chunks of oval knowledge. In each cases, these drivers will face deep oval curriculums, so why not go for the one with the sterling pedigree?

“Those who’re coming over after being within the European system have built-in themselves rapidly, and in our case, thrive in our system,” Chip Ganassi Racing managing director Mike Hull informed ESPN. “We have come throughout fairly a couple of who’ve been contained in the Components One younger driver applications with Ferrari and the others, and what they’ve in Components 2 is a automotive that’s like an Indy automotive in so some ways.

“The horsepower-to-weight ratio is extraordinarily shut, and so they do pit stops in Components 2, which is one other profit that instantly correlates to what drivers are requested to do in IndyCar. If you happen to’re capable of present properly in Components 2, there is no barrier to displaying properly right here.”

Arrow McLaren IndyCar star Pato O’Ward, who centered his coaching in America and gained the 2018 Indy NXT championship, misplaced his alternative to succeed in IndyCar in 2019 and located himself flying to Europe and Asia as a short lived member of the Pink Bull Junior Driver household. He unexpectedly landed in F2 and the Japanese Tremendous Components sequence whereas looking for a racing residence. By the point he discovered his manner again to IndyCar, the additions to his open-wheel training had been readily obvious.

“In F2, I did pit stops, and for my time in Indy NXT, there weren’t numerous vehicles there, however the sequence has gotten loads greater and stronger now,” O’Ward mentioned. “However it could be nice in the event that they introduced pit stops into NXT as a result of the drivers who do F2 have a bonus that our drivers do not at present have. We did extra ovals once I was in NXT, so it was good for me and Colton [Herta] and the opposite guys who had been in it again within the day. We had been undoubtedly fortunate.”

For each Lundgaard, Ilott, Armstrong and Vips, you could have a Kyle Kirkwood.

The Floridian eschewed Europe, centered solely on the American open-wheel ladder, and his skills had been rewarded with three consecutive championships in USF2000, the following tier in Indy Professional 2000, and the highest step, Indy Lights, earlier than graduating to IndyCar in 2022 with the storied however underwhelming A.J. Foyt Racing staff.

Kirkwood confirmed promise at Foyt’s staff, but it surely was the decision to affix Andretti Autosport this season the place the 24-year-old phenom has demonstrated his full potential. Profitable the distinguished Lengthy Seaside Grand Prix in April and the Nashville Grand Prix in August, Kirkwood has grow to be a two-time IndyCar race winner whereas amongst his F2-trained rivals, solely Lundgaard has tasted victory.

If there is a counterargument to sending younger home expertise overseas for his or her open-wheel training, it lives inside Kirkwood, who’s primed to steer the renamed Andretti World staff into the long run with Herta. Drivers educated in F2 are making their presence felt, although, and that is unlikely to vary within the years forward.

“There are some good youngsters creating in NXT, man,” O’Ward mentioned. “Christian Rasmussen, Nolan Siegel, and a few extra who’re fairly good. And the F2 guys are trying over right here, exhausting, and so they’re getting appears to be like again from our groups. The competitors to be right here is intense.”