Full practice results from IndyCar race at Thermal as Christian Lundgaard leads the pack

IndyCar's 2025 Thermal Club Grand Prix weekend is in full swing in California. Following yesterday's Practice 1 around the 3.067-mile road course, which was topped by Chip Ganassi Racing's Alex Palou, Arrow McLaren's #7 driver, Christian Lundgaard, has recently made his arrival known in strong fashion.

The 23-year-old driver has made a statement at the track by topping Saturday's Practice 2, ahead of the all-important qualifying. Lundgaard put in a stonking lap of 1:40.6421 in the practice session at Thermal Club.

He was surprisingly able to beat the three-time world champion, Alex Palou, who showed his prowess on the track in Practice 1. The 27-year-old finished in second place with 1:41.1247.

The other drivers who were able to finish in the top 10 in Practice 2 were, Marcus Ericsson (P3), Marcus Armstrong (P4), Pato O'Ward (P5), Will Power (P6), Colton Herta (P7), Rinus VeeKay (P8), Devlin DeFrancesco (P9), and P10 was secured by Team Penske's Scott McLaughlin.

Here is the full list of Practice 2 results:

Interestingly, the 2025 Thermal Club Grand Prix is the inaugural championship event. Last year, the IndyCar event at the track was run as a non-championship event. Palou was the victor ($1 Million Challenge) by winning a 20-lap race in 2024.

IndyCar driver Pato O'Ward feels there is 'time to find' at Thermal Club

While Arrow McLaren's Christian Lundgaard topped Practice 2 at Thermal Club, his teammate Pato O'Ward, who finished in P5, feels there is time to find heading into qualifying. Post the practice session, he had an interaction with Fox Sports. He said:

"I think it was very important that Christian was super-quick so we can see where he's at. You know we went a little different this weekend, so yeah, we just need to look at what's gonna be the best for us in qualifying because we definitely don't want to be starting P23, like we did a couple of weekends ago. We'll see what we got, I think we're not in bad shape at all....but, there's some time to find."

For Pato O'Ward, the Thermal Club Grand Prix holds immense importance. Following a disappointing qualifying session in St. Petersburg (Round 1), he was only able to manage a P11 finish. Whereas his teammate, Christian Lundgaard had a much better overall showing as he ended his race outing in in the top 10 (eighth place).

In the 2024 IndyCar season, O'ward was Arrow McLaren's leading driver, as he ended his 17-race campaign in fifth place in the drivers' standings. He was able to put on board 460 points alongside three wins, six top-fives, and 10 top-ten finishes. Keeping in view everything that has been discussed, the Thermal Club Grand Prix is O'ward's opportunity to score a truckload of points.