"It's tough seeing this guy beat us every single event": Christian Lundgaard heartbroken after Alex Palou steals Arrow McLaren's 1-2 at Thermal

Christian Lundgaard started the 2025 Thermal Club IndyCar race in P2 with teammate Pato O'Ward starting ahead of him in pole position. However, it was Chip Ganassi Racing's Alex Palou who stole the win away from the Arrow McLaren drivers. The Danish driver shared his opinion about the same.

Pato O'Ward and Christian Lundgaard maintained the Arrow McLaren 1-2 comfortably for two-thirds of the race. However, Alex Palou came alive on the fresh sets of alternate tires and closed the gap to Lundgaard in P2 by Lap 40.

The Spaniard was able to pass both Arrow McLaren drivers in the closing stages to take the win. Christian Lundgaard, finished the race in P3 and scored his first podium of the year. However, he was still disappointed as Palou stole the 1-2 result away from the Papaya team.

Christian Lundgaard spoke with FOX after the race and reflected on the Thermal Club GP as he said,

“I think the No.7 Velo Arrow McLaren Chevrolet has done a very good job. The entire team's done a very good job all weekend. We just didn't have it there. I mean, we, we gave it a shot. We came up short. But having two cars on the podium, I think is as well of a day as we could have wished for coming into Thermal.” (0:10 onwards)

Speaking about Alex Palou taking the win away from the team, the Danish driver added,

“But just, It's tough seeing, this guy beat us all every single event. We gotta find a way to stop him.”

Despite the disappointment of losing the 1-2 qualifying result, it was still a good day at the track for Arrow McLaren, as Lundgaard and O’Ward finished on the podium. Alex Palou on the other hand won the season opener at St. Petersburg and extended his championship lead after the Thermal Club win.

Alex Palou's incredible final stint that derailed Pato O'Ward and Christian Lundgaard’s 1-2 dream

Pato O'Ward was able to carve out a 10+ second lead to Alex Palou in the first stint of the race. However, the CGR driver still had the advantage of having a fresh set of alternate tires available while the McLarens ran the hard primary tires for the remainder of the race.

Alex Palou caught up to Christian Lundgaard by Lap 40 and passed the #7 Chevrolet with 15 laps to go. O’Ward still had an 8+ second lead to the Chip Ganassi Racing driver, but Alex made easy work and caught up to the #5 Chevrolet in 5 laps, before passing the Mexican with 10 laps to go.

“But what an amazing weekend. We had a really fast car since practice, and they executed very well. Everybody at GGR the #10 car executed perfectly. We knew it was aggressive to start with the used reds, and we knew that we were looking toward the end of the race with that tank car. And yeah, we did it. So back-to-back wins, feel awesome,” said Alex Palou after the race. (via FOX's livestream)

The Spaniard created a 10-second gap to the McLarens when he crossed the chequered flag, as Pato O’Ward and Christian Lundgaard were left wondering what could've been.