The green flag hadn’t even fully waved before the Sonsio Grand Prix turned into a demolition derby. Felix Rosenqvist locked up his Meyer Shank Racing Honda diving into Turn 1 and spun directly into Pato O’Ward’s Arrow McLaren, collecting Scott Dixon and rookie Caio Collet in a chain reaction that left four cars limping to the back of a 25-car field before a single racing lap was complete.
Rinus VeeKay’s car was already smoking before the start-finish line. So much for a clean opening to IndyCar’s Month of May.
Out of that wreckage, Christian Lundgaard threaded his way to a victory nobody — including himself — expected. The Danish driver won by 4.67 seconds over David Malukas, ending a 47-race winless drought and handing Arrow McLaren its first victory of 2026. He became only the third McLaren driver to win in IndyCar, joining Johnny Rutherford and O’Ward.
“I really didn’t expect this today,” Lundgaard said. “This was a long wait for this win. Time after time after time, disappointments. Now we’re here. Let’s go.”
Pole-sitter Alex Palou, chasing a fourth consecutive Indy road course win, dodged the opening-lap carnage and led early. He looked untouchable. Then strategy ate him alive.
When Alexander Rossi’s car died along the pit wall near the Yard of Bricks on Lap 22, triggering the second full-course caution, Palou and second-place Kyle Kirkwood were among the few who hadn’t pitted. They came in on Lap 25 and dropped to 19th and 20th.
Palou clawed back to fifth. Kirkwood, hampered by a 15.2-second pit stop thanks to a botched right-front wheel change, finished ninth.
The race never settled. A second multi-car collision on the Lap 28 restart at Turn 13 again involved Rosenqvist and O’Ward — the same two drivers at the center of the opening-lap mess. Sting Ray Robb and Kyffin Simpson were also caught up. Rosenqvist had already been slapped with a drive-through penalty for avoidable contact on Lap 1, and his afternoon was effectively over as a competitive exercise before it started.
Malukas led a race-high 27 laps and looked poised for his first career win until Lundgaard pulled off a decisive pass through the Turn 5-6 chicane on Lap 68. Side by side through Turns 3 and 4, Lundgaard found a sliver of daylight and took it. From there, he was gone.
“We maybe made the wrong decision on wing there,” Malukas admitted. “We were just falling apart.”
Graham Rahal finished third, tying his season-best result. Josef Newgarden placed fourth, putting two Penske cars in the top four. Palou’s fifth was a salvage job, but he still extended his championship lead over Kirkwood to 27 points.
For a three-time defending race winner who dominated every practice and qualifying session all weekend, fifth stings.
The real story is Lundgaard’s timing. His first win since the 2023 Honda Indy Toronto came at the one track where speed has always found him but results haven’t. Now he heads into the 110th Indianapolis 500 on May 24 with momentum and a functioning car, following the same Sonsio-to-500 path Palou rode to victory lane last year.
Practice on the 2.5-mile oval opens Tuesday. The Month of May is only getting started, and it’s already claimed its share of bodywork.
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