Linus Lundqvist will race full time in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES starting in 2024, having signed a multi-year agreement with title-winning outfit Chip Ganassi Racing…
Linus Lundqvist will race full time in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES starting in 2024, having signed a multi-year agreement with title-winning outfit Chip Ganassi Racing.
The deal will see 24-year-old Lundqvist join one of the most revered teams in motorsport. Since clinching its first INDYCAR title in 1996, Chip Ganassi Racing has won the championship a total of 14 times and triumphed in the blue-riband Indianapolis 500 on five occasions.
”Joining Chip Ganassi Racing is an absolute dream come true for me,” says Linus Lundqvist. “Stepping up to race full-time in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, and to do so with one of the most successful teams in the history of the championship, is the moment I’ve been working for throughout my career. It is hard to explain how much this means to me. I am incredibly grateful to Chip, to Mike, and to everyone who has backed me on this journey, including of course my family.”
After winning the 2022 INDY NXT championship, Lundqvist was drafted in on short notice to contest three NTT INDYCAR SERIES races for Meyer Shank Racing this month.
Immediately up to speed, Lundqvist set the fastest lap of the race in two of his three outings, pacing both the streets of Nashville and the World Wide Technology Raceway oval in last Sunday’s Bommarito Automotive Group 500.
Adding a 12th place finish at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in between, the Swede has made an instant impression on all types of tracks used in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES.
“I have dipped my toes into INDYCAR racing in recent weeks, which will give me a little bit of a head start going into 2024,” Linus Lundqvist continues. “Also, coming up through INDY NXT has provided me with some important experience that will help me get up to speed.
“Having said that, this is an entirely new challenge as I prepare to join an established top team at the highest level of the sport. I know there is a lot of hard work ahead, but having a team like Chip Ganassi Racing put their trust in me is the greatest motivator I could ever have. I intend to do everything in my power to grab this opportunity and I look forward to all the moments ahead, next year and beyond.”
The new agreement forms a winning bond between one of motor racing’s most successful teams and a quadruple junior single-seater champion. In his rise to the top, Lundqvist has tasted success at every step of the way, pocketing championship titles in Formula STCC Nordic (2016), the BRDC British Formula 3 Championship (2018), Formula Regional Americas (2020) and INDYCAR’s main feeder series INDY NXT (2022).
“It’s terrific that the opportunity to hire Linus, a proven winner, plus the reigning 2022 INDY NXT champion is now a reality at Chip Ganassi Racing,” says Chip Ganassi Racing Managing Director Mike Hull. “He has shown that his on-track performance creates the race craft separation that’s required in INDYCAR today. Growing together with Linus is what comes next.”
Lundqvist will be embedded with Chip Ganassi Racing at the final two rounds of the current NTT INDYCAR SERIES campaign at Portland and Laguna Seca, beginning preparatory work for next year.
Further information:
Linus Lundqvist
www.linuslundqvistracing.se
Chip Ganassi Racing
www.chipganassiracing.com
NTT INDYCAR SERIES
www.indycar.com
