Sweden’s Linus Lundqvist is a quadruple single-seater champion, clinching the 2022 INDY NXT championship, the 2020 Formula Regional Americas title, the 2018 BRDC British Formula 3 Championship and the 2016 Formula STCC Nordic crown. In 2024, he will race the #8 American Legion Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES.
The winning path: Linus Lundqvist’s road to Indy Lights glory
In clinching the 2022 Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires championship, Linus Lundqvist became the first Swede in history to seal the coveted INDYCAR support series title. In a season lined with success, we look back at the journey that led to his fourth single-seater title – and the most important one yet…
In clinching the 2022 Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires championship, Linus Lundqvist became the first Swede in history to seal the coveted INDYCAR support series title. In a season lined with success, we look back at the journey that led to his fourth single-seater title – and the most important one yet…
Rd. 1: St. Petersburg
Qualifying: P2 Race: P3
The opening race of the season saw Lundqvist battle against the odds on the Florida streets of St. Petersburg. A down-on-power engine left him with a costly deficit down the straights, but he still managed to qualify on the front row and take third in the race. It was a decent start to the campaign, especially given the circumstances – but the best was yet to come…
The power issues now resolved, Lundqvist demonstrated his full potential at Barber Motorsports Park to clinch his first victory of the season, winning from pole.
It was not as straightforward as it may sound, however, as a mid-race transition from wet to increasingly dry conditions made life hard on the Cooper rain tyres.
Having pulled away from the field in the wet first half of the race, a safety car intervention saw Lundqvist’s lead untimely vanish, leaving him vulnerable on heavily worn rubber in the closing stages.
He ultimately managed to defend from HMD team-mate Benjamin Pedersen in a dramatic battle for victory, however, treading the fine balance between maintaining just enough pace to stay ahead and keeping his rain tyres alive to the flag. It was a memorable win under immense pressure, and the real catalyst to his title charge.
Much like at Barber, the weather played a pivotal role again at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course a few weeks later. In the first double-header meeting of the year, the opening race played out in stable and dry conditions, with Lundqvist leading the way from pole until tangling with Christian Rasmussen and dropping down the order. He later recovered to finish fifth.
For Race 2, however, the skies burst open – and this time a thunderstorm even caused the race to be red-flagged at halfway. A lengthy five-hour wait ensued before racing could finally resume, with Lundqvist – who had led the opening segment comfortably before the storm arrived – carrying on to an undeterred victory.
An utterly crushing double win in Detroit strengthened the grip on the title and took Lundqvist to four victories in the opening six races.
In dominant form throughout the meeting, Lundqvist swept the double-header weekend on Detroit’s Belle Isle street course, leading every single lap of both races from a pair of pole positions. He also set the fastest lap in both encounters, completing a perfect “Grand Chelem” weekend.
It was an emphatic showing by all means, and one that ranks as arguably the greatest to date in Lundqvist’s career.
On the pace once again at the beautiful Wisconsin road course, this time it was the rare occurrence of an own mistake that cost Lundqvist a shot at victory.
A brief off-track moment in qualifying was enough to derail a run of five consecutive pole positions and leave Lundqvist in the midfield for Sunday’s race. Once there, however, he regrouped to finish fourth, limiting the damage done the day before.
On a track known to historically favor the rival Andretti Autosport squad, Lundqvist wasn’t deterred from taking the fight – scoring a podium as he split a quartet of Andretti cars up front. Third place at Mid-Ohio was a welcome result in the greater context, keeping him firmly in the championship lead.
On the first oval of the season, Lundqvist proved beyond doubt that he’d now mastered the craft of turning left only, taking the flag for a breakthrough maiden oval win.
However, despite winning the race on the road, a subsequent penalty for a clash with Matthew Brabham ultimately demoted him to fourth – but the message was delivered and for Lundqvist, the performance itself largely outweighed the final result.
Another dominant street course display saw Lundqvist comfortably win the first-ever Indy Lights race in Nashville, beating the field by over seven seconds. Leading every lap from pole, it was a resounding performance in Tennessee, and one that all but put the title beyond realistic reach for the opposition.
A breakthrough moment played out for Lundqvist as the field headed on to Gateway, as he powered to his first-ever oval pole position with a determined two-lap qualifying effort. It was followed by a similarly assertive performance for the vast majority of the race, with Lundqvist leading 71 of the 75 laps.
Ultimately, however, Matthew Brabham was able to squeeze past just four laps from home, leaving Lundqvist a frankly disappointed second – having come within minutes of a first oval win.
The frustration eventually wore off, however, with the latest podium visit further cementing Lundqvist’s by-now emphatic championship grip.
Portland International Raceway would prove an unspectacular-yet-efficient event for Lundqvist, who ran an untroubled third almost from start to finish. It was a steady day’s work that put every other driver barring Brabham out of mathematical championship contention heading to the season-ending double-header at Laguna Seca a week later.
The Laguna Seca finale, fittingly, was where it was ultimately sealed: Lundqvist clinched the 2022 Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires championship with a race to spare in the first encounter of the weekend, becoming the first Swede ever to sew up the title. In tears of joy, he took to the podium flanked by his HMD Motorsports squad and his family; celebrating “the greatest moment” of his life.
Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires Top 5 | After 14/14 races
1: Linus Lundqvist (SWE), 575 p. 2: Sting Ray Robb (USA), 483 p. 3: Matthew Brabham (AUS), 471 p. 4: Hunter McElrea (NZL), 460 p. 5: Benjamin Pedersen (DEN), 443 p.
