(Photo: Road to Indy)
By Aaron Bearden
The 2021 Indy Lights season is unique in that it has three different scholarship winners all competing in the same season due to the tour’s canceled season in 2020 and the addition of a Formula Regional Americas championship scholarship. With the tour’s season halfway complete, Motorsports Beat has caught up with each of the scholarship drivers to see how their seasons have gone to date.
Most drivers in Indy Lights come up through the Road to Indy ladder system, racing familiar competitors on the same slate of tracks as they march toward NTT IndyCar Series dreams.
Linus Lundqvist’s path to the series has been a bit different.
A native of Sweden, Lundqvist rose through karting and the European open wheel system, competing in tours like British F4 and the Euroformula Open Championship. He was moving his way up the ladder slowly, scoring British Formula 3 and Euroformula Open Winter Series titles along the way. But he needed the right financial opportunity to keep his open wheel dreams alive.
The young prospect had never raced in America, but his team knew of the scholarship opportunities present for rising stars. When Honda and HPD announced a new scholarship for the Formula Regional Americas champion to compete in Indy Lights for 2021, Lundqvist elected to make the leap across the pond and chase his dreams in the United States.
“That was what really brought my attention to it,” Lundqvist told Motorsports Beat of the scholarships. “When HPD announced that they would be giving a scholarship to the winner of the Formula Regional Americas champion, it became more of a natural selection to me because I had some contacts with teams over here in (that) championship. That became the way to go.”
It was a risk for Lundqvist to make the move. He had no experience on American tracks and would be competing with some new faces, but trusted in his ability to deliver victories and a championship.
That trust quickly proved to be well-placed. Lundqvist utterly dominated the series, claiming the first eight race wins and 15 of 17 events overall to lock up the championship and earn a place in the Indy Lights field.
Despite that initial dominance, Lundqvist entered the 2021 season with tempered expectations. He understood the challenge that laid ahead, racing with drivers that “know the tracks, teams and progression of how everything goes.”
But once again, Lundqvist quickly proved capable on-track. Racing with GRG with HMD Motorsports, the 22-year-old triumphed in the season-opening race at Barber Motorsports Park and followed it up with another podium in second.
Over the ensuing weeks Lundqvist has won just one other time — in his debut at Indianapolis Motor Speedway — but he’s finished fifth or better in all but one of the opening 10 races. The consistency has kept Lundqvist in the title hunt, just eight points behind points leader David Malukas at the halfway mark.
It’s a promising sign for a driver that’s still getting used to the series.
“I learn a tremendous amount all the time,” Lundqvist said. “I get into the car and I’m still getting used to everything. I haven’t done tons and tons of laps and testing. We’re still getting better, and hopefully we can show that throughout the season. … (The team has) done a very good job. Now we just need to continue to improve and hopefully get a few more wins at the end of the season.”
While he’s still getting used to the flow of Indy Lights, Lundqvist sees the potential for a career-boosting championship ahead of him. He’s one of three drivers separated by eight points, tied with fellow scholarship driver Kyle Kirkwood for second in the standings with 10 races remaining.
His biggest concern when it comes to claiming the title is also his largest opportunity – the oval race at World Wide Technology Raceway, which awards 1.5 times the points of a typical race.
“The oval is going to be a big one,” he said. “Because we have one-and-a-half points being awarded at those, so it’s gonna be important. Considering I’ve never been to an oval, it’s going to be a big challenge for me.’
Lundqvist is focused on trying to claim another title to secure himself an IndyCar opportunity in 2022. But he’s also begun looking into plans for next year regardless of what plays out.
Whether any of them will work out remains to be seen and may hinge on Lundqvist securing the scholarship. But he sees a positive in the fact that any opportunities may be out there at all.
“You’re always looking towards the future,” he said. “I’d be lying if I said that we didn’t. But it’s all so dependent, I think, on how the season ends up.
“But it’s usually a good sign when you try to call people up, (if) they actually take your phone call. … It usually shows that you’re doing something good. But for now it’s all about how well we can finish off the season. So obviously my main focus is on this season, but we’re starting to look ahead, to what we can do the next year as well.”
Catch up with the other Indy Lights scholarship drivers at the links below:
[…] Linus Lundqvist […]