INDYCAR: Christian Rasmussen hits rookie adversity at Long Beach
By William Soquet, LASTCAR.info Staff Writer
PHOTO: Luis Torres, @TheLTFiles
Christian Rasmussen finished last for the 1st time in his NTT IndyCar Series career in Sunday’s Acura Grand Prix on the streets of Long Beach when his #20 GuyCare Chevrolet crashed after completing 14 of the race’s 85 laps.
Across NTT IndyCar Series history, it was the 14th for the #20, the 112th for Chevrolet, and the 226th for accidents.
The finish came in Rasmussen’s second career series start.
Since his last-place finish in Indy NXT at Road America last season, life has been busy for Rasmussen. He was the class of the field in the back half of the season, winning four of the last seven races and winning the championship by a commanding 65 points over Hunter McElrea. It didn’t come without trials, however. Rasmussen later noted that at points during the season, he came within days of losing his ride due to funding issues. Luckily, he was able to continue for the whole season and win the Indy NXT championship.
After securing the championship and the related scholarship money that came with it, Rasmussen immediately emerged as a contender for Ed Carpenter Racing’s #20 car, which had cycled through a couple of drivers during 2023 and was open for a new driver for 2024. Rasmussen tested for the team at Barber Motorsports Park in late September alongside Oliver Askew in what was pretty much a true head-to-head run. While speed wasn’t the only thing the team lacked, Rasmussen was the fastest of the pair. A month later, the team announced Rasmussen as the new driver for road and street courses, with team boss Ed Carpenter taking the wheel at the ovals. The young hotshot was later confirmed for the Indianapolis 500 in a third entry.
Team and driver started their pairing with a 21st-place finish at St. Petersburg after falling a lap down and running tenth in the heat at Thermal, failing to advance.
Long Beach brought a track that was very similar to St. Petersburg, the first race of the season. Nolan Siegel, making his first points-paying IndyCar start, was last in first practice. He actually improved to 23rd in second practice, leaving Santino Ferrucci at the bottom of the charts in the pre-qualifying session. Ferrucci was coming off a nice 11th-place finish at St. Pete, but this time, that same speed did not show in practice. Rasmussen held his own during practice, placing ninth in the first session and 16th in the second session. He significantly outpaced teammate Rinus VeeKay in first practice and was right on the tail of his veteran teammate in the second.
Sting Ray Robb experienced electrical issues during the first group of qualifying and put down a fast lap almost two seconds slower than the next-fastest car, Jack Harvey. Rasmussen slid to 11th in the qualifying group, ensuring him a starting position of 21st. In the second group of qualifying, Nolan Siegel almost exactly matched teammate Harvey’s lap time from the first group, good for the 27th and final starting spot.
The beginning of the race was relatively calm at the back, a marked change from some recent street course races that have seen big incidents tear up cars at the very start of the race. Cars from 20th on back ran in a train for most of the first few laps, with Siegel slipping to 13 seconds back of the lead by Lap 3.
However, it was not all quiet in the midpack. On the opening lap, Arrow McLaren driver and 14th-place starter Pato O’Ward made contact with 13th-place starter and Arrow McLaren teammate Alexander Rossi as the field stacked up in a tight corner. Rossi pitted on Lap 3 due to the damage, and O’Ward was later assessed a drive-through penalty for his actions.
Rossi exited the pits roughly 50 seconds back of the lead and, faced with open track, made pretty good pace. In the 12 laps between exiting the pits and the caution for Rasmussen’s spin, Rossi only lost another eight seconds to the leaders. However, he sat nearly a minute back and was staring down a long race if no cautions came about.
Meanwhile, Rasmussen settled into 21st place after the opening laps, which later bumped up to 20th following O’Ward serving his penalty. He was running solidly between Agustin Canapino and Jack Harvey for several laps. However, he lightly tapped the wall coming out of turn 11, leading to a slightly bent toe link. When rounding turn four, a hard right-hander, on Lap 15, the toe link broke and sent the car around on corner exit. The blue-and-black machine first nosed into the wall on driver’s left and then backed across the racetrack and into the wall on driver’s right, clipping the car of Harvey in the process. Due to the toe link failure and significant damage to the front of the car, Rasmussen could not continue.
Rasmussen’s caution saved Rossi, who was able to move through the field to finish tenth. It was the only caution of the race, setting up a dual-strategy finish due to the exact timing of the caution. The only other retiree from the race was Scott McLaughlin, who started eleventh and ran as high as fourth but was forced out by a gearbox issue.
Harvey, whose left sidepod was ripped in the incident, finished two laps down in 25th. Rahal Letterman Lanigan racing teammates Pietro Fittipaldi and Christian Lundgaard rounded out the Bottom Five, both one lap down. It was not for a lack of pace, however: Fittipaldi experienced a fueling issue during one of his stops and Lundgaard incurred an unsafe release penalty after making contact with Kyle Kirkwood exiting his pit stall.
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*Rasmussen is the third driver from Denmark to finish last in an IndyCar Series race, following Lundgaard and Benjamin Pedersen.
*This was the first last-place finish for the #20 on a street course since Ed Carpenter crashed out after seven laps in Baltimore.
*Damage has caused the last five consecutive last-place finishes in IndyCar, the longest streak since Texas through Detroit in the early-middle portions of the 2021 season.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
27) #20-Christian Rasmussen / 14 laps / contact
26) #3-Scott McLaughlin / 70 laps / gearbox
25) #18-Jack Harvey / 83 laps / running
24) #30-Pietro Fittipaldi / 84 laps / running
23) #45-Christian Lundgaard / 84 laps / running
2024 LASTCAR NTT INDYCAR SERIES OWNERS CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chip Ganassi Racing, Ed Carpenter Racing (1)
2024 LASTCAR NTT INDYCAR SERIES MANUFACTURERS CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet, Honda (1)
2024 LASTCAR NTT INDYCAR SERIES DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP
