Tony Kanaan claims Christian Lundgaard was on radar as a potential replacement to Alexander Rossi

Christian Lundgaard has made a solid start to the 2025 IndyCar season with Arrow McLaren (in P3 in drivers' standings). In line with this, the Indianapolis-based outfit's team principal, Tony Kanaan, has stated that he had his eyes on Lundgaard for some time before his arrival at Arrow McLaren this year.

Lundgaard took the place of Alexander Rossi, who has since moved to Ed Carpenter Racing. The latter drove for the papaya outfit for two years in 2023 and 2024.

Lundgaard is currently the lead driver for Arrow McLaren in the 2025 standings, and Tony Kanaan has been left impressed with his new signing.

"Over the years, I obviously followed his career — been watching him for quite a while. I had to have a backup plan if Rossi wouldn’t stay. You always have your instinct as a driver — you’re watching to see who might be the guy, and the conditions and the teams that he was in, because I was like that too, right?" Kanaan said via Racer.

Christian Lundgaard has been competing in the highest class of America's open-wheel racing since 2021. He has so far secured 52 race starts and has put on board a Grand Prix win, five podiums, and two pole positions.

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Tony Kanaan insists Christian Lundgaard is eyeing 'wins' in 2025

Christian Lundgaard- Source: Getty

In addition to claiming that he had been wanting to sign Christian Lundgaard for quite some time before his 2025 arrival at Arrow McLaren, Tony Kanaan also insisted that the Dane is eying race wins this year.

In the first three races of the season, Lundgaard has managed two top-five finishes and three top-ten finishes driving the #7 Arrow McLaren car.

"So looking at Christian, I know what he can do, but there’s still always that question right mark because at the end of the day, he’s still looking for results, to get more wins. At the time that I had to make the decision, it was pretty simple," Kanaan said via the aforementioned source.

Christian Lundgaard is in third place in the 2025 drivers' standings with 96 points. He has Andretti Global's Kyle Kirkwood and Chip Ganassi Racing's Alex Palou ahead of him in the standings.

Kirkwood has so far amassed 108 points (one Grand Prix win, one pole position, two top-fives, and three top-10), whereas the reigning IndyCar champion is sitting pretty on 142 (two Grand Prix wins, three top-fives, and three top-10).

Keeping in view everything that has been discussed, the 23-year-old will be eyeing a strong outing in the upcoming Children's of Alabama Indy Grand Prix. Being the lead driver at Arrow McLaren, Tony Kanaan and Co. would expect him to maintain his consistent run in the fiercely contested 2025 IndyCar season.