Christian Lundgaard used the NTT INDYCAR SERIES test session March 11 at Barber Motorsports Park to continue his growth with Arrow McLaren.

Lundgaard, 23, made 52 starts with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing from 2021-24 but switched to drive the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet starting this season.

Tuesday’s test was just the eighth time Lundgaard strapped into his new ride, including an oval test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway last October, a two-day test at Sebring International Raceway in February and three practice sessions, qualifying and the 100-lap season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding.

“This is the first time I drove this car on a road course,” he said of the Barber test.

The good news for Lundgaard and Arrow McLaren is they noticed the knowledge gleaned from the two-day Sebring test in February translated into the March 2 season opener when the Dane qualified fifth and finished eighth – both tops for Arrow McLaren.

That’s a remarkable feat since Lundgaard admitted the setups and equipment on the machinery across the three-car Arrow McLaren team are geared toward teammate Pato O’Ward.

O’Ward is the senior driver within the organization spending his five full-time seasons in the series driving the No. 5 Chevrolet. O’Ward has the last seven victories for Arrow McLaren.

With Lundgaard in his first season with Arrow McLaren and teammate Nolan Siegel having 13 career NTT INDYCAR SERIES starts, including 10 for the team last season, it makes sense the team would focus on O’Ward.

The balance between developing new talent and providing a solid foundation for a driver like O’Ward is crucial.

That puts Lundgaard and Siegel in a unique situation of trying to adapt to a different driving style for how O’Ward likes a car to feel, while also providing input on how to make each of their cars better.

“We’re continuously working on and trying to make the car work for me because at the end of the day the bulk of the car is built around Pato,” Lundgaard said. “It’s a little bit of a different driving style. He can handle the unpredictability of the car where Nolan and I both want something in a sense that’s a little bit easier to drive so we can extract the pace.

“We can do it on one lap, but we can’t do it continuously.”

Lundgaard embraces the challenge of adapting to new situations, and the Barber test was a valuable opportunity to fine-tune his skills for the upcoming stretch of races that are on similar circuits.

The Thermal Club INDYCAR Grand Prix (3 p.m. ET, FOX, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network) on Sunday, March 23 leads a stretch of three races on natural road course in a four-race span with a return to Barber for the Children’s Of Alabama Indy Grand Prix on May 4 and the Sonsio Grand Prix on the 2.439-mile, 14-turn Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course on May 10.

“That’s what we’re working on going into Thermal,” Lundgaard said. “I’ve always liked that track. We’ve always been competitive there.”

Lundgaard finished ninth in last year’s exhibition race around the 3.067-mile, 14-turn Thermal road course. This year’s race pays points. Lundgaard was also the second-quickest driver in the Open Test at The Thermal Club in the 2023 preseason and last year.

Lundgaard had six top-seven finishes in seven natural road course starts in 2023, and three top-seven finishes in six starts on these types of tracks in 2024.

“I’m hoping we can win that one because it’s the first time it’s been an NTT INDYCAR SERIES race,” he said of The Thermal Club race.