Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing has swapped Christian Lundgaard and Jack Harvey within its three-car outfit ahead of the 2023 IndyCar season.
Next year, Lundgaard will drive Car #45 and Harvey will move into Car #30, while Graham Rahal remains Car #15.
While an academic change on the face of it, the switch is in fact performance- and sponsorship-related.
Lundgaard finished the 2022 IndyCar season in 14th position in the standings, with a second place at the July Indianapolis race in what was a Rookie of the Year campaign for the Dane.
Harvey, on the other hand, wound up 22nd in the title race in which was his third full season in IndyCar with a best result all year of 10th, in Nashville.
The Hy-Vee-sponsored #45 car will now end up with the better performer of the two behind the wheel, while primary sponsor(s) for #30 are yet to be announced.
“We have been looking at ways to ensure our increased performance and improve our potential for success for 2023 and one of our decisions has been to reassign cars to Jack and Christian,” said Bobby Rahal, team co-owner.
“We made a commitment to our drivers, team members and sponsors to perform at our highest level possible and although 2022 didn’t work out as we wanted, we have made moves to improve this.
“One of which was the commitment we made when we hired Technical Director Stefano Sordo, who can bring a new perspective.
“We feel this recent decision on our driver/car line-up will also be a positive one for both Jack and Christian as well as our organisation as a whole.”
The 2023 IndyCar Series starts on the weekend of Sunday, March 5 at St Petersburg.
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