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LONG BEACH, Calif. – Despite locking out the front row at The Thermal Club, Arrow McLaren – and the rest of the IndyCar field at-large – couldn’t keep Alex Palou from driving to Victory Lane from third on the grid, his second win in as many races in 2025.
Sunday on the streets of Long Beach, Andretti Global will have a go.
For the second time in three years, Kyle Kirkwood will pace the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach field from pole, following up on his maiden IndyCar pole and first IndyCar victory at the same venue in 2023. This time, he’ll share that front row with Andretti Global teammate Colton Herta, with two-time defending series champion and comfortable 2025 points-leader Alex Palou starting third.
“It’s still early in the championship, of course, but obviously we want to beat the guy who’s most likely to win (the 2025 championship). I think with him coming out with two wins, it’s important to get ahead of him (Sunday),” said Kirkwood Saturday after securing his third-career IndyCar pole. “Hopefully we have good racecars. We have in the past, so there’s no reason why we shouldn’t, and we’ve got three opportunities to do it.”
IndyCar Grand Prix of Long Beach: Starting lineup, TV schedule qualifying results
Andretti Global teammate Marcus Ericsson will start 5th Sunday, with Felix Rosenqvist (4th) and Scott McLaughlin (6th) rounding out Saturday’s Fast Six field.
Long considered the second most important race weekend on the IndyCar calendar – the Grand Prix celebrates its 50th anniversary this weekend – Long Beach holds a special place in Andretti lore, with Mario Andretti winning the third edition in Formula 1 in 1977 and three more in CART. His son, Michael Andretti, made Long Beach both his first major American open-wheel victory (1986) – sandwiching his father’s third and fourth wins at the track – and his last (2002). And across the last 14 years, five different Andretti Global drivers – Ryan Hunter-Reay, Mike Conway, Alexander Rossi, Herta and Kirkwood – have combined to win Long Beach six times, including four of the last six.
“We tend to come here with good racecars, and I’m glad nothing has changed,” said Herta, who won Long Beach in 2021 and who secured pole in 2022.
From F1 beginnings to IndyCar mainstay: How Long Beach Grand Prix has thrived for 50 years
Part of the battle Sunday for Kirkwood, Herta and Ericsson will be walking the fine line of racing each with the right mix of aggression and common sense, as the team eyes its first win of 2025 after four top-8 finishes among the trio, but so far no podiums, though Kirkwood and Ericsson (5th and 6th and St. Pete) and Herta and Kirkwood (4th and 8th at Thermal) racing much of both those races nose-to-tail.
Last year on the streets of Toronto, the roles in a front-row lockout were reversed, with Herta on pole and leading 81 of 85 laps en route to a comfortable victory, while Kirkwood similarly cruised one spot behind in second, the latter never seriously making a charge at overtaking his teammate for the lead on-track.
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But both pointed out Saturday that circumstances were much different heading into that race day, with Andretti Global shouldering a 15-race absence from Victory Lane and having just a single win over the last 25 races – dating back to Kirkwood’s 2023 Long Beach breakthrough. The message from team leadership in Toronto that afternoon had been utterly clear: Beyond all else, securing a win for the team after a front-row lockout was paramount.
Though they are yet to have had serious team discussions about how to approach Sunday’s race, both drivers said they expect to have more freedom to battle each other for the win – within reason, of course.
“I think here, of course you don’t take unnecessary risks, but you race your teammates,” Kirkwood said.
Herta added: “I’m glad Andretti lets us race. Me and Kyle have always been extremely fair in how we race each other, and I think Toronto is an example. I think we understand if there’s an opportunity to pass each other, but we’re not going to take unnecessary risks. I think Andretti does a good job, like they did in Toronto, where they set us up to be in position to win a race, and I think we’re really good at trying to manage that kind of relationship as we go.”
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Andretti's Kyle Kirkwood on pole at IndyCar Grand Prix of Long Beach
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Sunday on the streets of Long Beach, Andretti Global will have a go.
For the second time in three years, Kyle Kirkwood will pace the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach field from pole, following up on his maiden IndyCar pole and first IndyCar victory at the same venue in 2023. This time, he’ll share that front row with Andretti Global teammate Colton Herta, with two-time defending series champion and comfortable 2025 points-leader Alex Palou starting third.
“It’s still early in the championship, of course, but obviously we want to beat the guy who’s most likely to win (the 2025 championship). I think with him coming out with two wins, it’s important to get ahead of him (Sunday),” said Kirkwood Saturday after securing his third-career IndyCar pole. “Hopefully we have good racecars. We have in the past, so there’s no reason why we shouldn’t, and we’ve got three opportunities to do it.”
IndyCar Grand Prix of Long Beach: Starting lineup, TV schedule qualifying results
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Andretti Global teammate Marcus Ericsson will start 5th Sunday, with Felix Rosenqvist (4th) and Scott McLaughlin (6th) rounding out Saturday’s Fast Six field.
Long considered the second most important race weekend on the IndyCar calendar – the Grand Prix celebrates its 50th anniversary this weekend – Long Beach holds a special place in Andretti lore, with Mario Andretti winning the third edition in Formula 1 in 1977 and three more in CART. His son, Michael Andretti, made Long Beach both his first major American open-wheel victory (1986) – sandwiching his father’s third and fourth wins at the track – and his last (2002). And across the last 14 years, five different Andretti Global drivers – Ryan Hunter-Reay, Mike Conway, Alexander Rossi, Herta and Kirkwood – have combined to win Long Beach six times, including four of the last six.
“We tend to come here with good racecars, and I’m glad nothing has changed,” said Herta, who won Long Beach in 2021 and who secured pole in 2022.
From F1 beginnings to IndyCar mainstay: How Long Beach Grand Prix has thrived for 50 years
Part of the battle Sunday for Kirkwood, Herta and Ericsson will be walking the fine line of racing each with the right mix of aggression and common sense, as the team eyes its first win of 2025 after four top-8 finishes among the trio, but so far no podiums, though Kirkwood and Ericsson (5th and 6th and St. Pete) and Herta and Kirkwood (4th and 8th at Thermal) racing much of both those races nose-to-tail.
Last year on the streets of Toronto, the roles in a front-row lockout were reversed, with Herta on pole and leading 81 of 85 laps en route to a comfortable victory, while Kirkwood similarly cruised one spot behind in second, the latter never seriously making a charge at overtaking his teammate for the lead on-track.
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But both pointed out Saturday that circumstances were much different heading into that race day, with Andretti Global shouldering a 15-race absence from Victory Lane and having just a single win over the last 25 races – dating back to Kirkwood’s 2023 Long Beach breakthrough. The message from team leadership in Toronto that afternoon had been utterly clear: Beyond all else, securing a win for the team after a front-row lockout was paramount.
Though they are yet to have had serious team discussions about how to approach Sunday’s race, both drivers said they expect to have more freedom to battle each other for the win – within reason, of course.
“I think here, of course you don’t take unnecessary risks, but you race your teammates,” Kirkwood said.
Herta added: “I’m glad Andretti lets us race. Me and Kyle have always been extremely fair in how we race each other, and I think Toronto is an example. I think we understand if there’s an opportunity to pass each other, but we’re not going to take unnecessary risks. I think Andretti does a good job, like they did in Toronto, where they set us up to be in position to win a race, and I think we’re really good at trying to manage that kind of relationship as we go.”
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Andretti's Kyle Kirkwood on pole at IndyCar Grand Prix of Long Beach
Continue reading...
