Kyle Kirkwood Grabs 2nd Pole at Long Beach

Kyle Kirkwood pushed aside Alex Palou, the driver of the year so far, for the pole for Sunday’s (April 13) Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach in the NTT IndyCar Series.

Kirkwood scored the fast lap with a time of 1:06.91 seconds.

“When your in an Andretti Global car at Long Beach you know your going to be quick, so happy to capitalize on that here today,” Kirkwood said.

Not only did the No. 27 beat the defending NTT IndyCar Series champion, fellow teammate Colton Herta will also be on the outside of the front row.

“Front row lockout with Colton,” Kirkwood said. “Thought it was going to be him or I and after that first quali run, he was super quick and I was super quick. And I knew it was going to be dogfight between him and I. You got to be so happy with that right? A front row lockout with Andretti Global here.”

Palou will line up third, with technical alliance teammate Felix Rosenqvist fourth.

Andretti Global has a history of performing well from the front row, and its street course setups continue to be top notch in the paddock.

Now Kirkwood will role off from the same grid position from which he won this race in 2023. He is heading into Sunday on a 23-race winless streak but has two top 10s on the year.

Marcus Ericsson will roll off fifth, putting all Andretti cars in the top five. Scott McLaughlin saved what was looking like another terrible Team Penske day by earning sixth.

Firestone Fast 6

Kirkwood continued a consistent qualifying day by setting the fastest lap, 1:06.91 seconds. Herta just missed the pole by 0.23 seconds.

There were no incidents in the final round.

Position	Driver	Number	Team
1	Kyle Kirkwood	27	Andretti Global
2	Colton Herta	26	Andretti Global
3	Alex Palou	10	Chip Ganassi Racing
4	Felix Rosenqvist	60	Meyer Shank Racing
5	Marcus Ericsson	28	Andretti Global
6	Scott McLaughlin	3	Team Penske

Round 2

For the second straight session, Kirkwood bested Palou, but he wasn’t the only Andretti car to do it; teammate Herta ran second fastest. In fact, all three Andretti cars found themselves advancing. 

Christian Lundgaard, who was in the top six as he was on a final run, went in too hot and into the tire barrier. The ensuing red ended the session and relegated from sixth to 12th. Rosenqvist was pushed up one spot and made the Fast 6.

Alexander Rossi earned his second top-10 start in a row with his eighth.

Position	Driver	Number	Team
7	Marcus Armstrong	66	Meyer Shank Racing
8	Alexander Rossi	20	Ed Carpenter Racing
9	Pato O’Ward	5	Arrow McLaren Racing
10	David Malukas	41	AJ Foyt Enterprises
11	Nolan Siegel	6	Arrow McLaren Racing
12	Christian Lundgaard	7	Arrow McLaren Racing

Round 1

Group 1

Lundgaard was fastest in the first qualifying session. Herta put together a final lap to bump up to second fastest, but he ended up touching the outside wall out of the hairpin as he completed the lap.

Both Team Penske cars in the session — Will Power and Josef Newgarden — missed advancing out of the first group for the second race in a row. At The Thermal Club, all three Penske drivers failed to make the top six in their groups. Newgarden reported that Rosenqvist held him up in the hairpin, but replays didn’t appear to back up that assertion, as race control did not penalize the Swede.

As far as incidents go, Rosenqvist ran off track earlier before the Newgarden lap, overshooting one of the turns and ended up pitting. Power brushed the wall but seemed to continue on without much damage to his car. It was reminiscent of Scott Dixon‘s touch that damaged his wheel and toe link in the morning practice.

Position	Driver	Number	Team
13	Will Power	12	Team Penske
15	Josef Newgarden	2	Team Penske
17	Kyffin Simpson	8	Chip Ganassi Racing
19	Sting Ray Robb	77	Juncos Hollinger Racing
21	Conor Daly	76	Juncos Hollinger Racing
23	Devlin DeFrancesco	30	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
25	Rinus VeeKay	18	Dale Coyne Racing

Group 2

Kirkwood led the group, doing something no one else has seemed to do all year: beat out Palou. McLaughlin saved Penske’s day, advancing to round two, but he had a close call when his last hot lap was ruined by Santino Ferrucci ahead of him. Luckily, McLaughlin’s previous circuit kept him safe. 

Second-year driver Christian Rasmussen led the majority of the session, until drivers started setting laps on the faster alternate tires. However, it continues to show the early-season promise from Ed Carpenter Racing. His teammate Rossi advanced.

Ferrucci ended in the session in the runoff with an issue with his No. 14 AJ Foyt Chevrolet. On his exit out of turn 8, he hit the wall with the left rear and was done.

Defending race winner Dixon will have to work his way through the field if he is to repeat on Sunday. But the six-time series champion is a master at leveraging race strategy to his advantage, so it’s not out of the question.

Position	Driver	Number	Team
14	Scott Dixon	9	Chip Ganassi Racing
16	Graham Rahal	15	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
18	Christian Rasmussen	20	Ed Carpenter Racing
20	Louis Foster	45	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
22	Callum Ilott	90	Prema Racing
24	Robert Shwartzman	83	Prema Racing
26	Santino Ferrucci	14	AJ Foyt Enterprises
27	Jacob Abel	51	Dale Coyne Racing

IndyCar Long Beach Lineup

The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach will start at 4:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, April 13, with coverage on FOX.