Kyle Kirkwood Dominates to Take Pole at Long Beach

Kyle Kirkwood claimed pole position for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach in impressive fashion. The Andretti Global driver was over two-tenths of a second quicker than teammate Colton Herta during the Firestone Fast 6, securing the top spot on the grid. Championship leader Álex Palou will line up on the second row alongside Felix Rosenqvist on Sunday.

After the bright sunshine on Friday, Saturday brought overcast skies to the Long Beach street circuit. With temperatures dropping to 63°F (17°C) from Friday’s 73°F (23°C), many drivers were left wondering: how much performance was left from their qualifying simulations on Friday?

One team that once again struggled during qualifying was Team Penske. While Will Power topped the timesheets on Friday, he could only manage the seventh-fastest time in the first qualifying group and was forced to call it a day early—he’ll start Sunday’s race from 13th. That was still better than teammate Josef Newgarden, who will begin the race from 15th on the grid.

Christian Lundgaard posted the fastest time in the first qualifying group, followed by Colton Herta. Herta narrowly avoided elimination after clipping the wall in the final corner during his fastest lap. The impact damaged his left front suspension, but he managed to get his car across the alternate start/finish line in time. Fortunately, the team was able to fix the issue in the pits before the next round.

In the second qualifying group, Kyle Kirkwood set the pace, ahead of Álex Palou and Scott McLaughlin—the only Penske driver to make it through to the Fast 12. Scott Dixon wasn’t as fortunate; he hit the wall in Turn 6 during his final flying lap, damaging his suspension. Not long after, Santino Ferrucci also ran into trouble, hitting the wall in Turn 8 and parking his car in Turn 9.

After topping the first segment of qualifying, Kirkwood was once again the fastest in the second, ahead of Herta and Palou. However, the session ended prematurely due to the first major crash of the race weekend: Lundgaard braked too late for Turn 9 and slammed into the tire barriers.

In the Firestone Fast 6, Palou was the first to lay down a competitive lap on fresh tires, but Kirkwood then went a stunning four-tenths of a second quicker than the reigning champion. Herta managed to slot in between the two on the timing sheets, but still fell short by two-tenths of a second. With that, Kirkwood claimed his first pole position of the season.

Full results of the 1st qualifying session on Long Beach