LONG BEACH — Kyle Kirkwood won pole position for the 2023 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, then won his first NTT IndyCar race the next day. History might repeat itself.
Kirkwood on Saturday won the pole for Sunday’s 50th running of the race with a top time of 1:06.1921 in qualifying. Andretti Global teammate Colton Herta was second with a fast lap of 1:06.4232. Herta, of Santa Clarita, won this race in 2021.
Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing was third (1:06.6254), Felix Rosenqvist of Meyer Shank Racing was fourth (1:06.6358), Marcus Ericsson of Andretti was fifth (1:06.7061) and Scott McLaughlin of Team Penske was sixth (1:07.0393).
Not only does Andretti have a front-row lockout, Ericsson gives it three of the top five qualifiers.
The 90-lap main event begins at 1:30 p.m. Sunday.
Immediately after winning the pole, an excited Kirkwood did a trackside interview.
“Front-row lockout with Colton,” he said. “I thought it was going to be him or I and after that first qualifying run, he was super quick, I was super quick and I knew it was going to be a dogfight between him and I. You gotta be so happy with that, right? A front-run lockout for Andretti Global here at Long Beach. I’m shaking.”
Later, in a news conference, Kirkwood was asked what he likes so much about this street course.
“What I like most is that I’ve done pretty decent here,” said Kirkwood, 26, of Jupiter, Florida. “I’ll be honest, street courses for some reason suit me. They also suit Andretti and our philosophy on how to develop the car, so you tend to like the tracks that you do best at. And this is one of them.
“I think that this is just an enjoyable track to drive. It’s not like a typical street circuit where it’s just kind of 90-degree corners. There’s a lot more character to it than just that … so it tends to be pretty incredible as a driver.”
IndyCar does knockout qualifying. It begins with two groups. The top six in each advance to the top 12, with the top six advancing out of that round on the way to the final round that determines pole position.
When Herta, 25, won here in 2021, the race was the season finale because of COVID-19, which canceled the 2020 race. Herta’s victory seemed to be overshadowed by Palou’s fourth-place finish because that earned him his first of three series championships.
“I think at Andretti, this is one that I personally mark my calendar for, that we mark the calendar for,” Herta said. “… We tend to come here with good race cars and I’m glad to see that hasn’t changed.”
Palou will be trying to become the first IndyCar driver to win the first three races of the season since Scott Dixon turned the trick in 2020. But with Kirkwood on the pole, he is in the proverbial driver’s seat.
“It definitely helps,” Kirkwood said of the pole position. “It helps even more when you have teammates around you as well. So, yeah, it is very important.”
Kirkwood noted that he did not lead the entire race in 2023, so strategy will to come into play.
“But it definitely helps to be able to control that strategy in taking off from the lead,” he said.
Herta noted that the Andretti drivers are selfless.
“Most importantly, what you want in a teammate, selfishly, is you want them to be extremely fast because you want to be able to look at what they’re doing and make yourself better,” he said. “And I think I’ve got two of those with me.”
Kirkwood’s win in 2023 was exceptional because it was his first IndyCar win. He intimated this would mean more because it would come in the race’s 50th running.
“Yeah, I mean, that’d be massive, right?” he said. “Winning any IndyCar race is massive, winning Long Beach is even bigger and then winning something that’s so historic in the 50th anniversary year would be even more special.”
Rounding out the top 10 qualifiers are Marcus Armstrong of Meyer Shank Racing, Alexander Rossi of Ed Carpenter Racing, Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren and David Malukas of AJ Foyt Racing.
Rossi, of Auburn, Calif., won this race in 2018 and 2019.
“It has been a rough day and a half in Long Beach,” Rossi said. “We didn’t start strong in Practice 1, but the whole team is constantly working to improve as the sessions go on. We are relieved after qualifying, considering where we were to start the weekend.”
Dixon, the race’s defending champion from Ganassi, qualified 14th.
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