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.”
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 ...
