American Kyle Kirkwood will start from the pole for Sunday’s Long Beach Grand Prix IndyCar race, seeking a repeat of his 2023 performance when he won both the pole and race.
Kirkwood had a top lap of 1 minute, 6.1921 seconds, 107.034 miles per hour, in the PreFab Honda on the 1.968-mile, 11-turn street circuit surrounding the Long Beach Convention Center on his last lap in the Firestone Fast Six portion of qualifying Saturday.
“I’m shaking,” Kirkwood said. “That was great. That was such a good lap, such a good qualifying. Fortunately, I didn’t put any wheel wrong or hit anything. That’s always a question here at street courses. You’ve got to send it to get that top spot.”
This was the third time the 26-year-old Kirkwood has won a pole in his 54-race IndyCar career and first time since the 2023 Music City Grand Prix, which he went on to win — the most recent of his two IndyCar victories.
Kirkwood’s Andretti Global teammate Colton Herta will start next to him on the front row.
Herta, who was raised in Valencia, qualified second at 1:06.4232 in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda on the final qualification attempt in the Firestone Fast Six
Herta ran out of time for a proper warmup lap for his final run, and said the delay in raising the temperatures of his Firestone Firehawk alternate tires could have been the reason for Kirkwood’s gap to the rest of the field, the largest in qualifying this season through three races.
“The prep lap is what we do to try to get the temperatures in the right window, try to get the front and rear (tires) equal as we can,” Herta said. “I didn’t have that, so the tires started out a little cold. But they got there in the end, after maybe three or four corners.
Spaniard Alex Palou will start third in search of his third victory in IndyCar’s three races in 2025.
Palou took the top spot in the Firestone Fast Six with about 30 seconds to go in the session with a lap of 1:06.6254 but Kirkwood and Herta dropped him to third.
Palou holds a 39-point lead over Mexican Pato O’Ward as he seeks a third consecutive series championship.
A third Andretti Global driver, Marcus Ericsson, will start fifth.
After turning in the fastest practice time Friday, Australian Will Power failed to advance past the first of three rounds of qualifying and will start 13th in the 27-car grid after posting a best lap of 1:07.6606.
Pre-race ceremonies are set to start at 12:15 p.m. Sunday. Al Unser Jr. and Mario Andretti will be the co-grand marshals. Unser was nicknamed “King of the Beach,” for his six victories in the race between 1988 and 1995, including four in a row from 1988 to 1991. Andretti won four times from 1977, when it was a Formula 1 race, through 1987.
Andretti and Unser will be part of a six-car Grand Prix Legends Parade at 12:40 p.m. celebrating the race’s 50th edition. The parade will also include four-time winner Paul Tracy and Brian Redman, who won the inaugural race in 1975 when it was a Formula 5000 race.
There will be 27 first responders from various departments riding in the back of pickup trucks along with the 27 IndyCar drivers on the parade lap. Los Angeles Fire Department Capt. Eric Scott will be the honorary starter while Pasadena Fire Department Chief Anthony James will receive “special recognition,” according to race organizers.
The pre-race festivities will also include a flyover by U.S. Navy aircraft and jumps by the U.S. Army Golden Knights parachute team.
The pre-race warmup will be televised at 9 a.m. by FS1. The 90-lap race will begin around 1:30 p.m. and be televised by Fox.