NASCAR moved the Clash race to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in an effort to attract younger, West Coast metropolitan viewers. Formula One is set to race in Las Vegas for the first time since four disastrous attempts to run races in the Caesar’s Palace parking lot, also attempting to attract West Coast viewers.
IndyCar has been here for longer. Sunday, 29 open-wheel cars will see the flag fly on Shoreline Drive for the 48th Grand Prix of Long Beach, led by Andretti’s Kyle Kirkwood and Ganassi’s Marcus Ericsson.
Although IndyCars look more like what F1 trots out, the field spread is much more comparable to NASCAR. Only four hundredths of a second separated the top two drivers; third through sixth were separated by less than a tenth of a second. The field does not lack drivers with the pace to come out on top.
Kirkwood’s pole this weekend is the first of his IndyCar career. The man from Jupiter (Florida, not the planet) had one of the best careers in IndyCar development series history, but is coming off a lackluster rookie year with A.J. Foyt Racing.
Only on his third race with Andretti Autosports, the young driver has shown impressive pace but has been mistake prone in his brief IndyCar career.
Alexander Rossi, then driving the No. 27 car Kirkwood now pilots, was the last to win in Long Beach from pole when he bested Will Power in 2018. If Kirkwood wants to match that feat, he’ll have to reign in his aggressive nature.
Street circuit stars
Among those drivers with the pace to win Sunday are a few who seem to have a little extra in the tank around street circuits.
Ericsson, starting second, had competitive pace last year before an unusual wreck took him out of the race. Three of his four wins in the series have come around street circuits, and he’s shown the speed this weekend to compete for yet another.
Rossi, now with McLaren, and Andretti’s Colton Herta are both former winners around Long Beach. Neither made the Firestone Fast Six — the last round of qualifying — but both have shown the historic pace to come out on top in Southern California once again. Last year’s winner, Josef Newgarden, will start alongside Herta and should factor into the results as well.
Out of place
Not everyone had a good Saturday. Four drivers in particular are out of place relative to their pace.
Penske driver and reigning champion Will Power is the greatest qualifier in IndyCar history. No driver has more starts from pole in their career. Last year, he finished fourth in Long Beach. This year, Power couldn’t get a good lap on the board and was eliminated in the first round of qualifying.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Graham Rahal has also had an impressive career, but is set to start 24th following a very rough morning. Dale Coyne Racing’s David Malukas, currently sixth in the championship, crashed in qualifying, bringing out a red flag and invalidating his lap. He starts 25th.
Of the four, however, Callum Ilott had the worst Saturday. The Juncos Hollinger driver has impressed this year, with two top-10 finishes for the smallest team on the grid. In Saturday’s practice session, Ilott clipped a curb on his first fast lap, sending him into the wall. With half the practice time of every other driver on the grid, Ilott only managed to qualify 22nd.
Making the incident particularly frustrating for Ilott is that the curb he clipped was added overnight. Teams were reportedly not informed of the change. Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus Veekay had a similar incident but was able to return to the practice session.
Ilott suggested that the series should pay for repairs needed due to the incident, but much of the damage has already been done: The Brit will have a lot of work to do if he wants to stay near the top of the standings.
Grip
California’s uncharacteristic rain since November does not look to be playing a part in the track conditions.
“This is the most grippy street course that we have,” Kirkwood said. “By far.”
Kirkwood attributed some of that grip to IMSA and entertained the idea that the historic F1 cars, which practiced before IndyCar, could have laid down similarly beneficial rubber.
“It’s great fun to drive,” Ericsson said. “Firestone have brought some great street course tires.”
This is the first time the green-walled, sustainable alternate tires will be used around Long Beach. The tires were first run on the streets of Nashville last year and again in St. Petersburg, Florida, in March. They’ve performed well, but it’s yet another change to the norm.
Win prediction: Ganassi’s Scott Dixon
Yes, I’m picking a driver to win who I didn’t mention in the entire rest of the article. In a way, that’s highly characteristic of the last few years of Dixon’s career. The six-time champion has come from the blue to win a long list of races and has a great opportunity to do so again when he starts from fifth Sunday.
The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach starts at 12:45 p.m. on NBC.