Alex Palou may be coming off two wins in two races, but he will not start up front Sunday in the 50th Grand Prix of Long Beach. Former Long Beach winner, Kyle Kirkwood, took that spot from the Spaniard in a predictably strong weekend thus far for Andretti Global.
All three Andrettis made the Fast Six in qualifying, with Colton Herta (No. 26) alongside Kirkwood (No. 27) on the front row and Marcus Ericsson (No. 28) set to start fifth. Kirkwood delivered a colossal lap in the final round of qualifying, over two tenths quicker than Herta. It’s not the first time the two shared the front of the field either, as Herta and Kirkwood shared the front row on the streets of Toronto last year with Herta taking home the win.
Palou (No. 10) may not have taken pole, but he still starts up front, sharing the second row with fourth-place Felix Rosenqvist (No. 60). Scott McLaughlin (No. 3), Marcus Armstrong (No. 66), Alexander Rossi (No. 20), Pato O’Ward (No. 5) and David Malukas (No. 4) round out the top ten.
There’s plenty more to watch for than merely the faces and the names at the front of the field.
Jumbled top ten
Andretti and Meyer Shank Racing are the only teams that managed to put multiple drivers in the top ten. Traditional powers Ganassi and Penske only managed one each, as did Ed Carpenter Racing, McLaren and AJ Foyt Racing.
With a far lesser risk of wrecking a teammate, some of the drivers near the front may be particularly willing to take undue risks. Even the teammates at the front of the field are willing to send it when warranted.
“Me and Kyle have always been extremely fair with each other and how we go about racing each other. Toronto is an example, Thermal… we raced basically the whole race nose-to-tail,” Herta said. “We understand that if there’s an opportunity to pass, we’re gonna pass each other, but without unnecessary risks.”
McLaren nearly joined that list, but a late-in-Q2 crash from Christian Lundgaard (No. 7) sent the Dane down to last in the group, 12th overall, and locked his teammate Nolan Siegel (No. 6) in at 11th.
Big names midpack
With that jumbled up top ten, some major players are further down the starting order. Down in 13th, the last car to miss Q2, is two-time champion and IndyCar’s all-time leader in pole positions, Will Power (No. 12). Reigning winner and six-time champion Scott Dixon (No. 9) starts 14th, two-time champion Josef Newgarden (No. 2) starts 15th. All three are major threats to move forward come race-time.
Tire questions leave significant unknowns
The alternate, green tire compound being used this weekend is the same that teams avoided at all costs in St. Petersburg. It was warmer and sunnier there than it is in Long Beach, but similar wear could put teams in a rough spot.
The race is ten laps longer than years past, which has seemingly turned it into a near-consensus three-stopper. With Saturday’s cold, cloudy weather, practice running may say very little about the tires’ lifespans in actual race conditions.
“I think everyone’s thinking it’s gonna react similar to St. Pete,” Devlin DeFranchesco (No. 30) said Thursday. “It might be a little bit better in the race than it was in St. Pete because there’s not as many high speed corners here.”
DeFranchesco added that they’d know more after first practice. We’ve seen first practice, we’ve seen qualifying — the teams don’t seem to know all that much more.
“We really haven’t done enough laps on the alternates to really know, but if St. Pete’s any indicator, yes you’re not gonna want to run very long on the alternates,” Kirkwood said. “But we have seen in the past that St. Pete causes a bit more [degradation] than other tracks, so it might bring it back into play.”
50 years in, the Grand Prix of Long Beach is one of the most prestigious events on the IndyCar calendar. The event started as a Formula 5000 race in 1975 and has seen multiple iterations, between track layout changes and moves from F5000 to F1 to IndyCar and a coterie of other series.
There are six former Long Beach winners in the field this year. Will one repeat or will a new name be added to the record books?
The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach starts at 1:30 p.m. on FOX.