Kyle Kirkwood won his first career IndyCar pole position with a lap of 66.2878 seconds in qualifying for the Grand Prix of Long Beach. Kirkwood becomes the fourth driver to win his first pole position at Long Beach. He joins Al Unser, Jr., Tony Kanaan and Michel Jourdain, Jr. Unser, Jr. won from that pole position in 1989. It was the only pole position of Jourdain, Jr.'s career. Kirkwood is looking to become the first driver to score his first career victory from his first career pole position since Scott McLaughlin did it last year at St. Petersburg. Kirkwood's only career top ten finish came at Long Beach last year. He has finished off the lead lap in three consecutive races and in 11 of the last 13 races.
Marcus Ericsson was 0.0375 seconds off his first career IndyCar pole position, ending up second to Kirkwood. This is only the second front row start in Ericsson's career, and only the seventh time he has started in the top five in 66 IndyCar appearances. His other front row start was at Gateway last year. The Swede has been ranked in the top ten of the championship for 30 consecutive races, starting back after the 2021 Indianapolis 500. Ericsson has been ranked in the top five of the championship for 20 of those 30 races.
Romain Grosjean qualified third, 0.2469 seconds off his Andretti teammate Kirkwood. This is Grosjean's fourth top five start in the last seven races dating back to last year. He has only one top ten finish in that stretch. The Frenchman has led laps in each of the first two races of the season. It is the first time Grosjean has led in consecutive races and he second time he has led in consecutive starts. In 2021, he led 44 laps in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and then led a lap in his next start at Belle Isle.
Álex Palou is the top Ganassi starter in fourth. Palou was only 0.0202 seconds slower than Grosjean. Palou will be making his 50th IndyCar start this weekend. Palou has four victories and 16 podium finishes in his first 49 career starts. This is his 20th top five start in his IndyCar career. Palou's worst finish in the state of California is fourth.
Scott Dixon starts in fifth position, missing out the second row by 0.0181 seconds. This is the seventh time in the last eight Long Beach races Dixon has qualified in the top five. He has five top five finishes in the last seven Long Beach races. Dixon has won the third races of the season in two of the last three years. He has won from fifth starting position four times in his career, most recently at Road America in 2017.
Patricio O'Ward rounded out the Firestone Fast Six, ending up 0.3161 seconds behind Kirkwood. This is the tenth consecutive race O'Ward has started in the top ten and the sixth consecutive time he has made the Firestone Fast Six. He could become the first Mexican driver to win the Grand Prix of Long Beach. The best finish for a Mexican driver at Long Beach was second by Adrián Fernández in the 2003 race.
Colton Herta missed out on advancing to the final round of qualifying by 0.0644 seconds, and Herta will start seventh. This is the third time in four Long Beach appearances he has qualified in the top ten. Herta led four laps in the most recent race at Texas. It was the first time Herta had led in six races. He has not led more than 20 laps in a race since he led 50 on his way to victory in last year's Grand Prix of Indianapolis.
Josef Newgarden puts the last two Long Beach winners on row four. Newgarden was only 0.0021 seconds slower than Herta in round two of qualifying. This is the ninth consecutive Long Beach race and tenth time in 11 Long Beach appeaances Newgarden has qualified in the top ten. He has three consecutive podium finishes at Long Beach and he has been on the podium in four of the last five Long Beach races with his worst finish being seventh.
Scott McLaughlin will start ninth for the second consecutive year at Long Beach. McLaughlin is looking for his first top ten finish at Long Beach. He went backward last year, dropping to a 14th place finish. The only other track where he has made multiple starts and no top ten finishes are the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval and Belle Isle.
Felix Rosenqvist rounds out the top ten, his third consecutive top ten start for this race. Rosenqvist has finished tenth, 13th and 11th in his three Long Beach starts. For the fourth consecutive season, Rosenqvist has started a season with consecutive finishes outside the top ten. In each of the previous three seasons, he started with three consecutive results outside the top ten.
Alexander Rossi ended up 11th on the grid, the bottom of the three McLaren entries. Rossi had started in the top five of four of the last five Long Beach races. Rossi has won twice at Long Beach, it is the only street course he has won at. He could become the fifth driver with three Long Beach victories. The only time he has won from a starting position outside the top three was in the 100th Indianapolis 500, when Rossi started 11th.
Marcus Armstrong brought out a red flag with 53 seconds remaining in round two, nullifying his fastest two laps and placing Armstrong 12th on the grid. Armstrong will be making his second career start this weekend. Twenty-one drivers had their first career victory come in their second career start. The most recent was Rich Vogler in the 1981 USAC Gold Crown race held at DuQuoin. The next most recent was Jim Clark at Milwaukee on August 18, 1963.
For only the third time, Will Power did not make it out of round one in Long Beach qualifying, and Power will start 13th. Power missed advancing by 0.0067 seconds. He could become the fifth driver with three Long Beach victories. It would be the seventh track where Power has won at least three races. He has five victories on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course and he has won three times at Pocono, São Paulo, Sonoma, Belle Isle and Toronto.
Simon Pagenaud was 0.1177 seconds off advancing from group two and Pagenaud will start 14th. The Frenchman has eight top ten finishes in 11 Long Beach starts. He has finished outside the top fifteen in five consecutive races. Pagenaud has finished outside the top fifteen twice at Long Beach, including last year when he finished 19th.
Jack Harvey was the top Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing qualifier in 15th. Each RLLR driver has been the top qualifier this season through the first three races. This snaps a four-race stretch of starting outside the top 15 for Harvey. He has one top ten finish in four Long Beach starts, and only one top ten finish in his last 18 starts. Harvey turned 30 years old yesterday.
Hélio Castroneves ended up 16th in qualifying. This will be the second consecutive Long Beach race Castroneves will start outside the top ten. The only other time he has started outside the top ten in consecutive Long Beach races were his first two starts on East Shoreline Drive in 1998 and 1999. He has four top ten finishes in his last five Long Beach starts, stretching back to 2015.
Christian Lundgaard takes 17th position on the grid. Lundgaard started in the top ten in three of the last four road and street course races in 2022. He has qualified outside the top ten in the first two street races of 2023. Lundgaard has finished in the top ten of the last two street course races, and he has top ten finishes in four of the last five road/street course events.
Santino Ferrucci qualified 18th. This is the 14th consecutive time Ferrucci is starting outside the top ten. His most recent top ten start was second in the second Mid-Ohio race in 2020. In 13 career street course starts, Ferrucci has four top ten finishes with his best finish being ninth at St. Petersburg in 2019. His average street course finish is 15.923.
Rinus VeeKay gets his best starting position of the season, but it is unfortunately only 19th. VeeKay has not had a top ten finish in his last six starts. His longest top ten finish drought was eight consecutive starts during the 2021 season. The only street course where VeeKay has finished inside the top ten is St. Petersburg, where he has done it twice.
Devlin DeFrancesco is making his 20th career start this weekend, and he will start from 20th position. DeFrancesco is still looking for his first career top ten finish. Only seven drivers have had their first career top ten finish come in their 20th start or later. Three of those occurred in the prior decade. DeFrancesco has not finished either race this season and he has finished off the lead lap in seven of his last nine starts.
Sting Ray Robb will start 21st, the best starting position of his IndyCar career. Robb won once on a street course in his Road to Indy career. Robb won the first race of the 2020 St. Petersburg doubleheader in Indy Pro 2000. He had two podium finishes on street courses last year in Indy Lights. He was third in the second Belle Isle race and second at Nashville.
Callum Ilott starts on the outside of row 11. This is the fifth time in the last ten races Ilott will start 22nd. He has finished better than his starting position in all of them, but the only time he cracked the top ten was when he finished fifth at St. Petersburg last month. Ilott has three top ten finishes in his last four starts. Prior to this streak, Ilott had gone nine consecutive races without a top ten result.
Benjamin Pedersen will make his Long Beach debut from 23rd on the grid. After failing to complete a lap in St. Petersburg, Pedersen ran 248 laps at Texas, finishing two laps down but good enough to finish 15th. Pedersen was runner-up in two of four street course races last year in Indy Lights.
Graham Rahal has gone 82 starts since his most recent victory, and Rahal will start from 24th position in this attempt to end the drought. This is his worst starting position at Long Beach in 16 appearances. He has only finished better than his starting position six times at Long Beach. It has also been 31 races since Rahal's most recent podium finish.
David Malukas had an accident in the first round of qualifying and he was relegated to 25th on the grid after his fastest two laps were deleted. This will be the worst starting position of Malukas' career. He has failed to finish three of six street course starts in his career. His tenth place finish at St. Petersburg last month was his first top ten finish on a street course in his IndyCar career.
Agustín Canapino also has a career worst starting position this weekend. Canapino will start 26th. He could become the second Argentine driver to win the Grand Prix of Long Beach. Carlos Reutemann won the 1978 race driving for Ferrari. Reutemann won ahead of Mario Andretti.
Conor Daly makes his 100th start this weekend from 27th on the grid. This is the third consecutive race Daly has qualified outside the top twenty. He has four top five finishes and 18 top ten finishes in his first 99 starts. No driver has ever had their first career victory come in their 100th start.
NBC's coverage of the 48th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach begins at 3:00 p.m. ET with green flag scheduled for 3:45 p.m. ET. The race is scheduled for 85 laps.
