Kyle Kirkwood wins pole for Long Beach Grand Prix IndyCar Race
LONG BEACH, Calif. (CNS) -- American Kyle Kirkwood won the pole for the Long Beach Grand Prix's IndyCar race on Saturday and his Andretti Global teammate Colton Herta will start next to him on the front row.
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.
"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. Kirkwood was also the pole and race winner of the 2023 Long Beach Grand Prix.
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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 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 will be seeking his third victory in IndyCar's three races in 2025 Sunday.
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.
Power turned in the fastest practice time Friday, 1:07.3227.
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