IndyCar Long Beach: Kirkwood takes pole in Andretti front row lockout

Written by Dan Jones, Edited by Archie O'Reilly

Credit: Dominic Loyer

Kyle Kirkwood took a stunning pole position at Long Beach to become the third different polesitter in as many IndyCar races in 2025. Colton Herta will join him on the front row in an Andretti lockout for Sunday's Grand Prix.

Álex Palou will start third as he aims to become the first driver since 2020 to win the opening three races of the season. Here is how the action unfolded:

Group 1

Chip Ganassi Racing's Kyffin Simpson set the early pace on the softer, green 'guayule' tyre, as several drivers opted for the softer tyres in the opening runs. Felix Rosenqvist went off at Turn 8 early on after a lock up, moments after the Meyer Shank Racing driver complained about being held up by Rahal Letterman Lanigan's Devlin DeFrancesco.

Will Power clipped the wall on the entry to Turn 6 but was unscathed after bashing his right-side tyres into the barrier.

Josef Newgarden leaped to the top with 90 seconds to go before Marcus Armstrong usurped him a minute later, quickly beaten by teammate Rosenqvist. Herta and Pato O'Ward were both outside the critical top six positions on their final runs after Herta had to bail out of his previous fast lap.

Christian Lundgaard bumped Rosenqvist from the top, as Herta and O'Ward got the job done in second and fourth respectively, despite Herta damaging his left-rear toe link as he hit the barrier exiting the final corner.

A last-gasp run from David Malukas knocked out Power with the last lap of the session, with two Team Penske drivers out in the opening group once again. Newgarden's time was also not good enough for the top six.

Lundgaard finished Group 1 top by just eight-thousandths of a second, followed by Herta, Rosenqvist, O'Ward, Armstrong and Malukas. Power and Newgarden missed out in seventh and eighth respectively, followed by Simpson, Sting Ray Robb, Conor Daly, DeFrancesco and Rinus VeeKay.

Group 2

The softer guayule tyres were also popular early on in Group 2, as Christian Rasmussen topped the session ahead of Robert Shwartzman, Alexander Rossi, Santino Ferrucci and Palou after the opening runs.

Palou jumped to the top with 45 seconds left as he switched to the alternate tyre before Kirkwood claimed the top spot, becoming the first driver all weekend to go under the 1m07.000s mark. Nolan Siegel bumped his way up into fourth late on, knocking out last year's Long Beach winner Scott Dixon.

Ferrucci ended the session in the Turn 9 run-off after hitting the left-side wall on the exit of Turn 8. Dixon also found frustration after he hit the wall at the Turn 6 on his final run, which also bent his toe link and ended any chances of him advancing into the Fast 12.

Kirkwood topped Group 2 by 0.06s ahead of Palou, Scott McLaughlin, Siegel, Marcus Ericsson and Rossi, who continues his good start to life at Ed Carpenter Racing. Dixon was the big name to miss out, followed by Graham Rahal, Rasmussen, Louis Foster, Callum Ilott, Shwartzman, Ferrucci and Jacob Abel.

Fast 12

The Fast 12 consisted of all three Arrow McLarens, all three Andrettis and both Meyer Shank Racing cars, as well as Malukas, McLaughlin, Palou and Rossi.

Lundgaard topped the session initally with the fastest lap of the weekend at a 1m06.932s - ahead of Herta, Ericsson, O'Ward and Kirkwood.

Rossi moved up to second at the beginning of the final runs, as Lundgaard went even quicker, before Palou and then Kirkwood trumped Lundgaard's time, setting the benchmark at a 1m06.400s - just in front of teammate Herta.

The session came to an abrupt end with Lundgaard in the Turn 9 barrier after entering the corner with far too much entry speed. IndyCar brought out both the red and chequered flags to end the Fast 12, with Lundgaard sitting in fifth place but penalised for bringing out the red flag, which means he will start Sunday's race in 12th.

Kirkwood finished the session on top ahead of Herta, Palou, Ericsson and McLaughlin. Rosenqvist was the benefactor of Lundgaard's crash as he was elevated into the Fast Six after Lundgaard lost his two best lap times. Armstrong, Rossi, O'Ward, Malukas and Siegel all missed out after most were unable to get their final flying laps in.

Fast Six

In a weekend where they were expected to be strong, all three Andretti cars reached the final qualifying session, joined by Palou, McLaughlin and Rosenqvist.

Herta went off at Turn 1 on his first flying lap as he locked both his front tyres and wisely decided to not attempt turn-in to the opening corner. McLaughlin set the initial benchmark at a 1m07.477s but neither Palou or Kirkwood had attempted an opening run on a used set.

Unsurprisingly, Palou soon found his own way to the top with a 1m06.625s, with Ericsson less than a tenth-of-a-second behind before Kirkwood smashed that benchmark with a 1m06.192s. Herta joined his teammate on the front row.

Nobody could top Kirkwood's stunning time, as he claimed his second Long Beach pole - two years after his maiden IndyCar pole, which led to his maiden career win the following day. A mighty day for Andretti Global saw Herta in second and Ericsson in fifth. Palou will line up third on Sunday, with Rosenqvist fourth and McLaughlin in sixth.

But it will be Kyle Kirkwood who will lead the field to green in Long Beach for the second time in his career as he becomes the third pole-sitter in as many races in 2025.