IndyCar GP of Long Beach – facts, schedule, entry list

Event date: Friday, April 08 – Sunday, April 10

Track: 1.968-mile, 11-turn temporary street circuit (clockwise) through downtown Long Beach, Calif.

Race distance: 85 laps (167.28 miles)

Firestone tire allotment: Six sets primary, four sets alternate, one additional set available for rookies for use in first practice.

Push-to-pass parameters: 200 seconds of total time with a maximum single duration of 20 seconds. The push-to-pass is not available on the initial start or any restart unless it occurs in the final two laps or three minutes of a timed race.

IndyCar schedule (local/Pacific Time) and broadcast details

Friday, April 08
3.15-4.15pm – First practice – Peacock Premium

Saturday, April 09
8.45-9.45am – Second practice – Peacock Premium
12.05-1.35pm – Qualifying – Peacock Premium

Sunday, Feb. 27
9.00-9.30 – Warm-up – Peacock Premium
12.00pm – Pre-race build-up – NBC
12.38pm – “Drivers, start your engines”

12.45pm – Green flag: Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach (85 laps / 167.28 miles) – NBC and Peacock Premium

Leigh Diffey is the announcer alongside analysts Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe. Marty Snider, Dave Burns and Kevin Lee are the pit reporters. All NTT INDYCAR SERIES practice sessions and qualifying and Indy Lights races will stream live on Peacock Premium, NBC’s direct-to-consumer livestreaming product.

IndyCar Radio Network broadcasts: Mark Jaynes is the chief announcer alongside analyst Davey Hamilton. Nick Yeoman, Jake Query and Michael Young are the turn announcers, while Ryan Myrehn and Joel Sebastianelli are pit reporters. All IndyCar races, practices and qualifying sessions air live on network affiliates, SiriusXM 160, racecontrol.indycar.com and the IndyCar app powered by NTT DATA.

Race Notes

2021 race winner: Colton Herta (Andretti Autosport-Honda).

2021 NTT P1 Award winner: Josef Newgarden (Team Penske-Chevrolet), 68.2241sec, 103.846mph. 

Qualifying lap record: Helio Castroneves (Team Penske-Chevrolet) 66.2254sec, 106.980mph, 2017

The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach will be the 38th Indy car race on the streets of Long Beach, CA, dating back to 1984. The eight GPs of Long Beach before that were the USA Grand Prix West round of the Formula 1 World Championship, while the first of the 47 GPs of Long Beach, held in 1975, was for Formula 5000 cars.

Al Unser Jr. has been the most successful Indy car driver at Long Beach with six wins to his name, but Mario Andretti holds the unique distinction of having won the GPLB when it was a Formula 1 event (1977) and an Indy car event (’84, ’85 and ’87).

The only two drivers starting the race this weekend with two Long Beach wins to their name already are Will Power (2008 and ’12) and Alexander Rossi (2018 and ’19). Other former GPLB race winners starting this race will be Helio Castroneves, Takuma Sato, Scott Dixon, Simon Pagenaud and Colton Herta.

Five drivers will be making their first Long Beach IndyCar starts this weekend – Tatiana Calderon and Kyle Kirkwood of AJ Foyt Racing, Devlin DeFrancesco of Andretti Autosport, David Malukas of Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports and Christian Lundgaard of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Fellow rookie Callum Ilott of Juncos Hollinger Racing raced in the final three rounds of 2021, and last year Long Beach served as the season finale.

Rossi will be making his 100^th IndyCar start, while Dixon will be making his 291^st consecutive start, continuing the second longest streak in Indy car history.

Entry list for 47th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach