IndyCar Long Beach: Kirkwood takes first series pole, Ericsson second

Fast Six

Romain Grosjean went out on a sighting lap to check his crew’s repairs (see below) had got the job done, and then returned to the track to claim second fastest initially, behind pacesetter Pato O’Ward of the Arrow McLaren. Then, Alex Palou moved his Chip Ganassi Racing car to the top before being displaced by Grosjean, but the St. Pete polesitter’s 1m06.5347s wasn’t enough as he lost time at the hairpin.

With fresh tires at his disposal, Andretti Autosport’s Kyle Kirkwood left it until the final two minutes to go P3, then P1, with a 1m06.2878s.

It was close though, as Marcus Ericsson of Ganassi was only 0.0375s behind, to score his first street/road course front row, shading his teammates Palou and Dixon.

O’Ward locked up under braking for Turn 9 and so one of the qualifying favorites missed out on his chance of Long Beach pole.

Q2

Colton Herta was given a penalty for causing a yellow when he slipped down the Turn 1 run-off, and the team chose to serve a drive-through penalty. In the mean time, his Andretti Autosport teammate Kyle Kirkwood rocketed to the top of the times with a 1m06.4568, ahead of Alex Palou’s Ganassi machine and the Arrow McLarens of Felix Rosenqvist and Pato O’Ward.

Then on fresh alternates O’Ward jumped to the top of the times, just before Armstrong brought out a red flag by sliding under hard braking into the tire wall at Turn 9 with barely a minute to go. IndyCar rules allow race control to release everyone for one final run, providing they depart pitlane within 30s.

Kirkwood went out on used tires, to save a set of greens for the Firestone Fast Six, while his rivals who didn’t have the luxury of already being in the top six times had to grab a set of fresh tires and try and bump their way in.

Romain Grosjean got it all right to jump to the top, while O’Ward drove surprisingly hard on his new tires despite not needing to. Ericsson, Palou and Dixon got their Ganassi cars in, but Herta was knocked out, as were the Penske drivers Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden, and Arrow McLaren’s Rosenqvist and Rossi.

Grosjean tapped the wall at the exit of the hairpin as he crossed the timing line, obliging the #28 Andretti crew to work feverishly to replace his left-rear toelink.

Q1 Group 2

There were six alternate-tire takers at the start of the session, and both Marcus Armstrong in the #11 Chip Ganassi Racing car and Devlin De Francesco of Andretti Autosport took turns at the top.

Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou eclipsed them using primaries, but then Scott McLaughlin worked down to a 1m06.6833s to get top spot, before first O’Ward and then Palou displaced him.

Palou’s best was 1m06.3995, 0.13 ahead of teammate Scott Dixon, with Marcus Armstrong making it four Ganassi cars through to Q2. Pato O’Ward, Romain Grosjean and McLaughlin also got through, but Meyer Shank Racing’s pair were eliminated.

Q1 Group 1

Rookies Ben Pedersen of AJ Foyt Racing and Sting Ray Robb of Dale Coyne Racing went straight out on alternate compound Firestone tires, as did Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus VeeKay.

On primaries Colton Herta and Kyle Kirkwood were top, with 1m07s laps, but David Malukas damaged a rear wheel on his Dale Coyne Racing-Honda at Turn 8 on his second lap and in Turn 3 on Lap 3 his tire went down and he smacked the wall hard. The subsequent red flag sent everyone into the pits and those on primary tires were able to take on alternates.

On the softer rubber, Newgarden produced a 1m07.3296 to shade Herta’s primary best by half a second, and Power was second, a couple of tenths behind, which he trimmed to 0.0067s but both were swiftly eclipsed by Felix Rosenqvist, Colton Herta, Marcus Ericsson and Alexander Rossi.

Then Kyle Kirkwood sent Andretti Autosport to the top with a 1m06.5593s, which bumped Power out. Ericsson, Herta, Rosenqvist, Rossi and Newgarden followed Kirkwood through to Q2.