Andretti led the weekend at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, locking out the front row for the third IndyCar race of the 2025 season. It’s been a difficult season start for Colton Herta, losing 10 championship points after a car infringement in Thermal.
However, they were hoping for a change of fate in Long Beach, with the three Andretti drivers starting in P1, P2, and P5, with Kyle Kirkwood starting on pole.
But with the unpredictability of the NTT IndyCar series and Álex Palou starting third and hunting down his third win in a row, it would take 90 perfect laps to take the win.
The majority of the grid was starting on the softer compound tyre, and drivers needed to get rid of them fairly early on. They needed an early safety car to gain an advantage.
Green light
Kyle Kirkwood takes a strong start, getting himself safely ahead of his teammate Herta. Palou dropped down to fifth in the opening lap, losing places to McLaughlin and Rosenqvist.
Palou’s troubles weren’t over with Alexander Rossi close to the Spaniard’s gearbox. Josef Newgarden wasted no time on the soft tyres, changing them for the hards just two laps into the race.
Newgarden came out in clear air at the back of the grid, making the most of the bold decision hoping for it to pay off later in the race.
Newgarden was going a second and a half faster than the front runners on lap 4, as Herta, McLaughlin and Malukas dove into the pits. Followed closely by many of the soft compound runners.
Josef Newgarden’s strategy immediately paid off as he caught up to the back of the grid, overtaking Herta and McLaughlin. His warm tyres gave him the advantage on the track.
Herta fought back, taking the place back from Newgarden but subsequently losing a place to McLaughlin. Kirkwood dove into the pits and managed to maintain his net lead, but with cold tyres, he was quickly under threat for the lead.
Through the initial pit cycle, Álex Palou found himself right behind Kirkwood, less than a second away from the net-lead of the race. While Kirkwood and Andretti seemed to have the pace over one lap, Palou has exhibited a clinical relentlessness that left Kirkwood in danger.
Alternate strategies
Christian Lungaard led the field, and the hard tyre drivers followed closely by Scott Dixon and Kyffin Simpson and Lungaard worked to pull a two second gap from Dixon behind.
Palou was told on lap 14 that Kirkwood was managing his fuel levels, and despite pitting at similar times, the Spanish driver didn’t need to manage his. Giving him the green light to hunt the Andretti down.
Kirkwood was lifting and coasting around Long Beach, trying to carefully manage his fuel levels. To try to make the hard tyre strategy work, Lungaard needed to last until lap 23 at a minimum. They needed to make it even further to make the race a two-stop instead of the expected three.
On Lap 23, Lungaard and the front runners on the hard tyres were yet to dive into pit lane. However, their lap times were slipping from those behind who had already stopped.
Graham Rahal in 18th made a dive down the inside of David Malukas’ AJ Foyt car but was just too far behind to make any significant inroad against the Penske driver.
Into the pits
Robert Schwartzman was the first driver on the hard tyres to make the decision to dive into the pits, and on lap 27 he was followed by Sting Ray Robb and Santino Ferrucci. Kyle Kirkwood moved into fourth. On lap 28, Lungaard made the same decision to come into pit lane putting on the soft tyre compound.
Scott Dixon and Kyffin Simpson was called to come into pit lane on the next lap and quickly Kirkwood found himself moving back into the lead. As Dixon came out of the pits he just fell behind Lungaard, holding up McLaughlin.
Although Dixon had colder tyres, the Kiwi was on the soft compound, which quickly acquired the grip needed to keep him ahead of McLaughlin.
On lap 32, Álex Palou made a lunge on Kyle Kirwood, but he was just too far back to make the move stick. Palou was unable to make the move and instead decided to dive into pit lane for his second pit stop alongside Rosenqvist, Newgarden and many of the other drivers in that stint.
With Palou in the pits first, Kyle Kirwood needed a perfect in lap and out lap to maintain his advantage. Kirkwood easily came out of pit lane with the lead, but Palou had warm tyres and immediately began closing the gap.
Split strategies
On lap 37, Scott Dixon made the decision to ditch the soft tyres, needing a speedy pitstop to challenge Lungaard after the pitstop cycle. However, with a small delay on his rear tyres Dixon came out in the middle of McLaughline and Newgarden, losing places with his colder tyres.
Despite being on the soft tyres Lungaard was extending his stint, using his push to pass while still managing competitive laps. Lungaard finally made the dive on lap 39, with a vital pit stop coming down to just a tyre change.
With a slower stop than Lungaard wanted, he still left pit lane just behind Álex Palou’s Chip Ganaasi for a net third place. Unfortunately, he slipped down to a net fourth as Felix Rosenqvist took advantage of his warmer tyres and made the pass.
Felix Rosenqvist was warned against using his push to pass on lap 48, with just 63 seconds left compared to the 120 seconds held by those ahead of him.
Sting Ray Robb came into the pits on lap 52, putting Robert Schwartzman into the lead. With the hards on, Robb put on a set of soft tyres, meeting the tyre allocation requirement for the race. Schwartzman dove in at the same time, opting for the same change.
As you were
On lap 55, with Robb and Schwartzman’s pitting, the order of the grid was equal on pit stops. Kirkwood maintained his race lead, but Palou was still holding onto the back of the Andretti just 1.6 seconds behind him.
Kirkwood was still lifting and coasting and Palou was incrementally making gains, the gap hovered around 1.4 seconds as it slowly went down.
Newgarden dove into pit lane on lap 60, but he suffered an issue in the cockpit, which slowed his stop down detrimentally. Lungaard also dove in, completing his final stop of the race.
Felix Rosneqvist made his final stop and came out ahead of Lungaard, holding his advantage. Unfortunately for Josef Newgarden, after a mega drive back to the front, a seatbelt issue in the pit stop left him at the back of the grid and two laps down.
Final stops
On lap 64, Álex Palou made his final stop. With a tremendous in-lap and Kirkwood getting stuck behind the back markers, Chip Ganassi were on the back foot heading into pit lane.
Kirkwood left the pits ahead of Palou, but Palou’s tyres were warmed up and within seconds the Spaniard was on the gearbox of Kirkwood.
While Palou sat in wait behind the Chip Ganassi, Kirkwood had a vital 40 seconds of push to pass more than the Spaniard, allowing him to keep himself ahead of the reigning champion.
Palou held the gap at 1.5 seconds, but Kirkwood was flawless in the lead, not making a single mistake through the winding corners of Long Beach. Kirkwood glided around the track, seemingly unstoppable as he slowly pulled out a gap from the Spaniard behind him.
The only potential hitch in Kirkwood’s flawless drive was meeting lapped traffic with 13 laps to go. The Floridian needed to manage passing the back markers carefully to keep Palou from closing the gap.
But Kirkwood maintained a level head, saving his push to pass until it was necessary and managing to build the gap between him and Palou to an impressive four seconds.
With just seven laps to go, Álex Palou was trying to close the gap, but Kyle Kirkwood was focused on the track in front rather than the red and yellow Chip Ganassi car behind him. Behind Palou, Felix Rosenqvist held onto third place.
Final five laps
On lap 85, Lungaard set his sights on third place. Both Lungaard and Rosenqvist had used all of their push to pass, but it didn’t matter as Lungaard dove down the inside and took the final podium position.
Further down the grid there was still plenty of fighting going on as Colton Herta looked to recover a place lost earlier in the race. But he wasn’t close enough to McLaughlin to make it stick.
Dixon hovered on the gearbox of Herta and behind him Sting Ray Robb hung onto the Chip Ganassi, looking for an impressive race result.
Into the final lap Kirkwood led the field around Long Beach. 2024 was a year without victories for the Floridian who looked to find consistency and the top step. Just three races into the season he found exactly that, beating the infallible Álex Palou to the chequered flag, winning the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
Palou’s second place maintains his impressive championship lead, but Kirkwood puts himself in second with Lungaard finishing third in the race and the championship standings.
