Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach Tag

By Phillip Schmitz, Staff Writer The first two races of the NTT IndyCar Series started out strong for Romain Grosjean, but the driver of the No. 28 DHL Andretti Autosport Honda wouldn’t see the end of either of them after crashing out of both races. Grosjean finally put a complete race together in Sunday’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach to score a runner-up finish. The Frenchman just needed to repeat what he did last year’s race in Southern California to do so. Just a strong, but smart race to getRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor NTT IndyCar Series street races always seem to end with hurt feelings and Sunday’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach was no different. This time around, it was six-time series champion Scott Dixon and Pato O’Ward that weren’t seeing eye to eye at the end of the day. The problems between the two stemmed from an incident on lap 20 in Turn 8 when O’Ward dove to the inside of Dixon heading into the right-hander, which led to wheel-to-wheel contact that sent Dixon head on intoRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor When it’s your day, it’s your day. The start of the 2023 NTT IndyCar Series season didn’t start the way Kyle Kirkwood and Andretti Autosport would have liked following two tumultuous races at St. Petersburg and Texas, but they can put all that behind them now as Kirkwood was victorious in Sunday’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach – his first career IndyCar win. Kirkwood streaked to his first career IndyCar pole on Saturday ahead of Marcus Ericsson and his Andretti teammate Romain Grosjean and thatRead More

By INDYCAR LONG BEACH, Calif. – Kyle Kirkwood earned his first career NTT INDYCAR SERIES pole Saturday, grabbing the NTT P1 Award for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. Kirkwood, from Jupiter, Florida, won the top spot for the prestigious Southern California street race with a best time of 1 minute, 6.2878 seconds on his final lap in the Firestone Fast Six in the No. 27 AutoNation Honda. Kirkwood’s previous best starting spot in his NTT INDYCAR SERIES career was fifth in March at the season-opening Firestone Grand PrixRead More

By INDYCAR LONG BEACH, Calif. – It’s only fitting that in Southern California, Pato O’Ward continues to ride a wave. O’Ward led the opening practice Friday for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, turning a top lap of 1 minute, 6.6999 seconds in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet on the 11-turn, 1.968-mile temporary street circuit. SEE: Practice Results “It’s a tight field,” O’Ward said. “Long Beach is always such an intense qualifying. We just kept chipping at it today. We rolled off strong, but we’ve been definitely making adjustments toRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach is one of INDYCAR’s most prestigious events of the season and for a valid reason. A former stop in the Formula One World Championship from 1976-1983, American Open Wheel Racing have since kept the Southern California street course alive and vibrant. More than any other street courses, Long Beach has had the luxury of having stability which has kept the venue on the calendar on an annual basis. Fans pack the venue to see various racing disciplines, ranging fromRead More

By INDYCAR LONG BEACH, Calif. – Josef Newgarden kept Team Penske unbeaten in three NTT INDYCAR SERIES races this season with his second consecutive win of 2022, capturing the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach in a taut, three-way tussle under brilliant Southern California sunshine Sunday. Newgarden earned his first career Long Beach victory in the No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet, holding off Romain Grosjean in the No. 28 DHL Honda and reigning series champion Alex Palou in the No. 10 NTT DATA Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Grosjean tied aRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor The runner-up step on the podium has become a familiar place for Romain Grosjean in his short time in the NTT IndyCar Series, with the driver of the No. 28 Andretti Autosport Honda finishing second for the third time in his career in Sunday’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. Grosjean, who showed speed throughout the weekend, rolled off sixth when the green flag flew and kept himself near the front of the field for the majority of the day. In an effort to gain anRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor A day after Jimmie Johnson’s status for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach was thrown into uncertainty, the picture is becoming much clearer for the driver of the No. 48 Honda heading into Sunday. In the first practice session of the race weekend on Friday, Johnson found himself in trouble after contact with the curbing in Turn 5 sent him sliding into the tire barrier. The incident itself didn’t look too bad, but Johnson kept his hands on the steering wheel through the entirety ofRead More

By INDYCAR LONG BEACH, Calif. – Colton Herta pulverized the track record by nearly a second to win the NTT P1 Award for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday, leading three Andretti Autosport cars in the Firestone Fast Six. Southern California native Herta’s top lap was 1 minute, 5.3095 in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda to earn his first pole of the season and eighth of his career. That lap crushed the track record of 1:06.2254 set by Helio Castroneves in April 2017, as air temperatures were aboutRead More