Kyle Kirkwood dominates Long Beach and wins

Starting from pole position, Kyle Kirkwood (Andretti) won the Grand Prix of Long Beach for the second time, his third victory in IndyCar.

The young Floridian claimed his second victory at Long Beach, just as he did his first, starting from pole position. The race wasn't a walk in the park for Kirkwood, however, as he had to hold off pressure from Álex Palou (Chip Ganassi Racing) in the second half of the race. The Spaniard, winner of the first two races of the season, won't be winning a third in a row, but he certainly continues to lead the championship, ahead of the day's winner, who is now his runner-up.

After a start to the race where the majority of the peloton decided to stop in the first laps to get rid of the softer tires, Kirkwood was opposed by Christian Lundgaard (Arrow McLaren), leader of the drivers who started on hard tires. In the end, it was the Andretti Global driver who won, but by reversing his strategy, Lundgaard managed to finish on the podium for the second consecutive time. Driving a car Equipped with a new chassis, the Dane continues to show himself as a serious alternative within a team that has been dependent for too long on Pato O'Ward alone, still the only driver to have won races for the team since McLaren's return in IndyCar in 2020.

Starting from the front row, Colton Herta (Andretti Global) lost several positions on his first pit stop and was never really able to move up. Josef Newgarden (Team Penske) lost a lot of ground due to harness issues late in the race, despite having managed to make up several positions by being the first driver to pit after just two laps.

As with the first three races of the year, IndyCar will return to the track in three weeks, the weekend of May 4, at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama.