Starting from pole Car 27 Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, won the 2025 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach for his 3rd Indycar Series win. This is his 1st win & 2nd Top 5 of 2025. 2nd Place Car 10 Alex Palou, Honda, started from 3rd place posted his 3rd Top 5 of 2025. 3rd Place Car 7 Christian Lundgaard, Chevrolet, started from 12th place posted his 2nd Top 5 of 2025.
4th Place Car 60 Felix Rosenqvist, Honda, started from 4th place followed by 5th place Car 12 Will Power, Chevrolet, started from 13th place. 6th Place Car 3 Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, started from 6th place followed by 7th place Car 26 Colton Herta, Honda, started from 2nd place. 8th Place Car 9 Scott Dixon, Honda, started from 14th place followed by 9th place Car 7 Sting Ray Robb, Chevrolet, started from 19th place. Lastly in the Top 10 was Car 8 Kyffin Simpson, Honda, in 10th place started from 17th place. Canadian Car 30 Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda finished in 24th place.
Cautions: None
The race had 9 Lead changes among 7 drivers. Lap Leaders: Kirkwood, Kyle 1 – 6, Armstrong, Marcus 7, Lundgaard, Christian 8 – 27, Dixon, Scott 28 – 29, Kirkwood, Kyle 30 – 34, Lundgaard, Christian 35 – 40, Robb, Sting Ray 41 – 52, Kirkwood, Kyle 53 – 65, Simpson, Kyffin 66 – 68, Kirkwood, Kyle 69 – 90.
NTT INDYCAR SERIES Point Standings: Palou 142, Kirkwood 108, Lundgaard 96, Rosenqvist 88, Dixon 86, O’Ward 80, Herta 73, McLaughlin 69, Power 63, Newgarden 58, Rossi 58, Ericsson 55, Ferrucci 51, Armstrong 50, Simpson 48, Veekay 46, Rahal 45, Malukas 42, Rasmussen 40, Robb 39, Daly 32, Shwartzman 30, Siegel 26, Ilott 25, Foster 25, DeFrancesco 24, Abel 17.
Photo Courtesy of INDYCAR
NTT INDYCAR SERIES STATEMENT:
Kirkwood Stops Palou’s Streak with Dominant Drive at Long Beach
LONG BEACH, Calif. (Sunday, April 13, 2025) – Kyle Kirkwood used a superhuman drive Sunday on the streets of Long Beach to prove that Alex Palou is human, after all.
Kirkwood mastered an intriguing contest of tire strategy and speed to win the 50th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach under sunny Southern California skies, ending Palou’s two-race win streak to start the NTT INDYCAR SERIES season.
Florida native Kirkwood earned his second Long Beach win from the pole in the last three years, driving the No. 27 PreFab Honda of Andretti Global to a 2.6859-second victory over runner-up Palou in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Kirkwood also won this race in 2023, his first NTT P1 Award and series victory.
“We controlled the race, even from practice,” Kirkwood said. “Really good qualifying, amazing race, amazing strategy. It was just execution all across the board that won us that race today because if Palou was in front, he would have beat us, for sure. This was a track-position race here today, without any yellows.”
Kirkwood led 46 of 90 laps in the second consecutive caution-free race this season, the first NTT INDYCAR SERIES race without a yellow flag on the iconic 11-turn, 1.968-mile temporary street circuit and its formidable and close concrete walls since 2016.
Christian Lundgaard finished third in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet after passing Felix Rosenqvist’s No. 60 SiriusXM Honda of Meyer Shank Racing in Turn 1 for the final podium position with five laps remaining. Rosenqvist placed fourth, as the top four finishers in the race also hold the same spots in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES standings.
Two-time Long Beach winner Will Power rounded out the top five finishers in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet.
Reigning series champion Palou, who started third, fell short of becoming the first NTT INDYCAR SERIES driver to win the first three races of the season since fellow series title winner and Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon in 2020. But Palou’s metronomic, fast consistency helped him keep the championship lead, by 34 points over Kirkwood in second.
“You never feel amazing when you finish second, but honestly, the 27 car and Kyle, they were amazing all weekend,” Palou said. “Super fast.
“I tried my chances, but we couldn’t really make it work. I had a really bad start on my side, and that kind of put us on the back foot. But we did the best we could. Amazing to be here second, but hopefully next year we can just improve one step.”
The race quickly became a contest of dueling strategies between the Firestone Firehawk primary and alternate tires. INDYCAR rules require teams to use both tire compounds for at least two laps per race, and many drivers who started on the grippier but less durable alternate tires shed them within the first 10 laps for the more durable primary compound.
Kirkwood and Palou were on the dominant strategy of the race, as Palou pitted after Lap 6 and Kirkwood Lap 7 to get on the black-sidewall tires. It became clear through the next fuel and tire cycles that Kirkwood and Palou were the two fastest drivers on track, as the strategists from each team kept close tabs on each other, ensuring no missed chances to pounce due to changing tactics.
The true flashpoint of the race came on Lap 66. Palou made his final pit stop at the end of Lap 64, taking a final set of Firestone Firehawk primary tires. Kirkwood did the same at the end of Lap 65, and Palou was right on his gearbox on hotter, grippier tires when Kirkwood exited the pits at the start of Lap 66.
But Kirkwood stared down intense pressure on his out lap from Palou, who never got close enough to make a move for the lead.
Kirkwood then took the lead for good on Lap 69 when Kyffin Simpson, one of only six drivers to start the race on primary tires, pitted from the lead in the No. 8 Journie Rewards Chip Ganassi Racing Honda as he was off-sequence on pit strategy from the drivers who started on the alternate tire. That was the last of nine lead changes today, the most for the INDYCAR SERIES at Long Beach since 2012.
Lundgaard led 26 laps – second to only Kirkwood – despite starting 12th and using the less-popular strategy of starting on primary tires. His strong result came after Arrow McLaren mechanics worked overtime to rebuild his car after Lundgaard crashed Saturday in qualifying.
The next NTT INDYCAR SERIES race is the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix on Sunday, May 4 on the natural-terrain road course at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama.
Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach Race Results
LONG BEACH, Calif. – Results Sunday of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach NTT INDYCAR SERIES event on the 1.968-mile streets of Long Beach circuit, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, Car, driver, engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):
1. (1) Car 27 Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 90, Running
2. (3) Car 10 Alex Palou, Honda, 90, Running
3. (12) Car 7 Christian Lundgaard, Chevrolet, 90, Running
4. (4) Car 60 Felix Rosenqvist, Honda, 90, Running
5. (13) Car 12 Will Power, Chevrolet, 90, Running
6. (6) Car 3 Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 90, Running
7. (2) Car 26 Colton Herta, Honda, 90, Running
8. (14) Car 9 Scott Dixon, Honda, 90, Running
9. (19) Car 7 Sting Ray Robb, Chevrolet, 90, Running
10. (17) Car 8 Kyffin Simpson, Honda, 90, Running
11. (27) Car 14 Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 90, Running
12. (5) Car 28 Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 90, Running
13. (9) Car 5 Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 90, Running
14. (7) Car 66 Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 90, Running
15. (8) Car 20 Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 90, Running
16. (20) Car 45 Louis Foster, Honda, 90, Running
17. (10) Car 4 David Malukas, Chevrolet, 90, Running
18. (24) Car 83 Robert Shwartzman, Chevrolet, 90, Running
19. (25) Car 18 Rinus VeeKay, Honda, 90, Running
20. (11) Car 6 Nolan Siegel, Chevrolet, 90, Running
21. (22) Car 9 Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 89, Running
22. (16) Car 15 Graham Rahal, Honda, 89, Running
23. (18) Car 21 Christian Rasmussen, Chevrolet, 89, Running
24. (23) Car 30 Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 89, Running – Canadian
25. (21) Car 76 Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 88, Running
26. (26) Car 51 Jacob Abel, Honda, 88, Running
27. (15) Car 2 Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 88, Running
Race Statistics
Winner’s average speed: 100.395 mph
Time of Race: 01:45:51.2058
Margin of victory: 2.6859 seconds
Cautions: None
Lead changes: 9 among 7 drivers
Time of Race: 01:45:51.2058 Avg Speed: 100.395 Lead Changes: 9 Caution Laps: 0
Fastest Lap: 103.981 mph ( 68.1355 sec) on lap 32 by 8 – Kyffin Simpson
Fastest Leader Lap: 103.465 mph ( 68.4755 sec) on lap 61 by 27 – Kyle Kirkwood
Next Event: Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix on Sunday May 4 at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama
INDYCAR
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Photos & Graphics Courtesy of INDYCAR