Alex Palou beats Felix Rosenqvist to take first Long Beach IndyCar win

Ganassi driver jumps Rosenqvist in final stops to lead Honda 1-2-3

Alex Palou almost made it look easy with a steady drive to win the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.

The reigning and four-time IndyCar Series champion, Palou leaned on his pit crew to overtake pole-sitter Felix Rosenqvist, who led a race-high 51 of 90 laps, during final pit stops, then set sail after a late restart. In the end, Palou led 32 laps wheeled his #10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda to win by 4.198s over the Swede at the iconic 1.968-mile, 11-turn temporary street circuit.

Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon took third to make it a Honda sweep of the podium, with Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood fourth. Pato O'Ward, who started second in the #5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, finished fifth.

Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin was sixth, ahead of teammate David Malukas in seventh. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Graham Rahal took eighth, with Ed Carpenter Racing’s Alexander Rossi, who started 18th, surging to ninth. Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyffin Simpson took the final spot in the top 10 in 10th.

The Race

It was a disjointed start as Rosenqvist led the field to the green flag in the #60 Meyer Shank Racing Honda, with the top six bunched up but with a sizable gap back to Power in seventh and the rest of the field. And it only took until the next lap entering Turn 1 for Palou to jump O’Ward and take over second.

Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden opted to begin his three-stop strategy by pitting from 12th on Lap 12, switching off the harder primary tires to the softer alternates and going out with clear track to make significant headway.

The front runners remained unchanged through the opening 18 laps, with Rosenqvist holding an 1.5s lead over Palou, with O’Ward and Kirkwood in third and fourth, respectively. The top four were on the softer alternate tires. Malukas was the first on the harder compound in fifth.

Rosenqvist’s gap dropped to 0.7s by Lap 30 as Palou clawed back into view. O’Ward was the first among the top five to dive to pit lane on the next lap, relinquishing third.

The rest of the top five pitted on Lap 32, with Rosenqvist winning the race off pit road over Palou as both opted to stay on the softer alternate compound.

The rotation of stop vaulted Newgarden to the race lead by Lap 33, and with a 13s advantage over Rosenqvist, who was on a two-stop strategy. The gap widened to 16.5s by Lap 37 before Newgarden dove to pit lane and received a fresh set of alternates.

Photos from Long Beach - Sunday

RACE

All Stats

Cla	Driver	#	Laps	Time	Interval	Mph	Pits	Points	Retirement
1	A. Palou Chip Ganassi Racing	10	90	1:49'09.5058		97.356	2	51
2	F. Rosenqvist Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian	60	90	+3.9663 1:49'13.4721	3.9663	97.297	2	44
3	S. Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing	9	90	+5.4463 1:49'14.9521	1.4800	97.275	2	35
4	K. Kirkwood Andretti Global	27	90	+5.9730 1:49'15.4788	0.5267	97.267	2	32
5	P. O'Ward Arrow McLaren	5	90	+11.8705 1:49'21.3763	5.8975	97.180	2	30
6	S. McLaughlin Team Penske	3	90	+12.9059 1:49'22.4117	1.0354	97.164	2	28
7	D. Malukas Team Penske	12	90	+13.4837 1:49'22.9895	0.5778	97.156	2	26
8	G. Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	15	90	+27.5674 1:49'37.0732	14.0837	96.948	2	24
9	A. Rossi Ed Carpenter Racing	20	90	+27.6345 1:49'37.1403	0.0671	96.947	2	22
10	K. Simpson Chip Ganassi Racing	8	90	+28.7286 1:49'38.2344	1.0941	96.931	2	20
11	D. Hauger Dale Coyne Racing	19	90	+28.9918 1:49'38.4976	0.2632	96.927	2	19
12	N. Siegel Arrow McLaren	6	90	+29.9126 1:49'39.4184	0.9208	96.913	2	18
13	R. van Kalmthout Juncos Hollinger Racing	76	90	+30.5866 1:49'40.0924	0.6740	96.903	3	17
14	J. Newgarden Team Penske	2	90	+30.8410 1:49'40.3468	0.2544	96.899	3	17
15	C. Rasmussen Ed Carpenter Racing	21	90	+31.1661 1:49'40.6719	0.3251	96.895	3	15
16	L. Foster Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	45	90	+36.1636 1:49'45.6694	4.9975	96.821	2	14
17	M. Schumacher Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	47	90	+36.9674 1:49'46.4732	0.8038	96.809	2	13
18	S. Ferrucci A.J. Foyt Enterprises	14	90	+40.8660 1:49'50.3718	3.8986	96.752	3	12
19	W. Power Andretti Global	26	90	+41.1840 1:49'50.6898	0.3180	96.747	2	12
20	C. Lundgaard Arrow McLaren	7	90	+42.1752 1:49'51.6810	0.9912	96.733	3	10
21	R. Grosjean Dale Coyne Racing	18	90	+42.8422 1:49'52.3480	0.6670	96.723	3	9
22	C. Collet A.J. Foyt Enterprises	4	90	+43.6647 1:49'53.1705	0.8225	96.711	1	8
23	R. Robb Sting Juncos Hollinger Racing	77	90	+44.7036 1:49'54.2094	1.0389	96.696	3	7
24	M. Armstrong Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian	66	89	+1 Lap 1:49'10.4437	1 Lap	96.260	3	6
25	M. Ericsson Andretti Global	28	38	+52 Laps 45'44.6000	51 Laps	98.092	1	5	Mechanical
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