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Kyle Kirkwood, who took his first IndyCar career win at the 2023 Acura Long Beach GP, won the 2025 race at the street circuit in California. Alex Palou kept the Andretti Global driver on his toes the whole race and finished P2 with Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard rounding up the Top 3.
The 2025 IndyCar Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach was the 59th Anniversary of the racing event. Kyle Kirkwood of the Andretti Global took the pole position with teammate Colton Herta lining alongside him in P2. Championship leader Alex Palou lined up P3. Will Power, Josef Newgarden, and Scott Dixon started the race from the midfield.
The 2025 race was 5 laps longer, coming in at 90 laps around the 1.968-mile circuit. Nolan Siegel was diagnosed with food poisoning on Saturday, but took medical fluids, and started the race at Long Beach. IndyCar legends Mario Andretti and Al Unser were the Co-Grand Marshalls and gave the iconic “ Start your engines” command.
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2025 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach highlights
Most IndyCar drivers started the race on the softer alternate tires in an attempt to get rid of the short-lifespan tire. Kirkwood got off to a good start and maintained the lead, with Colton Herta following him in P2. All drivers kept it clean on Lap 1, with no incidents.
Palou, who started P3, lost a couple of positions to Felix Rosenqvist and Scott McLaughlin. #2 Team Penske driver Josef Newgarden pitted only after a couple of laps to get rid of the alternate tires and switched to hard, coming out in clean air and setting green lap times.
Multiple IndyCar drivers followed Newgarden's strategy and pitted early. Herta and McLaughlin were the next drivers to follow as the duo went side by side out of the pitlane. The #3 Team Penske made a massive move on hard tires. All this while Newgarden caught up to the duo, which ensued a frantic three-way battle.
With the first round of pit stops done, Lundgaard, who started on hard tires, took the lead. Kirkwood maintained the effective lead with Palou, who benefitted from Herta and McLaughlin's on-track battle, jumping up to an effective P2.
The Prefab-sponsored Andretti Global IndyCar driver was asked to conserve fuel while Palou was given the green light to attack Kirkwood.
Lundgaard pitted from the lead on the race on Lap 28 and put on the softer alternate tires. The Arrow McLaren driver came out in an effective P4. Scott Dixon followed Lundgaard on the next lap and was straight away on the #7 Chevrolet's gearbox.
Felix Rosenqvist pitted on Lap 33 from P3, followed by Alex Palou switching to new hard tires on Lap 34. Lundgaard responded to the undercut and pitted on the very next lap, maintaining his effective lead. Dixon was next as he got rid of the alternate tires.
However, the CGR driver had a slow stop as the right rear tire didn't fit well. Dixon came out ahead of the Team Penske IndyCar drivers Newgarden and McLaughlin but was on cold tires and was overtaken by the duo.
Lundgaard pitted from the lead of the race on Lap 39, and came out in effective P3, but was soon overtaken by Rosenqvist. Nonetheless, he managed to prevent Dixon's undercut and sat in P4.
After the second round of pit stops, Sting Ray Robb took the lead of the IndyCar Long Beach GP as he opted for the hard-hard strategy. Midway through the race, Palou and Herta reported issues with handling and the car balance.
Robb pitted on Lap 52 as rookie Robert Shwartzman took the lead of the race at Long Beach. However, it didn't last long as the PREMA Racing's IndyCar driver pitted on the very next lap, giving the lead back to Kirkwood.
Josef Newgarden came in for his third and final stop with 30 laps to go, followed by Kyffin Simpson. The #2 Team Penske drivers pitted again just a couple of laps later as Newgarden had issues with his seatbelts coming undone. The 2024 Indy 500 winner's race was ruined because of the same as he came out of the pits a lap down.
Alex Palou took his final stop on Lap 64 as he tried to undercut the race leader, Kirkwood. The #27 Andretti Global driver was caught up behind slow traffic on his out lap but was able to come out in the lead.
The Andretti Global driver had 40 40-second extra push to pass in the bank compared to Palou and put it to good use on his out-lap. The Spaniard caught up to the #27 driver on cold tires, but Kirkwood managed to maintain the lead.
Lundgaard caught up to Rosenqvist in the final 10 laps and passed Meyer Shank Racing with 5 laps to go down the long straight. McLaughlin, Herta, and Dixon fought for P6 in the final few laps, but no one was able to make any moves.
Kirkwood increased the gap to Palou and crossed the chequered flag in P1, followed by the latter. Lundgaard rounded out the podium finishers. Sting Ray Robb finished an IndyCar career-best P9. Santino Ferrucci, who started dead last, made up 16 positions and finished P11.
Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood wins the 2025 IndyCar Acura Long Beach GP
Kyle Kirkwood qualified on the pole position with a time over three-tenths faster than his teammate Colton Herta. The #27 driver led the race from lap 1 and was in the effective race lead throughout the race. The American was able to sustain the pressure from Palou and won the race with multiple seconds to the CGR driver in P2. Speaking about his race win at Long Beach, the IndyCar driver said,
“We controlled the race from or even from practice, right? I mean, we felt like we were in control. Really good qualifying, amazing race, amazing strategy. But it was just execution all across the board is what won us that race team here 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. And I mean, hats off to the Prefab Honda Andretti guys,” he said after the race.
Full Results from the 2025 IndyCar Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach
P1 #27 Kyle Kirkwood: Andretti Global Honda
P2 #10 Alex Palou: Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
P3 #7 Christian Lundgaard: Arrow McLaren Chevrolet
P4 #60 Felix Rosenqvist: Meyer Shank Racing Honda
P5 #12 Will Power: Team Penske Chevrolet
P6 #3 Scott McLaughlin: Team Penske Chevrolet
P7 #26 Colton Herta: Andretti Global Honda
P8 #9 Scott Dixon: Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
P9 #77: Sting Ray Robb: Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet
P10 #8 Kyffin Simpson: Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
P11 #14 Santino Ferrucci: AJ Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet
P12 #28 Marcus Ericsson: Andretti Global Honda
P13 #5 Pato O'Ward: Arrow McLaren Chevrolet
P14 #66 Marcus Armstrong: Meyer Shank Racing Honda
P15 #20 Alexander Rossi: Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet
P16 #45 Louis Foster: Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda
P17 #4 David Malukas: AJ Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet
P18 #83 Robert Shwartzman: PREMA Racing Chevrolet
P19 #18 Rinus VeeKay: Dale Coyne Racing Honda
P20 #6 Nolan Siegel: Arrow McLaren Chevrolet
P21 #90 Callum Ilott: PREMA Racing Chevrolet
P22 #15 Graham Rahal: Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda
P23 #21 Christian Rasmussen: Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet
P24 #30 Devlin DeFrancesco: Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda
P25 #76 Conor Daly: Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet
P26 #51 Jacob Abel: Dale Coyne Racing Honda
P27 #2 Josef Newgarden: Team Penske Chevrolet
