Having by no means began higher than fifth in his IndyCar Collection profession thus far, Kyle Kirkwood certified on pole place for Sunday’s Grand Prix of Lengthy Seaside forward of defending Indianapolis 500 winner Marcus Ericsson.

The pole-winning run got here simply because the chequered flag fell within the Quick Six stage of qualifying. Together with his staff mate Romain Grosjean attempting for his second pole in three races, Kirkwood reeled off a 1’06.288 on his final flying lap to knock Grosjean off of provisional pole.

He’ll now intention to turn into the primary driver to win at Lengthy Seaside from pole place since Alexander Rossi’s back-to-back, pole-to-win victories in 2018 and 2019 – and take a primary profession IndyCar win that many have anticipated from essentially the most profitable prospect of the Street to Indy ladder system.

Andretti have been destined to take a front-row lockout, however on a scrubbed set of alternate compound tyres, Ericsson jumped forward of Grosjean with a time simply 0.038 seconds in need of Kirkwood’s benchmark. Grosjean will begin from third place as he seeks his personal, long-awaited first IndyCar victory.

Alex Palou certified in fourth place forward of 2015 Lengthy Seaside GP winner Scott Dixon in fifth, giving Honda engines a lockout of the highest 5 in qualifying. Championship factors chief Pato O’Ward, the one Chevrolet-powered driver to make the Quick Six stage of the session, was sixth-fastest after a lock-up on his final lap value him a shot at pole place.

Lengthy Seaside winner of 2021 Colton Herta will begin seventh, adopted by the defending winner of the race, Josef Newgarden, in eighth because the highest-ranked Penske driver.

With time left for another flying lap, Grosjean, Ericsson, and Dixon have been in a position to bump their method into the Quick Six and pushed Herta, Newgarden, and Rosenqvist out. Scott McLaughlin was ninth-fastest, whereas defending IndyCar Collection champion Will Energy missed the minimize in his first-round qualifying group – he’ll begin from thirteenth on the grid.

McLaren staff mates Felix Rosenqvist and Alexander Rossi certified tenth and eleventh, forward of Marcus Armstrong in twelfth. Armstrong, the one rookie that superior out of first-round qualifying, carried an excessive amount of pace by flip 9 and crashed into the tyre limitations with a minute to go within the second spherical. The impression brought about a rupture of water to spill out onto the racing line and brought about a prolonged pink flag for cleanup.

In first-round qualifying, David Malukas hit the wall at flip 9 with about seven minutes left within the first session. He was in a position to proceed, seemingly with out harm – however as he began his subsequent lap, his Dallara/Honda broke unfastened into flip 4, spun, and crashed into the concrete limitations. Malukas was in a position to get out of his automotive with out critical harm, however the second-year driver will endure one other medical verify tomorrow morning after taking what he described as “a giant hit to the top” on social media.

There are 85 laps of racing across the lovely and demanding streets of Lengthy Seaside which await tomorrow. The inexperienced flag for Sunday’s race is scheduled for 20:45 UK time.

Grand Prix of Lengthy Seaside qualifying resultsPositionCarDriverTeamEngine127Kyle KirkwoodAndrettiHonda28Marcus EricssonGanassiHonda328Romain GrosjeanAndrettiHonda410Alex PalouGanassiHonda59Scott DixonGanassiHonda65Pato O’WardMcLarenChevrolet726Colton HertaAndrettiHonda82Josef NewgardenPenskeChevrolet93Scott McLaughlinPenskeChevrolet106Felix RosenqvistMcLarenChevrolet117Alexander RossiMcLarenChevrolet1211Marcus ArmstrongGanassiHonda1312Will PowerPenskeChevrolet1460Simon PagenaudMeyer ShankHonda1530Jack HarveyRLLHonda16106Helio CastronevesMeyer ShankHonda1745Christian LundgaardRLLHonda1814Santino FerrucciFoytChevrolet1921Rinus VeeKayCarpenterChevrolet2029Devlin DeFrancescoAndrettiHonda2151Sting Ray RobbCoyne/RWRHonda2277Callum IlottJuncos HollingerChevrolet2355Benjamin PedersenFoytChevrolet2415Graham RahalRLLHonda2518David MalukasCoyne/HMDHonda2678Agustin CanapinoJuncos HollingerChevrolet2720Conor DalyCarpenterChevroletIndyCar

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