Andretti Global Rekindles Street Course Dominance at Long Beach

For a team with a decorated history on temporary street circuits, Andretti Global arrived at the 2025 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach needing to reassert itself. Kyle Kirkwood’s pole position, part of a commanding front-row lockout with teammate Colton Herta, signaled a return to form. But the story runs deeper than one-lap pace — it points to a broader resurgence in Andretti’s street course program, underpinned by strategic cohesion, improved setups, and renewed synergy among its drivers.

A Stronghold Reclaimed

Saturday’s qualifying result marked Andretti’s third pole in the last five Long Beach races — a stretch that includes Herta’s 2022 pole and Kirkwood’s from 2023. But more telling than the pole count was the team’s comprehensive presence in the Firestone Fast Six: Kirkwood first, Herta second, and Marcus Ericsson fifth.

Kirkwood, who converted his 2023 pole into a win on these same streets, acknowledged the consistency of Andretti’s street course program following the session.

“No shocker, right? Andretti has been really good here in recent years,” he said. “We rolled off the end of the season really strong at street courses… especially these more bumpy, less grip circuits.”

The result stands in stark contrast to the team’s qualifying form just one month earlier at St. Petersburg. There, only Herta made the Fast Six, qualifying second. Kirkwood and Ericsson were both eliminated in Round 2, qualifying ninth and seventh, respectively .

This weekend’s improvement wasn’t incremental — it was transformational.

Beyond the Setup: Chemistry and Trust

Inside the paddock, the tone within the Andretti camp has shifted. Herta and Kirkwood both spoke this weekend about how constructive the intra-team dynamics have become, particularly in the post-session engineering debriefs.

“There’s really no selfishness or egos in the building,” Herta said. “What you want in a teammate… is someone extremely fast, because you want to be able to look at what they’re doing and make yourself better. I think I’ve got two of those with me.”

Kirkwood echoed the sentiment.

“We got three guys that can get things done,” he said. “We have different views on things… but we can all trust each other that we can reference each other.”

That mutual respect is showing up on the timing sheets. And crucially, the team now has three entries consistently operating in the same competitive window. Where in 2023 there were occasional flashes — Kirkwood at Long Beach, Romain Grosjean in St. Petersburg — the 2025 edition of Andretti Global appears more methodical and sustainable.

Hybrid Preparedness and Tire Strategy Pay Off

Part of Andretti’s edge has been preparation. Kirkwood, in both pre- and post-qualifying remarks, emphasized the team’s behind-the-scenes work on hybrid deployment and tire strategy. He credited simulator work and mapping efforts as key to allowing drivers to focus on balance and setup rather than the nuanced operation of the new energy system.

“You need to come into the weekend and not be questioning your deployment strategy,” he said during the pre-race press conference . “Our team’s done really well mapping it, giving us a strategy, saying, ‘Hey, run this.’ We can kind of forget about it.”

The team also leaned heavily on alternate tire usage in qualifying, with Kirkwood suggesting that the alternate compound—despite being the same guayule-based construction that degraded quickly at St. Petersburg—was still the best option to secure a front-row start.

A Key Moment in the Championship Picture

While Long Beach represents just the third round of the 17-race NTT IndyCar Series season, the stakes feel elevated. Reigning champion Alex Palou has won the opening two races of 2025 and will start third on Sunday, directly behind both Andretti Hondas.

Kirkwood, mindful of the early points gap, didn’t downplay the importance.

“We need to not let him get out front… especially at tracks that we’re strong at,” he said. “This is a very crucial weekend for us to turn things around in the championship hunt.”

A win for Kirkwood or Herta would not only snap Palou’s win streak, but also recalibrate the momentum heading into May.

More Than Just a Pole

Andretti Global’s Long Beach qualifying performance was not a one-lap fluke. It was the product of internal harmony, technical preparation, and drivers who trust—and push—each other. If they can convert this pace into a race win on Sunday, it may well mark a turning point not just in their season, but in the title fight.

As Kirkwood put it, “When you beat Alex Palou, you’ve clearly had a really good day.”

They’ve given themselves the best possible chance to do just that.