Alex Palou scored back-to-back wins for Chip Ganassi Racing in the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach at the Long Beach street circuit. It marks Palou’s third win of the season.
“It’s huge,” Palou said, afterwards. “I’m super proud of everyone, they did an awesome job.”
This victory puts the 29-year-old back in the NTT IndyCar Series championship lead, 17 points over Kyle Kirkwood.
The race began with the No. 60 of Felix Rosenqvist of Meyer Shank Racing leading the first 18 laps and holding a 1.5 second lead over Palou. This stretch would see the No. 2 of Josef Newgarden and more change from the primary tires to the softer alternates.
The top-four drivers began green flag stops at lap 32, putting Newgarden in the lead briefly over Rosenqvist before pitting five laps later. Rosenqvist would regain the race top spot, increasing the deficit to 1.9 seconds.
Lap 44 would note the only hybrid related issue of the event, when the No.28 of Marcus Ericsson for Andretti Global experienced power issues that would cause a retirement from the race after pulling into pit lane.
On lap 57, Rosenqvist’s dominant three second lead would disintegrate when a piece of debris in the exit of Turn 3 brought out the caution. This sent the leaders to pit road for service just three laps afterwards, where the race winning move was made by Palou exiting ahead of Rosenqvist.
The four-time series champion got a great launch on the restart that would translate to a five second advantage. Rosenqvist was never able to get close enough to Palou again despite leading 51 laps on the day.
“At the end of the day, it’s great,” Rosenqvist said. “I’m not sure exactly what happened, we just lost a little bit on the stop, but that’s just how it goes.”
Other notable finishers in this race would be Palou’s veteran teammate, the No.9 of Scott Dixon, earn a podium in third, completing a Honda manufacturer sweep. Kirkwood with another solid showing, coming home with a top five in fourth.
Official Results:
| Position | Driver | Team |
| 1 | Alex Palou | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 2 | Felix Rosenqvist | Meyer Shank w/ Curb-Agajanian |
| 3 | Scott Dixon | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 4 | Kyle Kirkwood | Andretti Global w/ Curb-Agajanian |
| 5 | Pato O’Ward | Arrow McLaren |
| 6 | Scott McLaughlin | Team Penske |
| 7 | David Malukas | Team Penske |
| 8 | Graham Rahal | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
| 9 | Alexander Rossi | ECR |
| 10 | Kyffin Simpson | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 11 | Dennis Hauger | Dale Coyne Racing |
| 12 | Nolan Siegel | Arrow McLaren |
| 13 | Rinus VeeKay | Juncos Hollinger Racing |
| 14 | Josef Newgarden | Team Penske |
| 15 | Christian Rasmussen | ECR |
| 16 | Louis Foster | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
| 17 | Mick Schumacher | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
| 18 | Santino Ferrucci | A.J. Foyt Enterprises |
| 19 | Will Power | Andretti Global |
| 20 | Christian Lundgaard | Arrow McLaren |
| 21 | Romain Grosjean | Dale Coyne Racing |
| 22 | Caio Collet | A.J. Foyt Enterprises |
| 23 | Sting Ray Robb | Juncos Hollinger Racing |
| 24 | Marcus Armstrong | Meyer Shank w/ Curb-Agajanian |
| 25 | Marcus Ericsson | Andretti Global |
