Felix Rosenqvist bounced back in emphatic style from a challenging start to the season by clinching an inspired pole position for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
Coming to the fore in qualifying for Round 5 of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES season, Rosenqvist put his Meyer Shank Racing Honda top of the times to secure his seventh career INDYCAR pole – and his second in three years on the streets of Long Beach.
The Swedish driver immediately laid down the marker in the first segment of qualifying, going fastest in the opening group stages.
In the subsequent Top 12 round, he was third, which gave him the same run slot on the road in the decisive Firestone Fast 6 shootout – featuring the exciting new-for-2026 single-car, single-lap format.
After setting his Fast 6 time, that meant Rosenqvist was stood waiting in the pits as the remaining three cars attempted to demote him off top spot.
Rosenqvist’s lap held firm, however, ultimately enough to pip close friend Pato O’Ward (running last on the road) by 0.044s as the top three were all covered by less than a tenth of a second.
”It was nerve-wracking to watch Pato there at the end; he was close,” says Felix Rosenqvist. “Very exciting and I’m thrilled to come out on top. What a day for us: Meyer Shank Racing won the IMSA race here earlier, pole yesterday, and now we put it on pole here in INDYCAR too. I’m pretty lost for words to be honest.
“It’s been a tough start to the year and we wanted to do a little bounce-back here, and so we did. Big thanks to everyone at SiriusXM, Honda, Meyer Shank Racing, and Acura. To be on pole here at Acura’s home race makes it even more special.”
Sunday’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach will run for 90 laps and go green at 2:45 pm local time (U.S. Pacific).
RESULTS
NTT INDYCAR SERIES | Rd. 5
Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach
Streets of Long Beach (USA)
Qualifying
1: Felix Rosenqvist (SWE), Meyer Shank Racing, 1m07.463s
2: Pato O’Ward (MEX), McLaren, +0.044s
3: Alex Palou (ESP), Ganassi, +0.065s
4: Kyle Kirkwood (USA), Andretti, +0.156s
5: David Malukas (USA), Penske, +0.187s