Herta, Honda Claim the Pole for Sunday’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach
Streets of Long Beach
・Defending race winner Colton Herta tops NTT INDYCAR SERIES qualifying on the streets of Long Beach.
・Defending series champion Alex Palou qualifies third in 26-car field.
・Alexander Rossi to start fifth, Romain Grosjean sixth as Honda drivers claim four of the “Fast Six” final qualifying positions.
Colton Herta, the popular hometown winner of last year’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, headed the time sheets in today’s qualifying action and will lead a 26-car field to the green flag in his Andretti Autosport Honda for Sunday’s third round of the 2022 NTT INDYCAR SERIES.
Herta was the quickest of four Honda drivers to advance to the “Fast Six” final qualifying round on the streets of Long Beach, with defending series champion Alex Palou ending the session third in his Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Two other Andretti Autosport Hondas, driven by two-time Long Beach winner Alexander Rossi and Formula One veteran Romain Grosjean will start fifth and sixth, respectively.
Fast Facts
・This weekend’s return of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES to Southern California marks the third year of Acura title sponsorship of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, and the 47th running of North America’s oldest and most successful street circuit event.
・Honda-powered drivers and teams have won the Grand Prix of Long Beach 15 times in 21 appearances. This includes victories in eight of the last 12 races; and a seven-year victory streak in Championship Auto Racing Teams competition, against multi-manufacturer competition, from 1996-2002.
・Honda’s most recent Long Beach success was recorded last year by today’s pole qualifier, Colton Herta, a native of nearby Valencia, California.
・Other Honda-powered winners at Long Beach include Jimmy Vasser (1996), Alex Zanardi (1997-98), Juan Pablo Montoya (1999), Paul Tracy (2000), Helio Castroneves (2001), Michael Andretti (his final Indy car victory, in 2002), Dario Franchitti (2009), Ryan Hunter-Reay (2010), Mike Conway (2011), Takuma Sato (2013), James Hinchcliffe (2017), and Alexander Rossi, who scored back-to-back Long Beach victories in 2018 and ’19.
I’m super-happy with how qualifying went. The car is really good, Honda was spectacular and we’re starting from the best spot tomorrow. I’m thrilled to finally get a pole here. The reason I became an Indy car driver was because of this race. To get a win here last year was amazing, and we checked another box off today with the pole. It feels incredible.
Qualifying was a good start to the weekend for us. We were working on the car all day today, changing [the car] a lot with the [changing weather] conditions. We were lacking a bit more with the cooler temperatures [today], but we made it happen. The ‘Fast Six’ was the target, so starting on the second row is really good for the No. 10 NTT DATA Honda car.
