Kirkwood Heads Honda Qualifying Sweep at Long Beach

Source: Manufacturer PR

Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach
NTT INDYCAR SERIES
Long Beach, California
3 p.m. EDT Sunday, April 16
NBC and NBC Peacock
IndyCar Radio Network and SiriusXM

Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach

  • This weekend’s return of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES to Southern California marks the fourth year of Acura title sponsorship of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, and the 48th running of North America’s oldest and most successful street circuit event.
  • Launched in 1986 as the first Japanese luxury automotive brand, Acura is a leading nameplate that delivers Precision Crafted Performance – a commitment to expressive styling, high performance and innovative engineering, all built on a foundation of quality and reliability.  Both Acura and its American Honda parent have their U.S. headquarters in Torrance, California. 
  • In addition to the featured Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach NTT INDYCAR SERIES race on Sunday, Acura also will be featured in Saturday’s IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship race.  Meyer Shank Racing and Wayne Taylor Racing will each field an electrified Acura ARX-06 prototype, and a pair of Acura NSX GT3 Evo22s will be run by Gradient Racing and Racers Edge Motorsports, respectively.

Honda at Long Beach

  • Honda-powered drivers and teams have won the Grand Prix of Long Beach 15 times in 22 appearances. This includes victories in eight of the last 13 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 in 2021 by hometown favorite Colton Herta.  The native of nearby Valencia, California returns with his Andretti Autosport team in 2023.
  • 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.
  • Since its founding in 1993, Honda Performance Development (HPD), the racing arm of the American Honda Motor Co., Inc., has grown from just a handful of staffers to more than 150 associates; and from an engine-rebuilding facility, focused on a single racing series, to a complete motorsports Research & Development organization, engaged in programs ranging from the NTT IndyCar Series and IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship to grassroots and entry-level categories including karting, Quarter Midgets, club racing, Formula 4 and Formula 3. HPD is headquartered in Santa Clarita, 60 miles from Long Beach.

Where to Watch

  • Television coverage of Sunday’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach starts at 3 p.m. EDT on NBC.  Complete, flag-to-flag race coverage also will be available on NBC Peacock, the INDYCAR Radio Network, and SiriusXM INDYCAR Nation (Channel 160). 

Honda Racing social media content and video links: 

2023 Honda NTT INDYCAR SERIES Lineup

Andretti Autosport

#26 Colton Herta (W)
#27 Kyle Kirkwood
#28 Romain Grosjean
#29 Devlin DeFrancesco 

Chip Ganassi Racing

#8 Marcus Ericsson (W)
#9 Scott Dixon (C) (W)
#10 Alex Palou (C) (W)
#11 Marcus Armstrong (R)

Dale Coyne Racing 

    – with HMD Motorsports #18 David Malukas 

    – with Rick Ware Racing #51 Sting Ray Robb (R)

Meyer Shank Racing

#60 Simon Pagenaud (C) (W)
#06 Helio Castroneves (W) 

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

#15 Graham Rahal (W)
#30 Jack Harvey 
#45 Christian Lundgaard