April 20, 2024 — LONG BEACH, CA
- Felix Rosenqvist tops Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach qualifying for Honda, Meyer Shank Racing
- Sixth pole for Rosenqvist, first NTT INDYCAR SERIES pole for Meyer Shank Racing
- Honda drivers claim eight of the top-10 qualifying positions
Felix Rosenqvist returned to Honda power in the off-season, joining Meyer Shank Racing for the 2024 NTT INDYCAR SERIES, and has continued his impressive start to the 2024 season, scoring pole position for Sunday’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
The pole for Rosenqvist comes on the heels of a third-place result in the non-championship Thermal Million Dollar Challenge event last month, and seventh in the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
Colton Herta, race winner here in 2021, will start fourth in his Andretti Global Honda; with teammate Marcus Ericsson qualifying fifth, and defending series champion Alex Palou starting sixth for Chip Ganassi Racing. In all, Honda drivers and teams claimed eight of the top-10 starting positions for tomorrow’s 49th running of the iconic street race.
Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach Honda Qualifying Results
| 1st Felix Rosenqvist | Chip Ganassi Racing Honda |
| 4th Colton Herta | Meyer Shank Racing Honda |
| 5th Marcus Ericsson | Andretti Global Honda |
| 6th Alex Palou | Chip Ganassi Racing Honda |
| 7th Christian Lundgaard | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda |
| 8th Scott Dixon | Chip Ganassi Racing Honda |
| 9th Marcus Armstrong | Chip Ganassi Racing Honda |
| 10th Kyle Kirkwood | Andretti Global Honda |
| 12th Graham Rahal | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda |
| 15th Tom Blomqvist-R | Meyer Shank Racing Honda |
| 17th Linus Lundqvist-R | Chip Ganassi Racing Honda |
| 19th Pietro Fittipaldi | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda |
| 23rd Jack Harvey | Dale Coyne Racing Honda |
| 26th Kyffin Simpson-R | Chip Ganassi Racing Honda |
| 27th Nolan Siegel-R | Dale Coyne Racing with RWR Honda |
R – Rookie
Quotes
Felix Rosenqvist (#60 Meyer Shank Racing Honda) pole qualifier, his first NTT INDYCAR SERIES pole of 2024 and sixth career pole: “It was hard, man. Honestly, I didn’t think I had it as I did a massive ‘tank slapper’ coming out of Turn 5, but it worked out. What was the margin, four one-thousandths of a second? That’s INDYCAR man. Awesome power by Honda today and the whole Meyer Shank Racing team did a phenomenal job. Now let’s see what happens tomorrow.”
Colton Herta (#26 Andretti Global Honda) will start fourth: “Happy to be starting in the first two rows with Honda power, there’s a lot still in the car that we can build on for the race tomorrow.”
Marcus Ericsson (#28 Andretti Global Honda) qualified fifth: “That’s another Fast Six [final qualifying round] for us. The car felt good, good power today, and good driveability. We can definitely win from P5, so I’m excited for the race tomorrow. I can’t wait to go racing!”
Fast Facts
- This weekend’s return of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES to Southern California marks the fifth year of Acura title sponsorship of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, and the 49th running of North America’s oldest and most successful street circuit event.
- The racing arm of American Honda, Honda Performance Development, was renamed Honda Racing Corporation USA (HRC US) in January to reflect the new role of the company in Honda’s global racing efforts. With this change, HRC US will take on an increased role in Honda’s global motorsports activities.
- Honda-powered drivers and teams have won the Grand Prix of Long Beach 16 times in 23 appearances. This includes victories in nine of the last 14 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 scored last year in a dominating performance from Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood, who recorded his career-first INDYCAR victory from the pole, leading 53 of the 85-lap contest.
- In addition to the featured Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach NTT INDYCAR SERIES race on Sunday, Acura teams will take part in today’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race. Wayne Taylor Racing will field a pair of electrified Acura ARX-06 prototypes contesting the overall victory in the premier GTP division; while Gradient Racing will field Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 in the GTD category.