On the same afternoon at Long Beach, Meyer Shank Racing won the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race from pole and hours later Felix Rosenqvist set the fastest time in IndyCar qualifying to put the organization on pole for the second time in the day. Rosenqvist will start first in the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Sunday with Pato O'Ward alongside him, on a weekend that MSR did not expect to go this way.

Rosenqvist takes pole at Long Beach

Rosenqvist was the third driver to complete his lap in the single-run format that IndyCar introduced at Arlington for street circuits, a change that eliminates group sessions in the final round and puts each driver alone against the clock. Going third in that order meant waiting on the wall with the last three attempts ahead, and the most dangerous turned out to be O'Ward, his former teammate at Arrow McLaren, who ended up less than half a tenth behind in the final run. "It was agonizing," said Rosenqvist. "My old friend Pato at the end, it was very close. It was a good lap." Alex Palou will start third and Kyle Kirkwood fourth, with David Malukas fifth and Scott Dixon sixth in his first appearance in the final round since St. Petersburg 2025.

Photo By Penske Entertainment

A tough season for Rosenqvist

In four races contested in 2026 he has not finished better than thirteenth, sits 14th in the championship, and at Barber finished more than 54 seconds behind Palou. MSR arrived at Long Beach looking for concrete results in a season that had not started as the team expected, and Saturday gave them more than they were looking for. The pole was Rosenqvist's seventh career pole and his second at this circuit, the first also with MSR in 2024.

Will Power adapts to Andretti Global

Will Power had shown signs on Friday by leading first practice with the fastest time of the session in the No. 26 of Andretti Global, almost two tenths ahead of Scott McLaughlin in second. Power has had four races to adapt to Andretti, the team he joined over the winter with 16 seasons at Team Penske on his resume, a process that includes adjusting to different setup and braking philosophies. Long Beach was a track where Andretti had a solid history with Kirkwood, but in qualifying Power could not replicate his practice pace and got stuck in Round 2, leaving him seventh for Sunday. McLaughlin, who also used a backup car at Barber after a crash in first practice, will start eighth.

Photo By Penske Entertainment

Tight championship at Long Beach

The championship arrives at Long Beach at its tightest moment. Kirkwood had a 26-point lead over Palou before Barber and left there with two. Palou led 79 of the 90 laps and won by a 13-second margin; Kirkwood finished fifth nearly 18 seconds behind. With 156 units against 154, any result on Sunday can change the lead. Kirkwood will start fourth and Palou third, with O'Ward between them on the front row, in a 90-lap race on the 11-turn street circuit.

The race starts Sunday at 5:30 p.m. ET on FOX and FOX Deportes.

Clasificación

Pos	#	Piloto	Equipo	Motor	Tiempo	Gap
1	#60	Felix Rosenqvist	Meyer Shank w/ Curb-Agajanian	Honda	01:07.4635	-
2	#5	Pato O'Ward	Arrow McLaren	Chevrolet	01:07.5076	+0.0441
3	#10	Alex Palou	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	01:07.5289	+0.0654
4	#27	Kyle Kirkwood	Andretti Global w/ Curb-Agajanian	Chevrolet	01:07.6199	+0.1564
5	#12	David Malukas	Team Penske	Chevrolet	01:07.6508	+0.1873
6	#9	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	01:07.8566	+0.3931
7	#26	Will Power	Andretti Global	Chevrolet	01:07.5163	+0.2716
8	#3	Scott McLaughlin	Team Penske	Chevrolet	01:07.6047	+0.36
9	#8	Kyffin Simpson	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	01:07.6177	+0.373
10	#15	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda	01:07.6619	+0.4172
11	#7	Christian Lundgaard	Arrow McLaren	Chevrolet	01:07.7218	+0.4771
12	#76	Rinus VeeKay	Juncos Hollinger Racing	Chevrolet	01:07.7283	+0.4836
13	#66	Marcus Armstrong	Meyer Shank w/ Curb-Agajanian	Honda	01:07.7709	+0.3018
14	#2	Josef Newgarden	Team Penske	Chevrolet	01:07.7274	+0.2044
15	#28	Marcus Ericsson	Andretti Global	Chevrolet	01:07.8516	+0.3825
16	#21	Christian Rasmussen	ECR	Chevrolet	01:07.8399	+0.3169
17	#45	Louis Foster	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda	01:07.9024	+0.4333
18	#20	Alexander Rossi	ECR	Chevrolet	01:07.8756	+0.3526
19	#19	Dennis Hauger	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda	01:08.2142	+0.7451
20	#4	Caio Collet	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	Chevrolet	01:07.9282	+0.4052
21	#47	Mick Schumacher	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda	01:08.2471	+0.778
22	#14	Santino Ferrucci	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	Chevrolet	01:07.9340	+0.411
23	#18	Romain Grosjean	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda	01:08.5474	+1.0783
24	#77	Sting Ray Robb	Juncos Hollinger Racing	Chevrolet	01:08.2850	+0.762
25	#6	Nolan Siegel	Arrow McLaren	Chevrolet	01:08.6097	+1.0867