It was the same beautiful, sunny day race fans have come to expect in downtown Long Beach on Sunday, but it came with a new first-time prodigy popping champagne in the Winner’s Circle, as Álex Palou took the checkered flag at the 51st Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
The 29-year-old Barcelona native has been on a tear in the IndyCar Series, winning 11 of the last 22 races dating back to last season, but Long Beach had been one of the few races left unchecked. Palou had been on the podium at Long Beach in each of the last three years, but Sunday’s win was his first checkered flag here and already his third IndyCar win this season in five races.
“It feels incredible,” Palou said in the press conference after the win. “It feels so lucky with the opportunity to have won the [Indy] 500 last year and then the Long Beach GP this year. I’m living on this amazing cloud of happiness, and it was incredible work by this team out there.”
Driving the No. 10 Honda, Palou led the final 32 laps of the race and finished with an average speed of 97.356 miles per hour. His win with Chip Ganassi Racing puts him into the points lead this season in the IndyCar Series championship standings as he hunts for his fourth straight title.
Palou started in the third position from the front and quickly made his first move into second place while approaching the start of the second lap, and he held that position for more than half of the race behind pole-sitter Felix Rosenqvist.
The race saw its only caution on Lap 58 when a small piece of debris flew onto the middle of the track, which bunched the field together as drivers were forced to hold position behind the pace car. The caution served as the first in Long Beach after 214 consecutive laps without a yellow flag dating back to 2024’s race.
The entire field used the opportunity to pit during the caution, creating chaos down pit lane. Palou emerged as the biggest beneficiary of the mayhem with his pit location closest to the exit; meanwhile, his crew posted a time of 8.40 seconds, helping him record a total pit time 75 hundredths of a second quicker than Rosenqvist to move into first for the remaining 32 laps.
“I’m super proud of everybody’s job, but especially these guys,” Palou said of his crew in the Winner’s Circle. “This crew gave me the win today. It was that pit stop with all the pressure that these boys were able to execute perfectly. From there, it was just managing the tires, and it’s incredible to finally win here at Long Beach.”
Rosenqvist led for a race-high 51 laps, but remained in second place for the rest of the contest after the caution, earning his first top-10 finish of the season. The 34-year-old Honda driver for Meyer Shank Racing has now made it four straight top-10 finishes in Long Beach, and the podium finish marks his best result since finishing second at the Grand Prix of Road America in June 2025.
“Obviously, you want to win when you have the opportunity,” Rosenqvist said. “But I’m proud of today. I think everything we’ve been working on paid off. I’ve been in this position many times before, being up front and then having something fall short. I felt like we had incredible pace on the reds, but not as good as [Palou] on the blacks. I struggled a bit in that area, but it was going to be hard to pass anyway. That last-minute cycle was kind of the defining moment.”
The podium rounded out with Scott Dixon in third, who moved into his final spot during the field’s pit stop following the caution. Dixon had just one pass during the race but gained two more spots in the pits, making his way to third after starting sixth. The two-time Long Beach winner closed out two of the top three spots for Chip Ganassi Racing alongside teammate Palou.
It was the first Grand Prix of Long Beach without Jim Michaelian, the race’s longtime steward and leader. Tributes to Michaelian were visible throughout the event, which once again saw massive attendance, in and of itself the best tribute to Michaelian’s vision for the family-friendly weekend-long event. Final attendance numbers weren’t available at press time, but several drivers commented that they felt the race continued its recent trend of increased attendance.
The next IndyCar Series race will be in Indianapolis for the Sonsio Grand Prix from May 8-9. The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach will return in April 2027 for its 52nd running.