Alex Palou won the Long Beach Grand Prix Sunday by nearly four seconds over his nearest competitor.
Palou, of Spain, finished the IndyCar race by 3.9663 seconds faster than Felix Rosenqvist, the second-place finisher from Sweden and pole-sitter.
The win Sunday was his third victory in five races this season, the 22nd victory of his career and his first win at the Long Beach Grand Prix. In the No. 10 OpenAI Honda, the Grand Prix win put him in the IndyCar series lead by 17 points over American Kyle Kirkwood as Palou aims for his fifth series championship and series record-tying fourth in a row.
Palou got a key break from fast work by his Chip Ganassi Racing pit crew, which propelled him to victory in the 90-lap race through the streets of Long Beach.
“It’s huge,” Palou said. “Super proud of everybody’s job but especially this crew. Incredible to finally win here at Long Beach.”
Six-time NTT IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon finished third in the No. 9 PNC Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, with CGR also producing Palou’s car.
Kirkwood placed fourth in the No. 27 JM Bullion/Gold.com Honda of Andretti Global, with Pato O’Ward finishing fifth in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.
Pole sitter Rosenqvist controlled the race from the start, leading the first 31 laps with Palou climbing from his third starting position to second place by passing O’Ward during Lap 2.
Rosenqvist and Palou pitted for the first time in tandem at the end of Lap 31. The MSR crew helped Rosenqvist win the race out of the pits after both drivers began their second fuel stint with their mandatory second set of Firestone alternate tires.
Rosenqvist had established a three-second lead over Palou, who admitted he struggled a bit on the softer Firestone alternate tire.
Palou, however, got the break he needed on the 57the lap. A large piece of debris was spotted on track, triggering the race’s only caution period.
The entire field of drivers made pit stops on Lap 59, led by Rosenqvist and Palou as a showdown loomed between the MSR and CGR crews. Rosenqvist and Palou each took four primary Firestone tires and fuel on their final stop, but Palou exited his pit box ahead of Rosenqvist to take the lead for the first time.
CGR serviced Palou’s car in 7.3 seconds on the final stop, while MSR took 8.4 seconds to complete Rosenqvist’s stop.
Palou rocketed away from the field on the restart on Lap 61 and never trailed from that point forward.
“The OpenAI car was super, super fast, but it was that yellow, that pit stop with all the pressure that these boys were able to do it and execute it perfectly,” Palou said following his win. “From there, it was just managing the tires. We didn’t know how the primaries were going to be.”
The primary tire apparently worked out well for Palou. He expanded his lead to 2.4 seconds on Lap 68, with the gap widening to 5.5 seconds with 12 laps to go. Palou was cautious during the final two trips around the 11-turn, 1.968-mile temporary street circuit throughout downtown Long Beach, but Rosenqvist never closed the gap despite achieving a race-high 51 laps in the lead.
Though victory escaped him, Rosenqvist earned his first podium appearance since a second-place finish in June 2025 at Road America.
“A little bit of a bittersweet race,” Rosenqvist said. “I lost a little bit on the stop. Alex is obviously going to be 10 out of 10 almost every stop, so I don’t think it was necessarily that our one was slow, but they probably had a great one, as well. That’s how it goes.
“At the end of the day, we’ve got to celebrate this one,” he added. “P2, plus the points and podium — that’s where I want to be.”
Palou crossed the finish line after 1 hour, 49 minutes, 9.5058 seconds and had an average speed of 97.356 mph.
Of the 42 IndyCar competitions in Long Beach, the pole winner has won the race six times, including Kirkwood in 2023 and 2025.
Marcus Ericsson was the only driver in the 25-car field who did not complete the race, dropping out after Lap 38 because of mechanical problems.