For a long time Romain Grosjean believed that he was going to grab his second pole position of the season, after that of St Petersburg at the opening of the Indycar championship. But the Andretti driver was overtaken in the very last seconds of qualifying for the Long Beach Grand Prix on Saturday.
First by his teammate at Andretti, Kyle Kirkwoord (who signs the first pole of his career) then by Marcus Ericsson (Chip Ganassi), second. Championship leader Pato O’Ward (McLaren) will start sixth. “I missed the last hairpin and lost three tenths, regretted Grosjean at the microphone of NBC. It’s my fault, I braked too late, locked the wheels and had to use the clutch. It wasn’t an easy session. I didn’t put everything together in the end but I’m very happy for the whole Andretti team. »
Two accidents in the first two races
On a track conducive to clashes with its ubiquitous walls, the objective is now to see the finish for the former Haas driver in F1 in order to score big points in the Championship where he believes he has already toasted his two “jokers” on the first two trials. He was unluckily forced to retire from the first two rounds of the season, in St Petersburg, pushed out by Scott McLaughlin as he battled for victory, then suffered a very light touch with David Malukas on the Texas oval where he could grab a podium.
The other tricolor in the championship, Simon Pagenaud, took fourteenth place after failing at the gates of the “Fast 12” (the equivalent of Q2). With the goal of the top 10, driver Meyer Shank also wants to put behind him a complicated start to the season (26th at St Pete and 17th at Texas). he will have 85 laps from 9:45 p.m. (French time) to do so on Sunday.
