2021 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach

The race was originally due to take place on 18 April 2021 as the third round of the championship, after the 2020 race was cancelled due to a stay-at-home order caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in California. On 17 December 2020, the race was rescheduled to 26 September 2021.^[4] It was held at the Streets of Long Beach in Long Beach, California, one week after the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey at Laguna Seca. The event was the final race of the 2021 IndyCar Series and marked the race's 46th annual running and return to the series, after its absence in the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Alexander Rossi was the previous race winner, having won the 2019 event.^[5]

Championship leader Álex Palou extended his lead over Pato O'Ward to a 35-point advantage, thanks to a second-place finish in the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey. O'Ward remained second in the drivers' standings, after finishing fifth at the previous race. Josef Newgarden sat third, after finishing seventh at Laguna Seca. Fourth-placed Scott Dixon saw his gap to points leader Palou widen to 72 points, effectively ending his hopes of defending his 2020 title.

The trio of Palou, O'Ward, and Newgarden came into the race with a possibility of winning the championship.

Palou would win if:

• He finished 12th or better.
• He finished 13th or better and led a lap.

O'Ward would win if:

• He won the race and Palou finished 25th or lower.
• He won the race and led most laps, with Palou not leading a lap and finishing 13th or lower.
• He came second, led a lap, and Palou finished 25th or lower.

Newgarden would win the championship if he won and led the most laps in the race, with Palou finishing 25th or lower and with O'Ward finishing second or lower and with Palou and O'Ward not leading a lap of the race.^[6]

Honda had won their fourth consecutive Manufacturer's Cup in the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey over Chevrolet.

28 drivers entered the race, with Charlie Kimball returning to run the No. 11 car for A. J. Foyt Enterprises, after his appearances at the GMR Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500.^[7]

No.	Driver	Team	Engine
2	Josef Newgarden	Team Penske	Chevrolet
3	Scott McLaughlin  R	Team Penske	Chevrolet
4	Dalton Kellett	A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Chevrolet
5	Patricio O'Ward	Arrow McLaren SP	Chevrolet
06	Hélio Castroneves	Meyer Shank Racing	Honda
7	Felix Rosenqvist	Arrow McLaren SP	Chevrolet
8	Marcus Ericsson	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
9	Scott Dixon  W	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
10	Álex Palou	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
11	Charlie Kimball	A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Chevrolet
12	Will Power  W	Team Penske	Chevrolet
14	Sébastien Bourdais	A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Chevrolet
15	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda
18	Ed Jones	Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan	Honda
20	Conor Daly	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet
21	Rinus VeeKay	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet
22	Simon Pagenaud  W	Team Penske	Chevrolet
26	Colton Herta	Andretti Autosport with Curb Agajanian	Honda
27	Alexander Rossi  W	Andretti Autosport	Honda
28	Ryan Hunter-Reay  W	Andretti Autosport	Honda
29	James Hinchcliffe  W	Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport	Honda
30	Takuma Sato  W	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda
45	Oliver Askew	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda
48	Jimmie Johnson  R	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
51	Romain Grosjean  R	Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing	Honda
59	Max Chilton	Carlin	Chevrolet
60	Jack Harvey	Meyer Shank Racing	Honda
77	Callum Ilott  R	Juncos Hollinger Racing	Chevrolet

Practice 1 took place at 6:00 PM ET on September 24, 2021.^[2] Championship contenders Pato O'Ward and Josef Newgarden struggled in practice, as Newgarden spun early in the session (with no damage sustained) and classified ninth, while O'Ward only managed to place 16th. Colton Herta finished fastest with a time of 01:09.2680. 2016 race winner Simon Pagenaud went second fastest, ahead of championship leader Álex Palou in third.^[8]

Top Practice Speeds

Pos	No.	Driver	Team	Engine	Lap Time
1	26	Colton Herta	Andretti Autosport with Curb Agajanian	Honda	01:09.2680
2	22	Simon Pagenaud  W	Team Penske	Chevrolet	01:09.4334
3	10	Álex Palou	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	01:09.4554
Source:[9]

Practice 2 took place at 12:00 PM ET on September 25, 2021.^[2] Colton Herta, who topped the first practice charts, went fastest again with a time of 01:07.9783, despite hitting the wall early in the session. Will Power placed second, ahead of James Hinchcliffe, who won the race in 2017, in third.^[10]

Top Practice Speeds

Pos	No.	Driver	Team	Engine	Lap Time
1	26	Colton Herta	Andretti Autosport with Curb Agajanian	Honda	01:07.9783
2	12	Will Power  W	Team Penske	Chevrolet	01:08.1277
3	29	James Hinchcliffe  W	Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport	Honda	01:08.2250
Source:[11]

Qualifying took place at 3:00 PM ET on September 25, 2021.^[2]

The first group in Round 1 saw their session end under a red flag, as Jack Harvey crashed into the tire barriers in Turn 8, in his final race for Meyer Shank Racing. Will Power proceeded to make contact with the stationary Harvey, critically damaging his rear wing and right rear wheels. Despite this, Power advanced to the next round. In the second group, Colton Herta, who was fastest in both pre-qualifying practice sessions, failed to advance to the next round, as he initially attempted to set a time with the primary Firestone tires, which led him to not have enough time to set a top 6 lap with the alternate tires.

At the end of the Firestone Fast 12, Will Power stopped in Turn 10 after hitting the wall, triggering a local yellow flag. This forced championship contenders Álex Palou and Pato O'Ward, along with other drivers, to slow down in the area and abort their fast lap, eliminating them from the contest for pole. O'Ward and Palou would start eighth and tenth in the race respectively. Ed Jones, who had initially set a time that would have put him in the Firestone Fast 6, had his lap deleted, as he was judged to have failed to slow down during the local yellow.

In the Firestone Fast 6, championship hopeful Josef Newgarden took pole position with a time of 01:08.2241, ahead of 2015 race winner Scott Dixon in second and Meyer Shank Racing's Hélio Castroneves in third.^[6]

Pos	No.	Driver	Team	Engine	Time				Final grid
					Round 1		Round 2	Round 3
					Group 1	Group 2
1	2	Josef Newgarden	Team Penske	Chevrolet	01:08.5080	N/A	01:08.5673	01:08.2241	1
2	9	Scott Dixon  W	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	01:08.5705	N/A	01:08.3110	01:08.4422	2
3	06	Hélio Castroneves	Meyer Shank Racing	Honda	N/A	01:08.6995	01:08.5561	01:08.4827	3
4	22	Simon Pagenaud  W	Team Penske	Chevrolet	N/A	01:08.6641	01:08.5307	01:08.6514	4
5	7	Felix Rosenqvist	Arrow McLaren SP	Chevrolet	N/A	01:08.6223	01:08.6294	01:08.7461	5
6	51	Romain Grosjean  R	Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing	Honda	N/A	01:08.7144	01:08.1776	01:08.7577	6
7	29	James Hinchcliffe  W	Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport	Honda	N/A	01:08.8436	01:08.7143	N/A	7
8	5	Pato O'Ward	Arrow McLaren SP	Chevrolet	01:08.7717	N/A	01:08.8339	N/A	8
9	18	Ed Jones	Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan	Honda	N/A	01:08.8772	01:08.8797	N/A	9
10	10	Álex Palou	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	01:08.7114	N/A	01:08.9464	N/A	10
11	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay  W	Andretti Autosport	Honda	01:08.8576	N/A	01:09.1330	N/A	11
12	2	Will Power  W	Team Penske	Chevrolet	01:08.8509	N/A	01:09.2279	N/A	12
13	3	Scott McLaughlin  R	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	01:08.8611	N/A	N/A	N/A	13
14	26	Colton Herta	Andretti Autosport with Curb Agajanian	Honda	N/A	01:09.1094	N/A	N/A	14
15	27	Alexander Rossi  W	Andretti Autosport	Honda	01:08.9946	N/A	N/A	N/A	15
16	30	Takuma Sato  W	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda	N/A	01:09.3814	N/A	N/A	16
17	8	Marcus Ericsson	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	01:09.1368	N/A	N/A	N/A	17
18	77	Callum Ilott  R	Juncos Hollinger Racing	Chevrolet	N/A	01:09.4360	N/A	N/A	18
19	15	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda	01:09.3998	N/A	N/A	N/A	19
20	11	Charlie Kimball	A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Chevrolet	N/A	01:09.6793	N/A	N/A	20
21	20	Conor Daly	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet	01:09.5816	N/A	N/A	N/A	21
22	14	Sébastien Bourdais	A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Chevrolet	N/A	01:09.7022	N/A	N/A	22
23	59	Max Chilton	Carlin	Chevrolet	01:09.7525	N/A	N/A	N/A	22
24	21	Rinus VeeKay	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet	N/A	01:09.7602	N/A	N/A	24
25	60	Jack Harvey	Meyer Shank Racing	Honda	01:10.4664	N/A	N/A	N/A	25
26	4	Dalton Kellett	A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Chevrolet	N/A	01:09.9144	N/A	N/A	26
27	48	Jimmie Johnson  R	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	01:10.5127	N/A	N/A	N/A	27
28	45	Oliver Askew	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda	N/A	01:10.0178	N/A	N/A	28
Source:[12]

Notes

• Bold text indicates fastest time set in session.

The pre-race warmup session took place at 12:00 PM ET on September 26, 2021.^[2] Ten minutes into the 30-minute session, Alexander Rossi and Hélio Castroneves collided at the fountain section, causing terminal damage to Castroneves' suspension, ending his warmup session prematurely. Rossi was able to continue and finish the session. Colton Herta topped the session with a time of 01:08.4762. Previous race winners Scott Dixon and Simon Pagenaud came second and third respectively.^[13]

Top Warmup Speeds

Pos	No.	Driver	Team	Engine	Lap Time
1	26	Colton Herta	Andretti Autosport with Curb Agajanian	Honda	01:08.4762
2	9	Scott Dixon  W	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	01:08.6507
3	22	Simon Pagenaud  W	Team Penske	Chevrolet	01:08.8029
Source:[14]