Rosenqvist refinding IndyCar flow with “amazing” Long Beach pole
- Archie O’Reilly
- 5 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Fast starts have defined Felix Rosenqvist’s first two seasons with Meyer Shank Racing (MSR): six top 10s in seven races in 2024; five in six last season.
But the out-of-the-blocks results that have helped Rosenqvist to inspire MSR to their headiest heights as a team - the Swede achieving an all-time best IndyCar championship finish for them in sixth last season - have not been so prevalent early on in 2026.
Through four rounds, two 12th-place results, one 13th and a 19th (albeit the latter owing to a late-race penalty for jumping a restart when running inside the top 10 in Arlington) see him languishing 14th in the standings. Even in qualifying, fifth place in Arlington was somewhat anomalous as his only top-10 start in the fast-paced season kick-off.
“We’ve been improving in every area, except we haven’t been fast enough,” Rosenqvist assessed on Friday. “We have better pit stops, strategy; just everything, all the little details, have been, on paper, a lot better this year. It’s annoying when you feel like you just need a few tenths to put it together.
“It’s been more a flow, momentum thing. It’s a matter of resetting a little bit and trying to find the flow. It always ebbs and flows in this sport. Sometimes it’s tough but you’ve got to dig deep in times where you’re not performing.”
After a two-weekend hiatus for IndyCar, amounting to a break of almost three weeks, a trip to one of Rosenqvist’s happiest hunting grounds, the Long Beach streets, was welcome.
Never, in six visits across Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR), Arrow McLaren and MSR, had he qualified worse than 12th for the famed race. Only twice had he been outside the top five, with a fourth-place start last year having taken MSR’s maiden pole position the year prior.
So indeed, what better place for him to ply his trade when looking to emerge from his early-season slump? And no matter any shortcomings in momentum early in 2026, Rosenqvist emphatically returned to form in this Saturday’s qualifying session.
To boot? A second pole in three years in Long Beach. He delivered when it mattered most under pressure, too, in IndyCar’s new one-and-done, single-car Fast Six format.
“I love the one-lap shootout. When they announced it, I was like: ‘I really want to be part of that,’” Rosenqvist reflected after a sublime seventh Long Beach qualifying outing. “It was a clean lap. It’s just so tight, man; one little mistake and you’re out of the mix. Unbelievable.
“It’s amazing how I went into this weekend [and] said we needed a little turnaround - because we haven’t been quick. Certainly worked well. Better than I dare expected.
“It was exactly what we were looking for. When you’re struggling, it doesn’t come easy. It’s between the races where you find the problems; you show up and hopefully it’s better. We were quick from the get-go here. The confidence you get from something like this, it’s huge not only for me but everyone in the team after having a bit of a drought in terms of results.”
This is a seventh career pole for Rosenqvist, though he still only has a single race win across seven full seasons in IndyCar - coming at Road America with CGR in 2020. He is aware of the record and certainly keen to put it behind him on Sunday in California.
“It speaks for itself,” Rosenqvist admitted of the pole-to-win ratio. “Race pace is literally the only thing I’ve been focusing on all off-season, all season. Qualifying, we always feel like the speed is there. We try to really maximise the time we have to figure out how to go quicker in the races.
“I’ll say we’ve done some good progress in that area, especially from the second part of last year and even this year. Qualifying has been more of an issue this year but we’re fully aware of that. Looking after the tyres has been a thing for me many times in the situation where I have to pit early. That’s definitely something you don’t want to happen.”
As he bids to win a first race for MSR’s IndyCar arm since Hélio Castroneves’ historic fourth Indianapolis 500 crown in 2021, tyres are top of mind for Rosenqvist amid IndyCar’s new rule mandating the use of two sets of softer alternate compound in street course races.
He knows that managing his race carefully will be just as important as holding the lead ahead of his former teammate, Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward, at Turn 1.
“It’s not the hardest track to pass on the calendar [but] this is definitely one of them where if you can settle into the lead, it’s going to be huge,” Rosenqvist said. “But it’s still pretty open with strategies. We’re not really sure about the tyres.
“It certainly indicated that the reds are pretty good, considering how well they went on the one-lap dash. Even [in practice] on the [alternate-tyre run], they seemed pretty good. Just have to figure that out because it’s a completely different ballgame compared to when I had pole here a couple of years ago and even last year.
“My thought going into this weekend is that the two-stopper is going to be the winning strategy. I’m still kind of a believer of that.”
It was a successful Saturday for MSR in Long Beach after Rosenqvist’s pole added to IMSA SportsCar Championship victory for the team’s No.93 car. A victory for Rosenqvist on Sunday, one-upping his best result of second last year, would cap a sensational weekend.
