Herta’s Andretti Autosport-Honda lapped the 1.968-mile course in 65.8645secs, an average speed of 107.566mph.
That left him over three-tenths clear of Scott Dixon and over half a second up on Marcus Ericsson, although the Chip Ganassi Racing-Hondas looked more competitive in race trim than in qualifying, when only Alex Palou made the Firestone Fast Six.
Meyer Shank Racing-Honda’s Simon Pagenaud, whose potential was not reflected by qualifying where he finished the session 10th, demonstrated again that he will be a podium contender as he moved into fourth.
Team Penske-Chevrolet’s Will Power went fifth fastest, the quickest driver of the session on primary tires and the quickest Chevy driver, and finished up just ahead of Andretti’s Romain Grosjean, who beat him to a Firestone Fast Six slot yesterday by 0.0001sec.
One of Power’s teammates was far less fortunate. Championship leader Scott McLaughlin, who will roll off ninth today, suffered a suspected broken header on his Penske-Chevrolet. His main frustration, he told NBC, was not being able to use the warm-up session to practice his in- and out-laps, getting his braking marks for pitlane and checking out tire degradation. For the latter, at least, he could lean on teammates Power and Josef Newgarden.
Dale Coyne Racing with HMD-Honda rookie David Malukas was an impressive seventh fastest, just ahead of Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevy’s Rinus VeeKay.
Meyer Shank Racing-Honda’s Helio Castroneves survived a lurid half-spin out of Turn 4, somehow keeping it off the concrete on either side and finished the session in ninth, ahead of Juncos Hollinger Racing-Chevy’s Callum Ilott.
Graham Rahal was less lucky than Castroneves as he too lost it out of Turn 4, clipping his left-rear tire against the wall as he slid, breaking a toe-link and part of his rear wing. That caused a red flag with eight minutes to go, but the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing-Honda team performed impressively to return the #15 to the track before the checkered flag fell.
Dalton Kellett was another driver to endure an interesting warm-up, clipping the tires at Turn 8 and ripping off an advertising banner, and later being nudged by an overenthusiastic Takuma Sato in the second Coyne car. Kellett's AJ Foyt Racing-Chevy survived unscathed.
The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach will get the green flag at 12.45pm local (Pacific) time.
| Cla | Driver | Team | Laps | Time | Gap | Mph |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Colton Herta | Andretti Autosport | 17 | 1'05.864 | 107.566 | |
| 2 |  Scott Dixon | Chip Ganassi Racing | 20 | 1'06.192 | 0.327 | 107.034 |
| 3 |  Marcus Ericsson | Chip Ganassi Racing | 20 | 1'06.393 | 0.528 | 106.709 |
| 4 |  Simon Pagenaud | Meyer Shank Racing | 16 | 1'06.776 | 0.912 | 106.097 |
| 5 |  Will Power | Team Penske | 17 | 1'06.820 | 0.955 | 106.028 |
| 6 | Romain Grosjean | Andretti Autosport | 16 | 1'06.831 | 0.967 | 106.010 |
| 7 | David Malukas | Dale Coyne Racing with HMD | 16 | 1'06.900 | 1.036 | 105.901 |
| 8 |  Rinus van Kalmthout | Ed Carpenter Racing | 20 | 1'06.914 | 1.049 | 105.879 |
| 9 |  Helio Castroneves | Meyer Shank Racing | 18 | 1'06.940 | 1.076 | 105.837 |
| 10 |  Callum Ilott | Juncos Hollinger Racing | 17 | 1'07.121 | 1.256 | 105.552 |
| 11 |  Patricio O'Ward | Arrow McLaren SP | 20 | 1'07.174 | 1.309 | 105.469 |
| 12 | Jack Harvey | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | 17 | 1'07.208 | 1.344 | 105.415 |
| 13 |  Alex Palou | Chip Ganassi Racing | 20 | 1'07.238 | 1.373 | 105.368 |
| 14 | Graham Rahal | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | 14 | 1'07.312 | 1.447 | 105.253 |
| 15 | Josef Newgarden | Team Penske | 17 | 1'07.362 | 1.498 | 105.174 |
| 16 |  Christian Lundgaard | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | 15 | 1'07.421 | 1.557 | 105.082 |
| 17 |  Devlin DeFrancesco | Andretti Autosport | 17 | 1'07.439 | 1.574 | 105.054 |
| 18 | Alexander Rossi | Andretti Autosport | 14 | 1'07.672 | 1.807 | 104.693 |
| 19 | Conor Daly | Ed Carpenter Racing | 19 | 1'07.823 | 1.959 | 104.459 |
| 20 | Felix Rosenqvist | Arrow McLaren SP | 17 | 1'07.848 | 1.984 | 104.421 |
| 21 | Kyle Kirkwood | A.J. Foyt Enterprises | 16 | 1'08.118 | 2.254 | 104.006 |
| 22 |  Takuma Sato | Dale Coyne Racing | 15 | 1'08.354 | 2.489 | 103.648 |
| 23 | Dalton Kellett | A.J. Foyt Enterprises | 16 | 1'08.556 | 2.691 | 103.343 |
| 24 | Jimmie Johnson | Chip Ganassi Racing | 17 | 1'08.994 | 3.130 | 102.686 |
| 25 |  Tatiana Calderon | A.J. Foyt Enterprises | 14 | 1'09.694 | 3.829 | 101.656 |
| 26 | Scott McLaughlin | Team Penske | 2 | 3'25.464 | 2'19.599 | 34.482 |
| View full results | ||||||
