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What channel is IndyCar on? Long Beach start time, TV, and more

The 2021 NTT IndyCar Series’ 16th and final round will be held on the streets of Long Beach, California. Here’s all you need to know about how to enjoy the event.

Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda

Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda

Scott R LePage / Motorsport Images

When is the IndyCar race at Long Beach?

The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach is held over three days – Friday, Sept. 24 features one practice session, the Saturday, Sept. 25 schedule includes second practice and qualifying, while Sunday, Sept. 27 sees a morning warm-up followed by the race.

Friday, Sept. 24

• 3.00-3.45pm Pacific time – Practice 1
Saturday, Sept. 25

• 9.00-9.45am Pacific time – Practice 2
• 12.05-12.20pm Pacific time – Qualifying

Sunday, Sept. 26

• 9.00-9.30am – Warm-up
• 12.38pm – “Drivers, start your engines”
• 12.45pm – Green flag for Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach (85 laps)

What is the full on-track schedule? (All times are local/Pacific):

Friday, Sept. 24

9.00-9.20am – Historic Formula Atlantic Practice
9.45-10.45am – IMSA SportsCar Championship Practice 1
11.10-11.30am – Stadium SuperTrucks Practice/Qualifying
12.35-1.00pm – Global Time Attack Practice 1
1.20-2.35pm – IMSA SportsCar Championship Practice 2
3.00-3.45pm – IndyCar Series Practice 1
4.00-4.20pm – Historic Formula Atlantic Qualifying
4.45-5.55pm – IMSA Qualifying
6.15-6.35pm – Formula D Super Drift Practice
6.45-8.15pm – Formula D Super Drift Challenge Competition 1

Saturday, Sept. 25

9.00-9.45am – IndyCar Series Practice 2
10.05-10.35am – Stadium SuperTrucks Race 1
11.05-11.20am – Global Time Attack Super Lap Battle 1
12.05-1.20pm – IndyCar Series Qualifying
2.06-3.46pm – IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Race
4.30-4.50pm – Historic Formula Atlantic Race 1
5.30-5.50pm – Formula D Super Drift Practice
6.00-7.30pm – Formula D Super Drift Challenge Competition 2

Sunday, Sept. 26

9.00-9.30am – IndyCar Series Warm-up
10.10-10.25am – Global Time Attack Super Lap Battle 1
10.45-11.05am – Historic Formula Atlantic Race 2
11.10-11.20am – Acura NSX hot laps
11.25-11.40am – Exotic car parade
12.38pm – “Drivers start your engines”
12.45pm – Green flag for Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach (85 laps)
3.30-4.00pm – Stadium SuperTrucks Race 2

How can I watch IndyCar at Long Beach? 

Friday, Sept. 24

• Practice 3.00-3.45pm PT – Peacock live streaming

Saturday, Sept. 25

• Practice 9.00-9.45am PT – Peacock live streaming

• Qualifying 12.00-1.30pm PT – NBCSN and Peacock live streaming

Sunday, Sept. 26

• Warm-up 9.00-9.30am PT – Peacock live streaming

• Race 12.00-3.00pm PT – NBCSN broadcast

Leigh Diffey is the lead announcer for NBC’s coverage of the NTT IndyCar Series, alongside analysts Townsend Bell and Paul Tracy.

Can I stream the IndyCar race? 

The race itself cannot be streamed, just practice, qualifying and warm-up.

How can I listen to the race?

The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach will air live on network affiliates, SiriusXM 205 and 211, indycar.com and the IndyCar Mobile app powered by NTT DATA. All NTT IndyCar Series practices and qualifying are available on SiriusXM 205, indycar.com and the INDYCAR Mobile app.

Mark Jaynes will be lead announcer alongside analyst Davey Hamilton. Jake Query, Nick Yeoman and Michael Young are the turn announcers, while Ryan Myrehn and Alex Wolff will report from the pits.

What’s the weather forecast for the race?

All days are set to be sunny with occasional clouds. Friday will see a peak temperature of 75degF, Saturday 77degF and Sunday 72degF.

Race weekend details

Track: 11-turn 1.968-mile road course in Long Beach, LA County, Calif.

Race distance: 85 laps / 167.28 miles.

Firestone tire allotment: Seven sets of primaries – eight for rookies – and four sets of alternate tires.

Push-to-pass parameters: 200 seconds total, with maximum time of 20sec per activation.

2019 race winner: Alexander Rossi (Andretti Autosport-Honda)

2019 pole winner: Alexander Rossi (Andretti Autosport-Honda), 66.4811sec / 106.569mph

Qualifying record: Helio Castroneves (Team Penske-Chevrolet) in 2017 – 66.2254sec / 106.980mph

Race notes:

There have been nine different winners in 14 NTT IndyCar Series races this season. Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou (Barber Motorsports Park, Road America and Portland), Andretti Autosport’s Colton Herta (Streets of St. Petersburg and Laguna Seca), Ganassi’s Scott Dixon (Texas Motor Speedway-1), Arrow McLaren SP’s Pato O’Ward (Texas Motor Speedway-2 and Belle Isle-2), Rinus VeeKay of Ed Carpenter Racing (Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course-1), Helio Castroneves of Meyer Shank Racing (Indianapolis 500), Marcus Ericsson of Ganassi (Belle Isle - 2 and Nashville), Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden (Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and Gateway), and Penske’s Will Power (Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course – 2).

Three drivers are mathematically eligible for the championship but Palou is 35 points ahead of O’Ward and 48 points ahead of Newgarden. With the maximum points haul being 54, even if O’Ward wins and gain all bonus points, Palou need only finish 11th, to clinch the title. Newgarden would need to win with neither Palou nor O’Ward starting the race to be able to take his third IndyCar title.

This weekend’s 46th Acura GP of Long Beach will be the 37th Indy car race at Long Beach, after last year’s race was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The local restrictions in place for the same reason saw this year’s edition pushed from its traditional April date to become the NTT IndyCar Series finale for the first time ever.

Al Unser Jr. scored six wins at Long Beach, while of this year’s entrants, Sebastien Bourdais has won three times, Will Power and Alexander Rossi have won twice, and Helio Castroneves, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Takuma Sato, Scott Dixon, Simon Pagenaud and James Hinchcliffe have scored one win each.

Four rookies will compete this weekend – Scott McLaughlin (Penske-Chevrolet), Romain Grosjean (Dale Coyne Racing with RWR-Honda), Jimmie Johnson (Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda) and Callum Ilott (making his third IndyCar start) in the Juncos-Hollinger-Chevrolet.

Due to last year’s race cancelation, other drivers making their first Long Beach starts in IndyCars include Oliver Askew, Dalton Kellett, Alex Palou and Rinus VeeKay.

Entry list

Alexander Rossi scoring his second consecutive GP of Long Beach victory in 2019, the last time IndyCar visited the venue.

Alexander Rossi scoring his second consecutive GP of Long Beach victory in 2019, the last time IndyCar visited the venue.

Photo by: Scott R LePage / Motorsport Images

No. Driver Hometown Car name Team-Engine
2 Josef Newgarden Nashville, Tennessee Hitachi Team Penske Team Penske-Chevrolet
3 Scott McLaughlin Christchurch, New Zealand PPG Team Penske Team Penske-Chevrolet
4 Dalton Kellett Stouffville, Canada K-Line Insulators / AJ Foyt Racing A.J. Foyt Enterprises-Chevrolet
5 Pato O'Ward Monterrey, Mexico Arrow McLaren SP Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolet
06 Helio Castroneves Sao Paulo, Brazil Meyer Shank Racing Meyer Shank Racing-Honda
7 Felix Rosenqvist Varnamo, Sweden Arrow McLaren SP Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolet
8 Marcus Ericsson Kumla, Sweden Huski Chocolate Chip Ganassi Racing Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda
9 Scott Dixon Auckland, New Zealand PNC Bank Grow up great Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda
10 Alex Palou Barcelona, Spain NTT Data Chip Ganassi Racing Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda
11 Charlie Kimball Camarillo, California Tresiba / AJ Foyt Racing A.J. Foyt Enterprises-Chevrolet
12 Will Power Toowoomba, Australia Verizon 5G Team Penske Team Penske-Chevrolet
14 Sebastien Bourdais Le Mans, France ROKiT / AJ Foyt Racing A.J. Foyt Enterprises-Chevrolet
15 Graham Rahal New Albany, Ohio Total Quartz Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing-Honda
18 Ed Jones Dubai, United Arab Emirates SealMaster Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan-Honda
20 Conor Daly Noblesville, Indiana U.S. Air Force Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevrolet
21 Rinus VeeKay Hoofddorp, Netherlands Sonax / Autogeek Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevrolet
22 Simon Pagenaud Montmorillon, France Menards Team Penske Team Penske-Chevrolet
26 Colton Herta Valencia, California Gainbridge Andretti Autosport w/Curb-Agajanian-Honda
27 Alexander Rossi Nevada City, California NAPA Auto Parts / AutoNation Andretti Autosport-Honda
28 Ryan Hunter-Reay Fort Lauderdale, Florida DHL Andretti Autosport-Honda
29 James Hinchcliffe Toronto, Canada #ShiftToGreen Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport-Honda
30 Takuma Sato Tokyo, Japan Panasonic / Mi-Jack Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing-Honda
45 Oliver Askew Melbourne, Florida Hy-Vee Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing-Honda
48 Jimmie Johnson El Cajon, California Carvana Chip Ganassi Racing Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda
51 Romain Grosjean Geneva, Switzerland Nurtec ODT Dale Coyne Racing with RWR-Honda
59 Max Chilton Reigate, England Carlin Carlin-Chevrolet
60 Jack Harvey Bassingham, England AutoNation / SiriusXM Meyer Shank Racing-Honda
77 Callum Ilott Cambridge, England Juncos Hollinger Racing Juncos Hollinger Racing-Chevrolet

 

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