Alexander Rossi, looking for first IndyCar win of season, claims pole position at Long Beach Grand Prix

Andretti Autosport driver Alexander Rossi pushed his Honda-powered Dallara for all it was worth along Shoreline Drive on Saturday to clock a lap at 1:06.55.

That earned Rossi pole position for the 44th annual Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. The 2016 Indianapolis 500 winner hopes to become only the fifth IndyCar driver to win the Long Beach event from the top starting spot.

“It’s a huge result for us,” said Rossi, who surprised many by winning the pole by four-tenths of a second, an eternity in this ultra-competitive day and age. “It’s a good start for tomorrow, but this sport has a great way of humbling you pretty quickly. We’ll have to execute tomorrow and hopefully we can get a good result.

“It’s such a fine window to get the perfect lap here. I mean it’s a big deal to win a pole anywhere as they are so hard to come by, but this is a special place and a special race for me. The fans are in for an amazing, awesome show on Sunday.”

Team Penske’s Will Power will join Rossi on the front row after he finished second with a lap at 1:06.90. Rossi has claimed only one other pole in his career and is looking for his first victory this season.

“It was a good lap for us,” Power said. “It was a lot of fun. I was on the limit, though, and even brushed the wall a few times during qualifying.”

Third fastest and the only other driver to stay on the same second as Rossi and Power in qualifying was Simon Pagenaud at 1:06.91. The French driver joined teammates Power and Josef Newgarden in putting three Chevy-powered Penske Racing Dallaras in the first three rows.

“I have to say I just want to take my hat off to Team Penske for obviously understanding the street course set up,” Pagenaud said.

Rounding out the top six qualifiers were Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Graham Rahal and Newgarden, who won last week in Phoenix.

Sebastien Bourdais is the last driver to win at Long Beach from pole. He is also the last driver with consecutive victories here.

Eleven drivers who will take the green flag on Sunday have led at least one lap at Long Beach.

Filipe Albuquerque wins IMSA race

With 40 minutes remaining in what was ultimately a timed 100-minute race, Filipe Albuquerque took control of the IMSA sports car race to win by 4.76 seconds over Ryan Dalziel. Jordan Taylor took third.

“The car was really, really good,” said Albuquerque, who shared driving responsibilities with teammate Joao Barbosa, who started the race. “From there on out the strategy we had was just perfect. After our pit stop, I got right into the lead and from there I just pulled away and got comfortable in the lead. In the end, the car was great and we were in control and it went perfect.”

Tommy Milner, Oliver Gavin win GT Le Mans

Tommy Milner and teammate Oliver Gavin claimed victory in the GT Le Mans class by holding off the fast-closing car of Ryan Briscoe and Dirk Mueller.

“Once I got into the lead my focus there for an hour in the car was to not make a mistake and to keep the car off of all of the marbles on the outside of the track,” said Milner, who crossed the finish line 2.16 seconds ahead of Briscoe.

“I did that for the most part, except for the last lap there where I made a small mistake in the last corner and just about threw away that win.”

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