Kyle Kirkwood is one of the most prodigious talents ever to arrive on the IndyCar grid.
He was the first driver in the Road to Indy ladder system’s long history to win all three of its championships in a row and entered IndyCar with such hype.
But 2022 was really difficult. And it wasn’t just that he was joining an AJ Foyt team with less resources than its rivals, an inconsistent car and a lack of continuity in its personnel. He didn’t do himself justice, either.
Seven crashes in 17 races was just too much for anyone’s rookie year, and when Kirkwood made his much anticipated move to Andretti Autosport – where he had won his Indy Lights title – there was both hype and questions over whether he could rekindle his junior formula form.
In the top five in all the sessions he completed at the pre-season test, he made an immediate impression but two incidents in St Petersburg and then a pitlane crash at Texas Motor Speedway did not show what Kirkwood is capable of.
Finally, on Saturday in Long Beach, Kirkwood got an IndyCar break. Sure, he was on fresher tyres than most, but he still had to put together the clean lap which evades so many people at the famous street track.
“He’s the real deal,” said team owner Michael Andretti.
“I’m happy for him. He’s been a pleasure on the team. We’re really excited, really happy for the result.”
Andretti has been asked before about the benefits of having Kirkwood get his rookie learning out of the way at Foyt.
“I think it was huge, to be honest with you,” he said when asked about that again in light of the Long Beach pole.
“A rookie is definitely going to make mistakes and things like that, just because you’re learning, right?
“By him having that year, then coming to us, it worked out perfect for us.
“You see it right away, he’s competitive. Hopefully he can win a bunch of races.”
He may have been competitive in pace terms but some of the hallmarks of Kirkwood’s messy 2022 have still been apparent in the early part of 2023.
He clipped Conor Daly into a spin in St Pete and took flack for the pitlane incident in Texas – which IndyCar’s rules suggest wasn’t his fault.
But ultimately this pole comes at a great time for Kirkwood to reset, along with the Andretti team.
Andretti’s 2023 so far
Devlin DeFrancesco
Qualifying: 18th, 12th
Finishes: 25th (DNF), 23rd (DNF)
Romain Grosjean
Qualifying: 1st, 11th
Finishes: 18th (DNF), 14th (DNF)
Colton Herta
Qualifying: 2nd, 10th
Finishes: 20th (DNF), 7th
Kyle Kirkwood
Qualifying: 5th, 20th
Finishes: 15th, 27th (DNF)
As you can see from the above, entering Long Beach, the team had a pole and six top 12 starting spots in eight opportunities, but barely any race finishes and the best of those just a seventh place.
Aside from Kirkwood the three other cars were taken out in St Pete, while Herta finished seventh at Texas as Grosjean crashed out of the victory chase and Devlin DeFrancesco also ended up in the wall.
It’s been such an unfortunate and costly start to the year for the team, but you at least get the sense that this is a much better Andretti team compared to last year.
OK, race results have been tough to come by, but there’s been so much misfortune. It’s not out of the question it could have a pole and two wins from the first two races in an alternate universe.
That’s really exciting for the IndyCar neutral, as it gives the two engine manufacturers Chevrolet and Honda two teams each to fight at the front. Without fellow Honda runner Andretti, Ganassi is almost alone in a season-long fight with Penske and Arrow McLaren.
Kirkwood has so much potential and delivered on that on Saturday. A lot was made of Andretti’s relatively inexperienced line-up compared to some other teams, but so far it’s shown flashes of what it’s capable of. Kirkwood’s the big one.
No one has ever questioned his resolve or composure under pressure. It’s been heaped on since his junior days and he’s had to use every ounce of self control and ability to bounce back given the number of incidents he’s had in the series already.
Kirkwood’s CV
2021 Indy Lights champion
2020 Indy Lights didn’t run because of COVID
2019 Indy Pro 2000 champion
2018 USF2000 champion
2017 US F4 champion
After Texas – where many people blamed and criticised Kirkwood for an incident that wasn’t his fault according to the rule book – this is the perfect way to come back.
“The whole thing is when you feel like you have a competitive car, it’s easy to get out of that [negative] mood and get into where he is,” Andretti explained.
“I had no worries about that.”
Kirkwood added his own spin on how he’s handled this year’s blows so far.
“You just want to get back in the car,” he said.
“For some reason, whenever you get in the car, all of that kind of disappears. I don’t know if that’s just me or if that’s most drivers.
“When I sit in the car, everything else tends to just disappear that happens, right, because you take a reset.
“For me, whenever a situation like that happens, I just get back in the car because then I can redeem myself almost because I know I can.”
The pole is a big step towards Kirkwood proving to everyone that he belongs competing at this elite level.
In practice, Pato O’Ward said this might be one of the toughest qualifying sessions of his IndyCar career and for Kirkwood to come out on top, at the prestigious Long Beach Grand Prix, is impressive.
However, it might be what he does next that’s even more important to watch.
Because no one has questioned his speed or ability to bounce back from adversity. It’s the on-track incidents, perhaps putting himself in compromising situations on track too much and ultimately not racing in a risk-averse manner. All that junior winning might not have been the best thing for Kirkwood’s racecraft training.
At Andretti so far, we haven’t seen a Kirkwood that has totally ironed out his rookie mistakes, although you have to temper that against the team’s ill-fortune.
We know the pace is there, now the consistency needs to come.
He’s a fantastic driver to watch when he’s on song and it’s nice he now gets the plaudits for his first pole in arguably the series most competitive ever era.
Even if question marks remain, no one can take this result away from him or question it. But it has to be followed up.
