(This story will be updated with driver reaction.)

LONG BEACH, California – Alexander Rossi repeated Saturday as the NTT P1 Award winner for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. Now he’ll look to turn it into a second straight win.

The Andretti Autosport driver turned in the best lap in the last of three rounds of knockout qualifying, the Firestone Fast Six. He navigated the tight 11-turn, 1.968-mile temporary street circuit in 1 minute, 6.4811 seconds (106.569 mph) in the No. 27 NAPA AUTO PARTS Honda – the fastest lap of the race weekend this far and within less than three-tenths of a second of the track record.

ACURA GRAND PRIX OF LONG BEACH: Unofficial qualifying results

The pole was the fifth of Rossi’s four-year NTT IndyCar Series career and he will lead the 23-car field to the green flag in Sunday’s 85-lap race (4 p.m. ET, NBCSN and Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network). It is the 30th in Indy car competition for Andretti Autosport, in its 17th year of operation.

Scott Dixon, the 2018 NTT IndyCar Series champion who sits second in this season’s standings, qualified second in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, at 1:06.7479 (106.143 mph). It equaled the best Long Beach qualifying effort for Dixon, who hasn’t won the pole at the track in 13 attempts.

Team Penske drivers Josef Newgarden and Will Power sewed up Row 2 in qualifying. Power qualified third in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet (1:06.8748, 105.941 mph), with Newgarden fourth in the No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet (1:06.9096, 105.886 mph).

The third Team Penske driver, Simon Pagenaud qualified fifth in the No. 22 DXC Technology Chevrolet (1:07.1877, 105.448 mph). Starting alongside Pagenaud in Row 3 will be Graham Rahal, whose lap of 1:07.3052 (105.264 mph) in the No. 15 TOTAL Honda for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, was sixth.

An incident in each of the first two rounds of knockout qualifying prevented drivers from potentially advancing to the next one. Tony Kanaan was among the leaders in his Round 1 group when he slid into the Turn 6 tires in the No. 14 ABC Supply AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet. Kanaan will start 21st in the 23-car field.

Chip Ganassi Racing rookie Felix Rosenqvist appeared primed to reach the Firestone Fast Six until he ran into the tires in Turn 9 late in the second round. Rosenqvist will start 12th in the No. 10 NTT DATA Honda and is among four rookies in the top 13, with Patricio O’Ward ninth, Colton Herta 10th and Santino Ferrucci 13th.

A final 30-minute warmup practice starts at noon ET Sunday and streams live on INDYCAR Pass on NBC Sports Gold.

Sunday’s race will be the 36th consecutive for Indy cars on the streets of Long Beach. Live coverage begins at 4 p.m. ET on NBCSN and the Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network.