Race No. 3
Long Beach Grand Prix
Long Beach — California
April 11 — April 13, 1997
Friday Individual Qualifying Report
| pos | car | driver | laptime | mph | km/h |
| 1 | 5 | Gil de Ferran | 51.293 | 111.313 | 179.103 |
| 2 | 17 | Mauricio Gugelmin | 51.745 | 110.341 | 177.539 |
| 3 | 4 | Alex Zanardi | 51.843 | 110.133 | 177.203 |
| 4 | 7 | Bobby Rahal | 52.020 | 109.758 | 176.600 |
| 5 | 8 | Bryan Herta | 52.069 | 109.654 | 176.434 |
| 6 | 3 | Paul Tracy | 52.078 | 109.636 | 176.404 |
| 7 | 40 | Raul Boesel | 52.184 | 109.413 | 176.045 |
| 8 | 6 | Michael Andretti | 52.196 | 109.388 | 176.005 |
| 9 | 99 | Greg Moore | 52.200 | 109.379 | 175.991 |
| 10 | 20 | Scott Pruett | 52.282 | 109.208 | 175.715 |
| 11 | 27 | Parker Johnstone | 52.505 | 108.744 | 174.969 |
| 12 | 11 | Roberto Moreno | 52.693 | 108.356 | 174.345 |
| 13 | 1 | Jimmy Vasser | 52.821 | 108.093 | 173.922 |
| 14 | 77 | Gualter Salles | 52.838 | 108.059 | 173.866 |
| 15 | 2 | Al Unser Jr. | 52.860 | 108.014 | 173.794 |
| 16 | 18 | Mark Blundell | 52.909 | 107.914 | 173.633 |
| 17 | 9 | Dario Franchitti | 53.069 | 107.588 | 173.109 |
| 18 | 21X | Richie Hearn | 53.339 | 107.044 | 172.233 |
| 19 | 32 | Adrian Fernandez | 53.372 | 106.977 | 172.127 |
| 20 | 98 | PJ Jones | 53.477 | 106.767 | 171.789 |
| 21 | 36 | Juan Manuel Fangio II | 53.561 | 106.600 | 171.519 |
| 22 | 16 | Patrick Carpentier | 53.705 | 106.314 | 171.059 |
| 23 | 19 | Michel Jourdain Jr. | 53.799 | 106.128 | 170.761 |
| 24 | 31 | Andre Ribeiro | 53.900 | 105.929 | 170.441 |
| 25 | 34 | Paul Jasper | 53.942 | 105.847 | 170.308 |
| 26 | 25 | Max Papis | 54.428 | 104.902 | 168.787 |
| 27 | 64 | Dennis Vitolo | 55.275 | 103.294 | 166.201 |