James Hinchcliffe won the Long Beach Grand Prix, officially completing his comeback from the awful crash at Indianapolis in 2015 that almost took his life. It was the fifth win of his Indycar career and his first win since April 2015 at the GP of Louisiana. On the other side of the spectrum, it was one of the worst races in recent memory for the Andretti Autosport team as all four of it's drivers dropped out of the race with mechanical failures. Most heartbreaking was Ryan Hunter Reay who was in running in second with just 6 laps to go when his car quit. The Andretti drivers finished 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th.
POLESITTER: Helio Castroneves - His 3rd consecutive pole at Long Beach.
Top Ten
1. James Hinchcliffe: His 5th career win! 2. Sebastien Bourdais: Leading the season points after a 1st & 2nd in the first two races of the season. 3. Josef Newgarden:His first podium driving for Roger Penske.
4. Scott Dixon: An early change in pit strategy cost him a chance at the win.
5. Simon Pagenaud: A great finish after starting last & suffering a flat tire early in the race. 6. Ed Jones: The best start for an Indycar rookie since Nigel Mansell in 1993. 7. Carlos Munoz: A strong finish in his second drive for A. J. Foyt 8. Spencer Pigot: Ran in the Top Ten run all day after started back in 19th. 9. Helio Castroneves: Had the fastest lap of the race at 104.542 mph 10. Graham Rahal: His best finish at Long Beach since 2013.
Different Teams: 7 (Schmidt Peterson, Dale Coyne Racing, Penske, Ganassi, A.J. Foyt Racing, Ed Carpenter Racing, Rahal Letterman Lanigan)
Different Countries: 7 (Canada, France (2), USA (3), New Zealand, United Arab Emirates, Colombia, Brazil)
FUN FACTS
Average Speed: 90.845 mph
Time: 1 hour 50 Minutes 29 Seconds
3 Cautions for 11 Laps
Lead Changes: 6 among 3 drivers (Scott Dixon, Ryan Hunter Reay, James Hinchcliffe)
Minimal Passing A Caution-free Race and a Controversial 'non-call' gave Simon Pagenaud his first win driving for Roger Penske.
We really like Simon Pagenaud, and we don't know how many others drivers may have cut across the yellow line at the end of the pits but Scott Dixon lost the race when Simon Pagenaud did it and didn't get penalized.
GP of Long Beach TOP 10
1. Simon Pagenaud : After over a year of trying, and runner up finishes in the first two races of the season, he finally gets a win for Roger Penske.
2. Scott Dixon: Very disappointed with second, but still off to a super start this season.
3. Helio Castroneves: Sat on pole and led the most laps but just wasn't his day in the end.
4. Juan Montoya: His fourth Top 5 in five starts at Long Beach
5. Takuma Sato: Highest finishing Honda and put on a great show trying to finish fourth.
6. Tony Kanaan: A win at Long Beach still eludes him.
7. Will Power: Climbed to eighth in points despite missing the first race of the season.
8. James Hinchcliffe: Started 7th for his 3rd Top Ten in 6 starts at Long Beach.
9. Sebastien Bourdais: Biggest mover of the race after starting 14th.
10. Josef Newgarden: A problem in the pits cost him a few positions. Started 9th.
Different Teams: 6 (Penske, Ganassi, ECR, KV, Schmidt, AJ Foyt)
Different Countries: 8 (France, New Zealand, Brazil, Columbia, Japan, Australia, Canada, USA)
Fun Facts
6 Lead Changes among 4 Different Race Leaders
Average Speed: 100.592 (the fastest in Long Beach history)
Fastest Lap 104.702 by Charlie Kimball
Thoughts Helio did a great job grabbing the pole after Will Power went into the runoff area during the Firestone Fast Six
It was fun to watch Takuma Sato making a run up the field and trying desperately (albeit unsuccessfully) to pass Juan Montoya for fourth in the last few laps
Great to see Simon Pagenaud still leading the points after a win and two second place finishes this season. Things are certainly clicking for him at Team Penske after a rough 2015 season.
NEXT UP: Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park
The 41st running of the Grand Prix of Long Beach ran under sunny skies and with just one caution!
Helio Castroneves, starting from the pole, led most of the first half of the race, but Scott Dixon led the most important one. The final lap. This was Scott Dixon's first win at Long Beach, and before this his average finish there was 15th!
The top 10 Finishers
1. Scott Dixon. His 36th career Indycar win vaulted him to 4th in the season points.
2. Helio Castroneves. Pole sitter for the 42nd time in his career.
3. Juan Montoya. Finished third to maintain his season points lead over teammate Helio.
4. Simon Pagenaud. His second Top 5 this season.
5. Tony Kanaan. Another strong run keeps him 3rd in points.
6. Sebastien Bourdais. Led a lap.
7. Josef Newgarden. Ran 5th much of the day but dropped a few spots pitting.
8. Marco Andretti. A second Top 10 this season, but would love to see him win here where his dad and granddad had such success.
9. Carlos Munoz. Had a solid run for his first Top 10 of the season.
10. Sebastian Saavedra. A great run in Ganassi's #8 car especially considering he hadn't been in a car in 9 months.
Top Ten included..
* Drivers from 6 different teams
* Drivers from 5 different countries
* 7 Chevys, 3 Honda
* Both of the CFHR drivers
* Three Penske Drivers
* Three Ganassi Drivers
Can't wait till the Grand Prix of Alabama on Sunday, April 26th on NBCSN.
Yes, we're a bit late in posting this update, but Alex was so upset with the outcome of Josef's race at Long Beach that we didn't talk about it for awhile.
The good news was that Josef led at the GP of Long Beach!! (and according to the Indycar website, that is only the 2nd time he's led a race in 2+ seasons in Indycar).
The bad news was that
After starting 4th and being in the top 5 the first two thirds of the race...very happy Alex :)
He was involved in a crash (while leading!) with only 20 laps remaining.Very Sad Alex:( she even refused to watch the rest of the race.
And lets just say that Alex has a new least favorite driver on the Indycar circuit (move over Takuma Sato).
To check out Josef's post race interview and see what a great guy he is check out this article on Motorsports Talk.
Mike Conway inherited the lead when Scott Dixon had to pit for fuel with just 2 laps left after the top contenders crashed with less than 25 laps left to go in the race.
What was great about the GP of Long Beach
* Paul Tracy was announcing on NBCSports
* A lot of action due to the change that allowed for some blocking and side to side contact
* Josef Newgarden led during the race (our little sister Alex was jumping up and down)
* Great moves by Power, Conway, Munoz and Montoya to avoid the 'big wreck' that took out the leaders (including Josef, which quickly ended the happiness of our little sister)
* Mike Conway started way back in 17th, won the race and did it with a damaged wing since lap 1
The Top 10 included
* Drivers from 7 different countries
* 6 Different teams
* 3 of the 4 Indycar rookies
* All 4 Columbian Drivers
* 6 Hondas and 4 Chevys
Other Stuff:
* Mike Conway is the only driver to lead both Indycar races this season
* Simon Pagenaud and Will Power are the only two drivers to finish in the top 5 in both races this season
* It was Montoya's first top five since he came back from Nascar
* We loved NBCSN overhead shots so we could watch all the action
* It was Carlos Munoz's second podium in just his fifth Indycar start
INDY LIGHTS RACE
Gabby Chavez overtook pole sitter Zach Veach at the start of the race and led all 45 laps to win the Long Beach 100.
Don’t miss the next Indycar race, the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama on April 27th!
Four
of the Firestone Fast Six drivers had never won an Indycar pole, but it was Ryan Hunter-Reay who won his 6th career Indycar pole (his first at Long Beach).
Top Six: 1 Ryan Hunter-Reay
2 James Hinchcliffe
3 Sebastien Bourdais (A three time winner at Long Beach)
4 Josef Newgarden (Alex was a bit excited when he was P1 with under 2 minutes to go)
It was an action packed race with so many passes and crashes. It was fun to watch
them zoom around the tight turns and the fountain. (Makenna)
Fun Facts from Long Beach
* First Japanese driver to ever win an Indycar race.
* First win for A.J Foyt Racing since 2002 when Airton Dare won at Kansas.
* First road course win for the team since 1978 when A.J. Foyt won at Silverstone.
* Sato was the second first time winner this year (James Hinchcliffe won at St. Petersburg)
* With Graham Rahal's second place finish it was the fifth time a Rahal finished second at Long Beach (his dad finished second there 4 times and never won).
Alexandra (age 5) was not happy because her favorite driver Josef Newgarden finished 13th after having a bad pit stop, and he was not shown on tv much.
