Round 3: Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach April 17 - 19, 2015

[D.R.T.]

The 2015 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach will be the 41st annual running of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach and the second race of the 2015 IndyCar Series season.

And after last week's slightly underwhelming show, I for one can not wait for the action to get underway on Friday morning

The current race circuit is a 1.968-mile (3.167 km) temporary road course carved out of the city streets surrounding the Long Beach Convention Center which actually doubled as the pit paddock during the days of Formula One.

Distance 80 laps, 157.44 mi / 253.375 km

2014 Pole position
Driver Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport
Time 1:07.8219

Fastest lap
Driver Brazil Hélio Castroneves Team Penske
Time 1:09.0691 (on lap 76 of 80)

Podium
First Mike Conway Ed Carpenter Racing
Second Will Power Team Penske
Third Carlos Muñoz Andretti Autosport

[fieldodreams79]

Here's hoping for lots of "clean and green" this weekend, with no rain.

[Burp]

Hopefull normal service will be resumed without dozens of yellows and bits of carbon fibre scattered everywhere.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

The 2015 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach will be the 41st annual running of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach and the second race of the 2015 IndyCar Series season.

D.R.T., it's the third race of the season.

Anyway, I always look forward to Long Beach, as the race usually lives up to its expectations.

Now that IndyCar has mandated structural changes to the winglets that marred St. Pete's, hopefully there won't be a repeat, as the series returns to street racing.

This season's opener at St. Petersburg saw Sébastien Bourdais' 12 year old lap record finally broken by Will Power. Will Bourdais' 2006 Long Beach lap record also be broken?

An interesting bit of trivia regarding Long Beach, Mario Andretti is the only driver to have won the Grand Prix of Long Beach in two different series, 1977 in Formula 1 and 1984 in CART.

[rwintle]

Also looking forward to this. I really can't begin to guess who might win. So many strong street circuit drivers, and many with good histories here. If everything works out timing-wise, I ought to be able to watch from my hotel room in Vancouver. If not... it'll be either a re-broadcast if there is one, or PVR once I get home.

[D.R.T.]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

D.R.T., it's the third race of the season.

Haha - that was me trying to block out last weekend.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

Haha - that was me trying to block out last weekend.

[Nikki Katz]

Coyne dropped the wrong driver... Who is this Moran Jr guy? Admittedly I'm not all that up to date with drivers in US series, but I've never heard of him at all.

Is de Silvestro still about this weekend or has that car been pulled now?

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Nikki Katz

Coyne dropped the wrong driver... Who is this Moran Jr guy? Admittedly I'm not all that up to date with drivers in US series, but I've never heard of him at all.

Is de Silvestro still about this weekend or has that car been pulled now?

She's not on the entry list, https://d1b8ufspcmikd1.cloudfront.ne...0150414T180846.

[Yannick]

Originally Posted by Nikki Katz

Coyne dropped the wrong driver... Who is this Moran Jr guy? Admittedly I'm not all that up to date with drivers in US series, but I've never heard of him at all.

Is de Silvestro still about this weekend or has that car been pulled now?

It's hard to believe that Dale Coyne parked Carlos Huertas instead of Dracone who ran over his crew chief in the pits last week, whilst Huertas was in P2 behind eventual winner Hinchcliffe when he spun off on a small stream running across the track.

If the mystery driver which Coyne is going to put into the #19 car of Dracone from Indy onwards is an experienced driver, this move might scare him away at the last minute. Or maybe he already has and that's why we get to see Rocky Moran, Jr. run the #18 now.

This is a team that is capable of winning races. They should have an interest in attracting better drivers to steer their cars than the two they currently have.

edit: Moran, Jr. was about 1 sec faster than Dracone in the first practice session. A promising debut.

[Formulahistory]

I think Dale Coyne is struggling very hard with money...

[icemachine]

Dale Coyne is always struggling for money, a shame because he likely wrings the most value out of what he does have

[bjohnsonsmith]

Both Chevy and Honda were told to make changes to their aero-kits before Sunday's race.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/118560

[10TENTHS]

Originally Posted by Nikki Katz

Coyne dropped the wrong driver... Who is this Moran Jr guy? Admittedly I'm not all that up to date with drivers in US series, but I've never heard of him at all

He was a decent driver in the Atlantic championship then did some sportscar racing in Grand-Am and ALMS. I thought he had retired, but apparently Coyne gave him a last minute call for Long Beach.

[tux]

Originally Posted by 10TENTHS

He was a decent driver in the Atlantic championship then did some sportscar racing in Grand-Am and ALMS. I thought he had retired, but apparently Coyne gave him a last minute call for Long Beach.

Moran Jr has been replaced by Conor Daly

Anyone know what C/A/E/T mean on the results page?

[10TENTHS]

Originally Posted by tux

Anyone know what C/A/E/T mean on the results page?

Chassis, Aero, Engine, Tyres.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Pagenaud has broken Sébastien Bourdais' 2006, nine year trackrecord of 1:06.886, with a lap time of 1:06.7894.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Hélio Castroneves, has now set a new lap record of 1:06.6294 and gets Pole.

[Marcus666]

Helio: 1.06.62
JPM: 1.06.65

WOW!

[bjohnsonsmith]

Sunday's grid.

1. 3 Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Chevrolet. 1:06.6294, 106.331 Mph. Firestone Fast Six
2. 2 Juan Pablo Montoya, Dallara-Chevrolet. 1:06.6587, 106.285 Mph. Firestone Fast Six
3. 9 Scott Dixon, Dallara-Chevrolet. 1:06.7870, 106.081 Mph. Firestone Fast Six
4. 28 Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda. 1:07.0473, 105.669 Mph. Firestone Fast Six
5. 22 Simon Pagenaud, Dallara-Chevrolet. 1:07.1433, 105.518 Mph. Firestone Fast Six
6. 67 Josef Newgarden, Dallara-Chevrolet. 1:07.1716, 105.473 Mph. Firestone Fast Six
7. 10 Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Chevrolet. 1:07.1090, 105.572 Mph. Round 2 / Top 12
8. 15 Graham Rahal, Dallara-Chevrolet. 1:07.2411, 105.364 Mph. Round 2 / Top 12
10. 27 Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda. 1:07.3161, 105.247 Mph. Round 2 / Top 12
11. 8 Sebastian Saavedra, Dallara-Chevrolet. 1:07.3924, 105.128 Mph. Round 2 / Top 12
12. 26 Carlos Munoz, Dallara-Honda. 1:07.4049, 105.108 Mph. Round 2 / Top 12
13. 5 James Hinchcliffe, Dallara-Honda. 1:07.3976, 105.119 Mph. Qual / Group 1
14. 20 Luca Filippi, Dallara-Chevrolet. 1:08.6104, 103.261 Mph. Qual / Group 2
15. 83 Charlie Kimball, Dallara-Chevrolet. 1:07.4217, 105.082 Mph. Qual / Group 1
16. 41 Jack Hawksworth, Dallara-Honda. 1:08.6276, 103.235 Mph. Qual / Group 2
17. 98 Gabby Chaves(R), Dallara-Honda. 1:07.4653, 105.014 Mph. Qual / Group 1
18. 1 Will Power, Dallara-Chevrolet. 1:08.8348, 102.925 Mph. Qual / Group 2
19. 7 James Jakes, Dallara-Honda. 1:07.7702, 104.542 Mph. Qual / Group 1
20. 14 Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda. 1:08.8732, 102.867 Mph. Qual / Group 2
21. 18 Conor Daly(R), Dallara-Honda. 1:08.7825, 103.003 Mph. Qual / Group 1
22. 19 Francesco Dracone(R), Dallara-Honda. 1:09.8815, 101.383 Mph. Qual / Group 2
23. 4 Stefano Coletti(R), Dallara-Chevrolet. 1:10.4644, 100.544 Mph. Qual / Group 2

I didn't see all of Qualifying, so I don't know what happened to Will Power, who unusually starts towards the back of the grid in 18th. Again, Chevrolet are dominant.

[bjohnsonsmith]

It's very sunny at Long Beach, in total contrast to NOLA and apparently with a record crowd.

[BudLightJaguar]

That sounded like Kurt Cobain was singing the national anthem.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Why didn't Patrick Stewart say, ''Make it so''? He missed a trick there.

[FLGTFAN]

The first couple rows on the grid do not have those ridiculous front wings.

[bjohnsonsmith]

A clean start but they weren't exactly alligned. Dixon up to 2nd.