Round 4: Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, 12-14 April.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Round 4: Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, 12-14 April.

This year's race will be the 45th running of the Grand Prix of Long Beach and the 36th consecutive year the race has been held as an IndyCar event. It is the oldest running street race in North America and was founded by local travel agent Chris Pook in 1975.

The inaugural race was the 7th round of the SCCA Formula 5000 series, held on September 28th 1975 and was won by British driver Brian Redman, in a Lola T332-Chevrolet V8. Following the success of the F5000 event and only 6 months later Pook convinced FISA to hold the F1 United States Grand Prix West, which was was won by Swiss F1 veteran Clay Regazzoni, driving a Ferrari-312T. The United States Grand Prix West remained on the F1 calendar until 1983. Interestingly, it wasn't until 1980, that Toyota became the race sponsor. However, this year long term sponsors Toyota, will be conspicuous by their absence.

After the 1983 Grand Prix, increasing F1 costs, sanctions and shipping charges, made the race too expensive to be run as an F1 Grand Prix. Having been approached by CART to host a race, Long Beach became a CART/Champ Car perenial event from 1984 to 2008. The final Champ Car race was held on April 20, 2008 as part of the 2008 IndyCar Series split weekend.

Although series reunification took place in late February 2008, it emerged that there was a calendar clash between Long Beach and the IndyCar Series round at Motegi in Japan. With both races so early on in the year and more or less finalised, neither track could change their date; particularly Long Beach, due to the preparations required for a street course. It was decided both races would go ahead, with points from Long Beach counting towards the the IndyCar Series championship. It was won by Will Power driving for KV Racing, in a Panoz DP01-Cosworth. The race became part of the IndyCar Series calendar the following year.

Recently, there were rumours as to the future of the race. However, the Grand Prix Association, which owns and promotes the race and the City of Long Beach, signed a new three-year agreement after the 2015 race, with an additional two-year option.

Some trivia:
The driver with the most wins: 6. Al Unser Jr., 1988 - 1991, 1994, 1995.
The team with the most wins: 6.
Newman/Haas Racing. 1984, 1985, 1987, 2005, 2006, 2007.
Chip Ganassi Racing. 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2009, 2015.
Team Penske 1993, 1994, 1995, 2001, 2012, 2016.

Track layout:
The track is a temporary road course and since the 1975 F5000 race, the layout has changed considerably from the original. Rather than fill the intro with all the various track changes, below are the original and current layouts; this link will take you to:
https://www.racingcircuits.info/nort...l#.XK5ChLiSrUf
where all the variations over the years can be seen.

Original 1975-1981 layout:
Length: 2.02 miles (3.251 km)



Current layout:
Length: 1.968 Miles (3.167 Km)
Turns: 11


Lap record:
Hélio Castroneves, April 8, 2017. 1:06.225, 106.980 Mph (172.167 Km/h).
Team Penske,
Dallara DW12-Chevrolet Indy V6,
Verizon IndyCar Series.

-

Last year's race:

Pole sitter Alexander Rossi took a commanding lead, as Power made a poor start but recovered to claim second spot. Coming up fast on the outside, Graham Rahal nudged Simon Pagenaud and spining him into the wall. Rahal took the third spot but was now subject to a steward's inqiry and was given a drive-thru penalty. Meanwhile Hunter-Reay clipped Scott Dixon’s left-rear and under the following caution had to pit for a new front wing. The race order was Rossi, Power, Dixon, Josef Newgarden, James Hinchcliffe, Sebastien Bourdais, Robert Wickens, Tony Kanaan, Jordan King and Ed Jones.

On Lap 7 Kanaan overtook Wickens, while up front, Rossi had pulled a 3.5 second lead on Power who had Dixon, Newgarden, Hinchcliffe and Bourdais stacked up behind him. Four laps later, Hinchcliffe made an error with push-to-pass, allowing Bourdais into fifth and dropping Hinchcliffe to ninth behind King. Hinchcliffe decided to switch to a three-stop strategy. Soon after Rahal and Jones had decided to do the same. Two laps later, Josef Newgarden became the first front-runner to pit.

This cycle of stops allowed Hunter-Reay to switch to the primary tyre and make rapid progress up the order and into ninth spot by Lap 15 and moving into eighth on Lap 17 when Kanaan pitted. Hunter-Reay then passed rookie teammate Zach Veach, to take seventh and then rapidly closed on King.

Up front, traffic helped Power stay within 3.5 seconds of Rossi and 1.5 ahead of Dixon, with Bourdais a similar distance behind Dixon. Rossi then made a very quick stop from his 3.5 second lead on Lap 25, that left Power, Dixon, Bourdais and King trying to nail some fast laps before the first of their two stops.

King stopped on lap 28 but Power, despite approaching traffic and with a 2.5 second lead over Dixon, dropped to 1.5 seconds, staying out for an extra lap. Dixon and Bourdais both followed but Dixon got out ahead of Power on his out lap. Power was further demoted by the three-stopping Newgarden on warm tires. Rossi was now back in front with an 8 second lead over Dixon, followed by Newgarden, Power, Bourdais, Kanaan, Jones, Hunter-Reay, King and Hinchcliffe. Meanwhile Rahal made his third stop, his second for fuel and tires.

Bourdais on the option tyre, dived up the inside of Power now on the primary tyre, to take fourth pace on lap 36 and repeated the move on Newgarden two laps later. Further back, Sato snatched eighth from King, while Newgarden made his second of three stops on Lap 39.

By half-way, Dixon had cut Rossi’s lead down to 4 seconds but yellow flew as Kaiser had skated down the escape road in Turn 1 and needed a bump start. Kanaan had just committed to the pitlane in time, pitting from fifth and rejoining in 10th.

With three lapped cars between himself and Dixon, Rossi had an easy restart on Lap 47 but further back there was drama, as Hunter-Reay got loose and was hit by Sato, leaving the Andretti Autosport car with a flat tire. Hunter-Reay pitted and dropped to 19th.

The move of the race came on Lap 48. As Dixon struggled to pass one of the backmarkers, Bourdais passed both of them as well as Leist, who had been lapped, on the run into Turn 1. However, Bourdais was ordered by Race Control to give up second place to Dixon for encroaching the end of the pitlane exit, which he did and then promptly passed Dixon for a second time. This left Bourdais 7 seconds behind leader Rossi. Andretti Autosport team manager, Rob Edwards decided to take advantage of the situation and call Rossi in on Lap 56, where he also took a half turn of front wing.

Yellow flew again, when Zachary Claman De Melo hit the wall. Both Bourdais and Dixon pitted, though according to Race Control after the pits had closed . Ganassi decided to service Dixon's car, while Coyne sent Bourdais through to return to the pits once they were open. When they did open, Newgarden led the charge of the remaining three-stoppers, with Kanaan, the ‘re-pitting’ Bourdais, Hinchcliffe and Jack Harvey in pursuit. Under the yellow, King’s strong run ended, in desperate need of having his brakes bled.

The race resumed on Lap 66, with Rossi leading Dixon, Power, Jones, Veach, Andretti, Rahal, Kimball, Newgarden and Kanaan. However, Dixon received a drive-thru penalty for pitting when pitlane was closed, which he served on Lap 68. With 17 laps to go and Dixon out of his way, Power had a 2.4 second gap to try and close on Rossi.

At the hairpin on Lap 71, King dived inside Hinchcliffe, tagged Bourdais and spun him broadside, blocking the track for those immediately behind, including Wickens and Hunter-Reay. Bourdais pitted for a new front wing.

With 15 laps to go, the lapped cars were cycled to the back of the field, theoretically giving Jones a chance to have a go at Power. However, when the green flag flew with 9 laps to go, Jones was having to defend hard from Veach. Further back Newgarden passed Kanaan again, after losing out on the restart.

Power gave it everything over the final laps, leaning on his push to pass but Rossi did likewise and was always able to keep the Penske driver at bay, eventually crossing the line to win by 1.24 seconds. The pair of them had pulled over eight seconds clear of Jones, who nonetheless clung on, to match his best ever finish with third place and his first podium for Ganassi.

Veach was top rookie with fourth place ahead of Rahal, with Andretti sixth completing the top six

It was the third IndyCar race victory for Rossi, in his third season and the 58th for Andretti Autosport.

Pole:
Alexander Rossi, 1:06.5528, 106.454 Mph (171.321 Km/h).
Andretti Autosport
Dallara IR18-Honda HI18TT V6 Indy

Winner:
Alexander Rossi
Andretti Autosport
Dallara IR18-Honda HI18TT V6 Indy

Laps: 85
Distance: 167.28 Miles (269.211 Km)
Race Time: 1:53:15
Average Speed: 88.622 mph (142.623 Km/h)

Caution periods: 4
Laps: 17

Race Broadcast: NBCSN. April 14, 4:00pm ET.

[BudLightJaguar]

I'll be there on Saturday and Sunday.
Just hope it won't be so windy, there has been a gusting wind since yesterday all over the LA basin.

Temperatures are fine, though..low to mid-70's with clear skies.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by BudLightJaguar

I'll be there on Saturday and Sunday.
Just hope it won't be so windy, there has been a gusting wind since yesterday all over the LA basin.

Temperatures are fine, though..low to mid-70's with clear skies.

Awesome!

Loads of photos.

[mstets]

Bourdais is going to have a busy weekend as he is subbing for Joey Hand in Ganassi's Ford GT in the IMSA race.


https://www.indycar.com/News/2019/04...g-Beach-double

I am impressed that Coyne apparently views it as no big thing.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Qualifying

Alexander Rossi claimed his second pole in a row at Long Beach, while Penske got all three drivers into the fast 6, with Will Power in the top Chevy.

There were 2 Red flags. First by Felix Rosenqvist, which put him down to 12th on the grid. This meant, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Patricio O'Ward, and Colton Herta, were unable to complete final fast runs.

The second was by Tony Kanaan, who starts 21st. This cost James Hinchcliffe, Ed Jones and Marcus Ericsson the chance to improve on their previous best times and they will start towards the back of the grid.

1 Alexander Rossi, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 1m06.4811s
2 Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda.1m06.7479s. 0.2668s
3 Will Power, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m06.8748s. 0.3937s
4 Josef Newgarden, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m06.9096s. 0.4285s
5 Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m07.1877s. 0.7066s
6 Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman. Lanigan. Dallara/Honda. 1m07.3052s. 0.8241s
7 Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 1m07.1520s
8 Takuma Sato, Rahal Letterman Lanigan. Dallara/Honda. 1m07.2626s
9 Patricio O'Ward (r), Carlin. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m07.2764s
10 Colton Herta (r), Harding Racing. Dallara/Honda. 1m07.7721s
11 Marco Andretti, Andretti Herta. Dallara/Honda. 1m08.3746s
12 Felix Rosenqvist* (r), Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 1m08.4410s
13 Santino Ferrucci (r), Dale Coyne Racing. Dallara/Honda. 1m08.1008s
14 Sebastien Bourdais, Dale Coyne Racing. Dallara/Honda. 1m07.3135s
15 James Hinchcliffe, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Dallara/Honda. 1m08.1811s
16 Max Chilton, Carlin. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m07.4577s
17 Ed Jones, Ed Carpenter Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m08.7711s
18 Jack Harvey, Meyer Shank Racing. Dallara/Honda. 1m07.5287s
19 Marcus Ericsson (r), Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Dallara/Honda. 1m08.9516s
20 Matheus Leist, AJ Foyt Enterprises. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m07.7317s
21 Tony Kanaan*, AJ Foyt Enterprises. Dallara/Chevrolet. 3m22.3800s
22 Zach Veach, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 1m07.7822s
23 Spencer Pigot, Ed Carpenter Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m07.8763s

(r) rookie
* Red flag.

[BudLightJaguar]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Awesome!

Loads of photos.

First bunch of photos, today IMSA stuff only since we didn't have IndyCar paddock passes for Saturday

https://buglightjaguar.smugmug.com/B...of-Long-Beach/

Moro photos coming up tomorrow!

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by BudLightJaguar

First bunch of photos, today IMSA stuff only since we didn't have IndyCar paddock passes for Saturday

https://buglightjaguar.smugmug.com/B...of-Long-Beach/

Moro photos coming up tomorrow!

Excellent, keep them coming.

[fieldodreams79]

And my power flashes on the sighting laps and my router cocks up

[bjohnsonsmith]

A very clean start, with Rossi getting the Jump, but it's the first FCY, as it looks like Pigot ran into the back of Veach, who ran into Harvey, at the fountain.

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

A very clean start, with Rossi getting the Jump, but it's the first FCY, as it looks like Pigot ran into the back of Veach, who ran into Harvey, at the fountain.

Assuming they stayed green? Router reset and I'm on lap 5

[S griffin]

Well I can only really follow it on here, seems an interesting race so far

[bjohnsonsmith]

That was a bad stop for Bourdais. Looked like trouble with the front right.

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

That was a bad stop for Bourdais. Looked like trouble with the front right.

Bad stop also for Herta. Tire changer forgot to throw the gun and Colton stalled it

[bjohnsonsmith]

Not too sure what was going on with Power. Something about a missfire, going into the hairpin, then briefly having to go down the escape road, with Dixon breathing down his neck.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Herta into the pits, with a damaged front wing and possible suspension damage,

[fieldodreams79]

Herta out. No free tacos

[bjohnsonsmith]

Congrats to Rossi on back to back wins, in what was a very solid drive.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Dixon gets third, after claiming Rahal blocked him. Rahal will obviously appeal that.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Dixon gets third, after claiming Rahal blocked him. Rahal will obviously appeal that.

I am with Graham on this one. If it wasn't the last lap, Dixon wouldn't have even complained.

I like races at Long Beach even though they can be a bit processional. Still don't know what O'Ward was doing at the beginning when he was getting passed by everyone.

Also, I still find it funny when the announcers talk about Ericsson and Rosenqvist as rookies.

Oh and final thought, Rossi is good.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Result

Not a bad race but a bit processional at times. Shame the battle with Dixon and Power didn't really materialise. Otherwise a masterful drive from Rossi, giving Andtretti Autosport their 200th win.

Newgarden drove a solid race, using his stops to get him into second place and extend his championship lead. Penske Team mate Pagenaud, continues to improve but Power's race was a mixed bag, because of a boost problem. Not the best start of the season and he is currently 6th.

RLLR's fortunes continue, with a good showing from both drivers. However, can't say the same for Colton Herta, who retired yet again.

1 Alexander Rossi, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 85. 1h41m35.5999s
2 Josef Newgarden, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 85. 20.2359s
3 Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 85. 25.5745s
4 Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman. Lanigan. Dallara/Honda. 85. 26.4589s
5 Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 85. 29.3447s
6 Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 85. 31.5193s
7 Will Power, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 85. 33.0529s
8 Takuma Sato, Rahal Letterman Lanigan. Dallara/Honda. 85. 34.2879s
9 James Hinchcliffe, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Dallara/Honda. 85. 40.4643s
10 Felix Rosenqvist, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 85. 41.3241s
11 Sebastien Bourdais, Dale Coyne Racing. Dallara/Honda. 85. 49.9110s
12 Patricio O'Ward, Carlin. Dallara/Chevrolet. 84. 1 Lap
13 Marco Andretti, Andretti Herta. Dallara/Honda. 84. 1 Lap
14 Max Chilton, Carlin. Dallara/Chevrolet. 84. 1 Lap
15 Matheus Leist, AJ Foyt Enterprises. Dallara/Chevrolet. 84. 1 Lap
16 Ed Jones, Ed Carpenter Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 84. 1 Lap
17 Zach Veach, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 84. 1 Lap
18 Spencer Pigot, Ed Carpenter Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 84. 1 Lap
19 Tony Kanaan, AJ Foyt Enterprises. Dallara/Chevrolet 83. 2 Laps
20 Marcus Ericsson, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Dallara/Honda. 83. 2 Laps
21 Santino Ferrucci, Dale Coyne Racing. Dallara/Honda. 83. 2 Laps
22 Jack Harvey, Meyer Shank Racing. Dallara/Honda. 82. 3 Laps
23 Colton Herta, Harding Racing. Dallara/Honda. 50. Contact

[BudLightJaguar]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Excellent, keep them coming.

There you go!

https://buglightjaguar.smugmug.com/A...of-Long-Beach/

I had to be a bit 'creative' when doing close-ups since I had lost my 20 mm lens but I succeeded.

btw: Price of beer inside the gates was astronomical $15 per 24 oz draft.

[mstets]

Originally Posted by joeb

I am with Graham on this one. If it wasn't the last lap, Dixon wouldn't have even complained.

I like races at Long Beach even though they can be a bit processional. Still don't know what O'Ward was doing at the beginning when he was getting passed by everyone.

Also, I still find it funny when the announcers talk about Ericsson and Rosenqvist as rookies.

Oh and final thought, Rossi is good.

Agree with all of the above. Rahal simply drove the best line he could to defend his position - didn't move in reaction to where Dixon went.



I didn't understand the (evidently) fuel saving strategy of O'Ward in the first third of the race.


Rossi's performance must rank well up there with the most dominant in the history of the LBGP. I'm thinking of Brian Redman in the Haas Lola F5000 and Al Unser Jr. for both Galles and Penske. It would be interesting to go through the stats for each year and see how the other winners compare in terms of laps led, margin of victory, etc.

[S griffin]

Well seems opinions divided here. I'm sure the stewards had a good view of that Rahal incident

Fuel saving has always been a part of Indycars

Rossi's dominating shows what could have been in F1. Certainly he shaken up the establishment. Best of the modern era, not comparable to different eras of racing here

[bjohnsonsmith]

Dixon suggests extending the race.

https://racer.com/2019/04/14/dixon-c...stance-tweaks/

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by joeb

I am with Graham on this one. If it wasn't the last lap, Dixon wouldn't have even complained.

I like races at Long Beach even though they can be a bit processional. Still don't know what O'Ward was doing at the beginning when he was getting passed by everyone.

Also, I still find it funny when the announcers talk about Ericsson and Rosenqvist as rookies.

Oh and final thought, Rossi is good.

The blocking call seemed a bit harsh to me. Love LB!

O'Ward may have been on a strict fuel strategy based on radio communications at the beginning. Seemed odd.