Round 3: Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, 8-10 April.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Round 3: Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, 8-10 April.

This weekend be the 47th running of the Grand Prix of Long Beach. For the last two seasons the event has been effected by the Covid-19 pandemic. 2020 would have been the 46th running of the race and the 36th consecutive year as an IndyCar event, however due to the Covid-19 pandemic the race was cancelled.

Last year, in order to avoid the possibility of cancelling for a second year in a row, it was decided to hold the race as the season finale. This year the race is back in it's usual place on the calendar in April.

-

The Grand Prix of Long Beach 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, as it became known, 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.

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. The venue was approached by CART to host a race, with Long Beach becoming a CART/Champ Car perennial 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. Therefore 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 following year the race became part of the IndyCar Series calendar and as previously with CART, it has become a perennial event.

It wasn't until 1980, that Toyota became the the naming rights race sponsor of the Grand Prix of Long Beach, a
partnership which had continued unbroken for more than 30 years. However, after the 2018 season Toyota's long term title sponsorship and partnership with the Grand Prix of Long Beach came to an end, with the naming rights going to Acura.

At the beginning of January this year, Long Beach City Council announced an extension to the race through to
and including 2028.


Some trivia:
Driver with the most wins: 6.
Al Unser Jr., 1988 - 1991, 1994, 1995.

Team with the most wins: 6.
Team Penske 1993, 1994, 1995, 2001, 2012, 2016.
Chip Ganassi Racing. 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2009, 2015.
Newman/Haas Racing. 1984, 1985, 1987, 2005, 2006, 2007.


Track layout:
The track is a temporary street course and since the 1975 F5000 race, the layout has changed considerably. Rather than fill the intro with all the various track changes, the link below will take you to the other layouts, the track has undergone over the years. Otherwise the original layout and current layout have been included.

http://www.racingcircuits.info/north...s can be seen.

Original Layout: 1975-1981
Length: 2.02 miles (3.251 km)
Turns: 12


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-Chevy IndyCar V6,
Verizon IndyCar Series.

-

Last year's race:
https://www.motorsport.com/indycar/n...alue%5D=270303

Last year's Pole:
Josef Newgarden, 1:08.2241, 103.846 Mph (167.124 Km/h).
Team Pnske
Dallara IR18-Chevy IndyCar V6

Last year's winner:
Colton Herta
Andretti Autosport w/ Curb-Agajanian
Dallara IR18-Honda HI21R Indy-V-6

Laps: 85
Distance: 167.28 Miles (269.211 Km)
Race Time: 1:49:10.3764
Average Speed: 91.935 mph (147.955 Km/h)
Fastest lap: Pato O'Ward, Arrows McLaren SP, Lap 22. 69.1407 sec, 102.469 mph (164.908 km/h)

Caution periods: 4
Laps: 2 - 3, 20 - 23, 26 - 29, 62 - 64.


Practice and Qualifications:
Friday, Apr 8 - 6:15 PM ET Practice 1

Saturday, Apr 9 - 11:45 AM ET Practice 2

Saturday, Apr 9 - 3:05 PM ET Qualifications - Round 1 Group 1

Saturday, Apr 9 - 3:25 PM ET Qualifications - Round 1 Group 2

Saturday, Apr 9 - 3:45 PM ET Qualifications - Round 2

Saturday, Apr 9 - 4:05 PM ET Qualifications - Firestone Fast 6

Race Broadcast:
NBC: April 10. 3:00pm ET, 7:00pm UTC.
Sky Sports F1: 8:00pm BST