Round 3: Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, 13-15 April.
No sooner has the chequered flag dropped at Phoenix but the green flag is about to be waved at Long Beach.
This year's race will be the 44th running of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. It is the oldest running street race in North America and was founded by local travel agent Chris Pook in 1975. The first race was a round of the SCCA Formula 5000 series 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.
After the 1983 Grand Prix, with increasing F1 costs, sanctions and shipping charges, it was felt F1 was too expensive to run and having been approached by CART to host a race, Long Beach became 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 during talks 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 rumors 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, this link will take you to,
http://www.racingcircuits.info/north...l#.Vw6LfjFI6Fk,
where all the variations over the years can be seen and below are the original and current layouts
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.
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Last year's race:
Castroneves took Pole but started badly dropping five positions, as Dixon led into Turn 1, followed by Hinchcliffe and Hunter-Reay. As the field progressed, Kimball and Power collided in Turn 4, putting both cars into the wall and bringing out the first full course yellow. Kimball was forced to retire, while Power continued after changing his front wing.
When racing resumed, Dixon continued to lead, as Hunter-Reay managed to pass Hinchcliffe for second place. By lap 10, some of the drivers further down the field made their first pit stops, including Aleshin, Kanaan, and Andretti Autosport team mates Sato and Andretti. Shoon after the stops,
Andretti slowed and retired. Race leader Dixon would made his stop shortly after this on lap 16, handing the lead to Hunter-Reay. The remaining front runners, committed to a two-stop strategy, remained on course longer, with Hinchcliffe and Rossi being the first to pit on lap 28. By the time the stops ended on lap 31, Dixon had regained the lead, with Hunter-Reay in second.
Dixon, on a three-stop strategy, pitted again on lap 41 handing back the lead to Hunter-Reay. With new tyres, Dixon made significant ground on the leaders and as they pitted on around lap 55, he retook the lead. After the stops, Hinchcliffe managed to get ahead of Hunter-Reay. However, a battle for the lead was developing as Newgarden moved into second place and put pressure on Dixon.
By lap 60, both he and teammate Castroneves pitted, with Dixon following them a lap latter, giving Hinchcliffe the lead. During this sequence of pit stops, Newgarden got ahead of Dixon. On lap 64, the complexion of the race quickly changed, as Rossi suddenly ground to a halt on the track, bringing out the second full course yellow, with only 21 laps remaining.
At the restart, the running order was Hinchcliffe, Hunter-Reay, Bourdais, Newgarden, and Dixon, Hinchcliffe pulling out a lead over Hunter-Reay, however Hunter-Reay began to reel Hinchcliffe in.
Meanwhile, Sato retired, his car also slowing and stopping in the pit lane. With five laps to go, Hunter-Reay suddenly slowed and stopped on the track, bringing out the race's third full course yelow. Hunter-Reay's retirement meant that all four Andretti Autosport cars had failed to finish the race. Bourdais, who was having a quiet, steady race, now moved into second, while Newgarden was up to third.
On the restart, Hinchcliffe pulled out a sizable lead on the front straight, securing his position for the short run to the end of the race, finishing 1.5 seconds ahead of Bourdais, to take his first victory since the 2015 and his first since his near fatal crash during practice for the 2015
Indianapolis 500. Newgarden was third, Dixon fourth and Pagenaud fifth. Rookie Jones finished sixth. Bourdais was able to extend his points lead in the championship, while Hinchcliffe moved into second place.
Following a last lap incident with Mikhail Aleshin, Hildebrand broke a bone in his left hand. He was not cleared to drive for the following round at Barber Motorsports Park.
Pole: 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.
Winner:
James Hinchcliffe
Schmidt Peterson Motorsports
Dallara DW12-Honda HI17RTT V6 Indy
Laps: 85
Distance: 167.28 Miles (269.211 Km)
Race Time: 1:50:29
Average Speed: 90.845 mph (146.201 Km/h)
Caution periods: 6
Laps: 11
Race Broadcast:
NBCSN. April 15. 4:00pm ET.