The Series NEEDED to do something to make the Hondas and Chevys "look different from one another". I'd have to go back and watch the last few Long Beach races to give much of a verdict on the racing, if there is one.
It sounds like this race may have been like some at Mid Ohio, where the leader, or front few, took off, but there was good action further back. However, it sounds like the TV coverage did not do a great job of showing that action through the field.
The DW12 is pretty draggy either way. And even though the power is up to similar levels compared to the Cosworth XFE, I'm not so sure that the current lumps make as much torque. In any case, with all that drag, these cars CAN'T top out at the speeds we saw with the Champ Cars, and they don't seem to have the same sort of punch on corner exit.
This is a particular issue at Long Beach, where the main stretch is preceded by a very slow corner. You're going from 30-mph up to 180-mph. If you're right on the guy's tail at the apex of the hairpin, a fixed time gap will see you with a five-length gap to the guy in front (a six-length time gap) at the far end of Shoreline. In other words, you have to make up a fair bit of ground on the leader in the course of the straight to be able to have a go.
Furthermore, on the aero front, most of the corners at Long Beach aren't fast enough to have a drastic impact. That is, you're not going quickly enough to be that aero-dependent, or for the wash off the guy in front to be that strong. Turn 10 is probably the fastest, and I don't see the drivers having serious problems following one another closely through that corner.
Maybe try reading this description I gave in the "My Track Designs" section:
http://tentenths.com/forum/showpost....1&postcount=28
Now, as for Pagenaud, yes, a position swap ordered by Race Control would have been appropriate for his pit-exit violation. (And believe me, I'm a Penske guy, and no team has bugged me more, at times, in CART/IRL/IndyCar than Ganassi. I still think the Penske driver should have gotten a "real" penalty yesterday.)