Record crowds return to 47th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach
Josef Newgarden tries to spray champagne on Alex Palou, right, after the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach IndyCar Series race on Sunday. (Photo by Keith Durflinger)
LONG BEACH - The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach is back where it belongs – in the month of April.
And it’s bigger than ever, as the 47th Annual event drew a record crowd Friday April 8 through Sunday April 10.
Officials say figures could exceed 187,000 for the three-day event.
This is the second GPLB race in six months, as the 2021 event took place in September instead of April because of the pandemic.
Capping off the weekend’s activities was the main attraction – The NTT Indy Car race around the streets of Long Beach.
Coming home the winner on the 11-turn, 1.968-mile course for the first time in 11 tries, was Josef Newgarden of Nashville, Tennessee, driving the Team Penske No. 2 Chevrolet.
Newgarden didn’t take the lead until the last 28 laps, and he never relinquished it, as the race actually ended the final lap with a yellow flag, that was caused by Takuma Sato in the No. 51 Honda.
This is the third win to start the 2022 season for Team Penske. The last time that was accomplished was in 2012.
“It’s incredibly special (to win here),” said Newgarden, of winning at Long Beach. “This place is a hard nut to crack. It’s a lot of pressure like the Indy 500. Everyone loves this place, like the crown jewel of our sport and it’s an honor to win here. It does mean a lot more than some other tracks.
“I’m glad it didn’t go yellow with three laps to go. It was a half lap and seemed to be pretty much over at that point, bearing me not making an outrageous mistakes with a couple of corners left. It was not easy (Sunday) by any means.”
With the win, Newgarden takes over the lead in the Indy Car series after three races with 118 points.
Simon Pagenaud (60) tries to get out of the way of Rinus Veekay (21) at the fountain turn during the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach featuring the IndyCar Series race on Sunday. (Photo by Keith Durflinger)
Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin, driving the No. 3 Chevrolet, finished 14th and is currently second in points with 113, followed by Spain’s Alex Palou in third with 103 points. Palou finished third in the race behind Frenchman Romain Grosjean in second place.
Newgarden, who will soon become a father for the first time, has previously won the series championship in 2017 and 2019.
Defending Long Beach Grand Prix winner, Colton Herta, who was the pole-sitter, got off to a great start and led 28 laps before the first pit stop.
However, that all changed after that.
Not only did he lose the lead coming out of the pits to Palou, but also a second car, which turned out to be Newgarden. Palou, who won the series title last year, had a quick 7.5-second pit stop that made the difference as he took the lead.
Even the race commentators were a bit confused on when and how Newgarden also appeared in front of Herta, who grew up in nearby Santa Clarita.
Things got much worse for the 22-year-old Herta on lap 56, when his day came to an end as he hit the wall.
“It’s just a stupid mistake,” said Herta, during an on-track interview after going out of the race. “They (Team Penske) gave me a great car. I was keeping up with Alex (Palou) and Josef (Newgarden). It was just unfortunate.”
Herta, who was running in third behind Palou and Newgarden, is the son of former Indy car driver Bryan Herta, who is a big part of his team as a race strategist.
The turning point of the race for Newgarden came on lap 5, as he beat Palou, who races for Chip Ganassi Racing, out of the second pit stop for the lead. Newgarden would lead the remaining 28 laps for the win.
Palou, 25, later would eventually fall back to third, as Grosjean passed him with 16 laps to go, but couldn’t get past Newgarden the rest of the way. That would be the final finishing order.
Grosjean, who is in his second season in NTT Indy Car after 180 starts competing in Formula One, made an outside move into Turn 1 to pass Palou and tried to track down Newgarden.
Six laps later, that chance to get closer to Newgarden appeared a reality, as former NASCAR Champion Jimmie Johnson, racing for Chip Ganassi in his No. 48 Carvana Honda, spun into the tire barriers in Turn 8. Johnson, winner of seven NASCAR titles, was through for the day.
Race fans watch the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach featuring the IndyCar Series race next to the Long Beach Arena on Sunday. (Photo by Keith Durflinger)
Both Newgarden and Grosjean got strong restarts after the caution, but Grosjean didn’t have enough to track him down in the remaining laps.
“The last restart was very good for my engine,” said Grosjean, who had his third second-place finish in the Indy Car series. “For some reason (Newgarden) had just a little bit more top speed. I tried to go inside and gain a little more momentum. He just did a real good job and I couldn’t catch him.
“Joseph (Newgarden) was up there and he didn’t make one mistake. It was a great day.”
After Johnson came in from his mishap, he said in an on-track interview, “I lost it so early going into the turn. The rubber was unlike anything I had ever seen before.
“I feel bad I put the team in this position and learned from it and will come back.”
Johnson, who injured his hand in practice on Friday, will be testing in the next two weeks for the upcoming Indy 500 race in May.
Rounding out the top five was Will Power (Team Penske Chevrolet) and Pato O’Ward (McLaren SP Chevrolet).
Palou was fairly happy with this third-place finish saying, “Ya, it was a good day for us,” said Palou, in the post-race press conference. “We started third and we had an aggressive finish to try and beat Newgarden. We were leading for some laps, but I could see that we were lacking in speed compared to Josef (Newgarden). It was a good battle with him.”
The next NTT Indy Car series race is the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, presented by AmFirst on Sunday, May 1.
On Saturday, Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais came from last place after dropping back from hitting the wall slightly on Turn 11 and won the 100-minute, 73-lap IMSA WeatherTech race, teaming with Renger van der Zande.
Finishing second was Alex Lynn and Earl Bamber in a Chip Ganassi-owned car and in third place with a clean sweep for Cadillac was the JDC Miller Motorsports duo of Tristan Vautier and Richard Westbrook.
The race immediately following the GPLB – the Speed Energy/UTV Stadium Super Trucks – was a family affair.
Youngster Max Gordon, in his 680-horsepower, V-8 pickup, finished in third behind Matthew Brabham for second and his father, Robby Gordon in first.
And, the race prior to the Indy car race Sunday morning, saw Kay van Berlo lead all 45 laps of the Porsche Carrera Cup in the 40-minute sprint. Trenton Estep finished second, followed by TJ Fischer in third.