A week after IndyCar endured the swampy conditions of New Orleans, all was picture perfect in Southern California at the Long Beach Grand Prix on Sunday.
Unlike last week’s race when drivers struggled to string together a single lap at race speed, they went 76 under green flag conditions on the tight concrete-lined street circuit and it was Ganassi driver Scott Dixon who took the checkered flag for his first victory of the season.
Dixon had never enjoyed much success at Long Beach before this past weekend, with a fourth-place finish being his best showing. But after moving past Juan Pablo Montoya on the opening lap to jump from third to second, he was well on his way. A perfect pit stop while leader Helio Castroneves had to hold his exit for traffic gave Dixon the advantage and he did the rest of the work en route to his 36th career victory.
On Friday, IndyCar officials issued last-minute requirements to both Honda and Chevrolet regarding their aero kits. Honda was ordered to strengthen rear wheel guards, while Chevy was given a more difficult task, having to either tether their front wing pieces or remove them. The teams wound up taking them off the cars.
It seems a little suspicious that this dramatic change for Chevrolet had to be done at the last minute. Chevrolet has proven to be the better ride in the early going this season and if you’re going to mandate such a change, it seems unfair to demand it the day a race weekend begins.
The late body change didn’t please Chevrolet officials but it didn’t stop the teams from working hard to compensate and continue their dominance in the early going. Chevrolets took the top seven finishing spots. As long as one provider is dominant over the other, this will be something the series needs to monitor.
In the end, the drivers proved they’re capable of racing clean and without incident as we only had one caution period (for debris) during the 80-lap event. Seems to me the concern about contact and broken aero kit pieces was an overreaction by many.
After Dixon, Penske drivers also took the next three spots to continue their strong season. The fourth Penske runner, Will Power, had a miserable weekend by his standards. After waiting until late in qualifying to try to post a quick lap, he never got the chance to move forward in the session due to a red flag stopping the action and he qualified 18th. Then when trying to make an early pit stop in the race to alter traditional strategy, he stalled trying to avoid another car. Power finished 20th.
Canadian James Hinchcliffe faced a number of challenges during the weekend. After struggling in qualifying, he and the Schmidt Peterson team were unable to use fuel strategy the way they did a week earlier to take the victory and only managed a 12th-place result.
Hinch and other Honda competitors may have a chance to bounce back next week at Barber Motorsport Park. Andretti Autorsport driver Ryan Hunter-Reay has been a winner there the last two years.