The 2016 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach was the third round of the 2016 IndyCar Series and the 42nd annual running of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. The race was contested over 80 laps on a temporary street circuit in Long Beach, California on April 17, 2016. Hélio Castroneves qualified on pole for the second consecutive race with a time of 1:07.1246. Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon started alongside him in second. Some confusion surrounded the second round of qualifying as timing and scoring malfunctioned. IndyCar officials would correct the mistakes caused by this and set the correct Fast Six qualifiers shortly after round two ended. Fast six qualifying was briefly delayed when Will Power clipped a tire barrier and went into a run-off area. Power started sixth due to his mishap.[1]
| Race details | |
|---|---|
| 3rd round of the 2016 IndyCar Series season | |
 | |
| Date | April 17, 2016 |
| Official name | Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach |
| Location | Streets of Long Beach |
| Course | Temporary street circuit 1.968 mi / 3.167 km |
| Distance | 80 laps 157.440 mi / 253.375 km |
| Pole position | |
| Driver | Hélio Castroneves (Team Penske) |
| Time | 1:07.1246 |
| Fastest lap | |
| Driver | Charlie Kimball (Chip Ganassi Racing) |
| Time | 1:07.6661 (on lap 8 of 80) |
| Podium | |
| First | Simon Pagenaud (Team Penske) |
| Second | Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing) |
| Third | Hélio Castroneves (Team Penske) |
Castroneves took the lead from the start and led 49 of the opening 51 laps. Behind him, Simon Pagenaud was able to move his way past Scott Dixon into second, while Dixon was scuffled down to fourth by the time the first round of pit stops came. During pit stops, Dixon was able to leapfrog Pagenaud and his teammate Tony Kanaan to move up to second. At the second round of stops, Dixon was able to pass Castroneves with quick pit work. However, Simon Pagenaud was able to move even faster and get out of the pits just ahead of Dixon, handing Pagenaud the lead of the race. Controversy surrounded this, though, as Pagenaud placed two tires over the blend line at the exit of pit lane while trying to beat Dixon to turn one. IndyCar officials let Pagenaud off with a warning for the incident, despite protests from Chip Ganassi Racing and Scott Dixon.[2] In the end, Pagenaud was able to hold on and take victory by 0.3032 seconds, the closest finish in the history of the Grand Prix of Long Beach. It was Pagenaud's first victory while driving for Team Penske and his first win since the second race of the 2014 Grand Prix of Houston.[3]
For only the 4th time in the history of the race, no full course caution occurred at any point and for the second year in a row, there were no DNFs.
Report edit
| Key | Meaning |
|---|---|
| R | Rookie |
| W | Past winner |
Qualifying edit
| Pos | No. | Name | Grp. | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 |  Hélio Castroneves W
|
2 | 1:07.4449 | 1:07.0645 | 1:07.1246 | ||||
| 2 | 9 |  Scott Dixon W
|
1 | 1:07.5019 | 1:06.6459 | 1:07.4455 | ||||
| 3 | 22 |  Simon Pagenaud
|
1 | 1:07.6822 | 1:07.0578 | 1:07.7410 | ||||
| 4 | 10 | Tony Kanaan
|
2 | 1:07.5998 | 1:07.0624 | 1:07.7951 | ||||
| 5 | 2 |  Juan Pablo Montoya W
|
1 | 1:07.5156 | 1:06.9409 | 1:07.9054 | ||||
| 6 | 12 |  Will Power W
|
2 | 1:06.9712 | 1:06.8659 | No Time | ||||
| 7 | 5 |  James Hinchcliffe
|
1 | 1:07.6425 | 1:07.1415 | |||||
| 8 | 14 |  Takuma Sato W
|
1 | 1:07.7038 | 1:07.2299 | |||||
| 9 | 21 |  Josef Newgarden
|
2 | 1:07.4794 | 1:07.2548 | |||||
| 10 | 26 | Carlos Muñoz
|
2 | 1:07.3962 | 1:07.2663 | |||||
| 11 | 28 | Ryan Hunter-Reay W
|
1 | 1:07.7111 | 1:07.3171 | |||||
| 12 | 19 |  Luca Filippi
|
2 | 1:07.6214 | 1:07.9660 | |||||
| 13 | 18 | Conor Daly R
|
1 | 1:07.7520 | ||||||
| 14 | 11 | Sébastien Bourdais W
|
2 | 1:07.6432 | ||||||
| 15 | 83 | Charlie Kimball
|
1 | 1:07.8065 | ||||||
| 16 | 98 | Alexander Rossi R
|
2 | 1:07.6872 | ||||||
| 17 | 15 | Graham Rahal
|
1 | 1:07.8841 | ||||||
| 18 | 7 |  Mikhail Aleshin
|
2 | 1:07.8513 | ||||||
| 19 | 8 |  Max Chilton R
|
1 | 1:08.3843 | ||||||
| 20 | 41 | Jack Hawksworth
|
2 | 1:07.9929 | ||||||
| 21 | 27 | Marco Andretti
|
2 | 1:08.2045 | ||||||
| OFFICIAL BOX SCORE | ||||||||||
Race results edit
- Notes
1 Points include 1 point for leading at least 1 lap during a race, an additional 2 points for leading the most race laps, and 1 point for Pole Position.
Source for time gaps:[3]
Championship standings after the race edit
|
|
- Note: Only the top five positions are included.
References edit
- ^ "INDYCAR: Castroneves nabs Long Beach pole". Racer.com. Racer Media & Marketing, Inc. April 16, 2016. Archived from the original on July 25, 2016. Retrieved July 18, 2016.
- ^ Pruett, Marshall (April 17, 2016). "INDYCAR: Hull questions lack of penalty". Racer.com. Racer Media & Marketing, Inc. Archived from the original on July 3, 2016. Retrieved July 18, 2016.
- ^ a b Malsher, David (April 17, 2016). "Pagenaud scores his first win for Team Penske". Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network, LLC. Retrieved July 18, 2016.
External links edit