Indycars took to the famous streets of Long Beach, CA for the second race of the Verizon Indycar Season on April 13th
An awesome course that has been dominated by the Andretti name in the past (6 wins between Michael and Mario) saw two Andretti Autosport drivers starting on the front row. Those drivers, Ryan Hunter-Reay and James Hinchcliffe dominated ¾ of the race until a move by Hunter Reay wrecked the leader Josef Newgarden, himself, Hinchcliffe, Kanaan, Sato and rookie Jack Hawksworth.
With the front runners out and only 20 laps to go the race became a battle between Scott Dixon, Mike Conway and Will Power. Only two laps remained when Conway inherited the lead when Scott Dixon had to pit for fuel.
Mike Conway held off Will Power to get his third career IndyCar Series victory and second at Long Beach and his first with team owner Ed Carpenter (Carpenter runs the oval races & Conway runs the street/road courses). Rookie Carlos Munoz was third, Juan Pablo Montoya was fourth, and Simon Pagenaud was fifth.
What was great about the GP of Long Beach
* Paul Tracy was announcing on NBCSports. He’s a former driver and tells it like it is.
* A lot of action due to the change that allowed for some blocking and side to side contact
* Josef Newgarden led during the race (our little sister Alex was jumping up and down)
* Great moves by Power, Conway, Munoz and Montoya to avoid the ‘big wreck’ that took out the leaders (including Josef, which quickly ended the happiness of our little sister)
* Mike Conway started way back in 17th and won the race and did it with a damaged wing since lap 1.
The Top 10 included
* Drivers from 7 different countries
* 6 Different teams
* 3 of the 4 INDYCAR rookies
* All 4 Colombian Drivers
* 6 Hondas and 4 Chevys
Other Stuff:
* Mike Conway is the only driver to lead both Indycar races this season. That’s pretty cool considering he was almost out of Indycar when he announced that he was not going to race on ovals anymore.
* Simon Pagenaud and Will Power are the only two drivers to finish in the top 5 in both races this season
* It was Juan Pablo Montoya’s first top five since his return to INDYCAR from NASCAR
* It was Carlos Munoz’s second podium in just his fifth INDYCAR start
Don’t miss the next Verizon IndyCar Series race, the Honda GP of Alabama on April 27th on NBCSN!
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