Scott Dixon wins in Long Beach, Pourchaire excellent 11th

The six-time champion IndyCar achieved an impressive performance, managing to win despite a strategy requiring extreme fuel economy. Dixon took advantage of the only neutralization of the event, for the accident of Christian Rasmussen on the 15th lap of the race, to stop in the pits.

The leader of the event, Will Power (Penske), was on the same strategy, but the Australian ultimately finished sixth, 16 seconds behind Dixon. The Chip Ganassi Racing driver managed to conserve enough fuel, while maintaining a fairly high pace despite pressure from Josef Newgarden (Penske).

The latter, championship leader, experienced his own setbacks, being hit by Colton Herta (Andretti) at the hairpin in the last ten laps. The contact triggered the anti-stall mode of the car from Newgarden, who failed at the foot of the podium, completed by Herta, and by Alex Palou (Ganassi).

" It was very difficult ! I thought I wouldn't make it, I couldn't save enough. Luckily, we were just being careful! I hope we can continue to achieve such performances this year. Josef was coming back strong, I knew he was going to wear out his tires, but I didn't know if he was going to be able to attack very hard behind me as well. Chip Ganassi kept telling me to attack, and that's what I did.", explained Dixon after the finish of the event.

Pourchaire impressive for his debut

For his IndyCar debut, Theo Pourchaire (McLaren) delivered a top performance, with an eleventh final position, behind his teammate Alexander Red. Pourchaire made a very good start, gaining three positions, before remaining on the track during the neutralization. Starting back in eighth place, he managed to maintain his position until his stop on the 29th lap. Then author of two stints on soft tires, the Frenchman was able to maintain a high pace while overtaking several opponents to win the honorary title of best rookie at this Long Beach Grand Prix!

For the rest of the McLaren team, Long Beach will not have been a long, quiet river. From the start, Pato O'Ward collided with his teammate Alexander Rossi, causing him a left-rear puncture. If the American was able to return to the top 10 thanks in particular to an aggressive strategy, O'Ward had to deal with damage to the front wing and reached the finish in 16th place.

Romain Grosjean (Juncos Hollinger) also had a solid performance, arriving in eighth place. A choice performance that comes at the right time after an opening round full of promise but ultimately disappointing in St. Petersburg, and an accident at the first turn during the Thermal Club exhibition.

The poleman of the event, Felix Rosenqvist, experienced a real ordeal in the first stint, losing several positions. If he manages to finish in ninth position, the performance gap between qualifying and the race, already seen in St. Petersburg, will be an important source of work for Meyer Shank Racing, which certainly confirms having found very good things on the flying lap exercise this season.

Long Beach – Ranking