This weekend it is the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, the third round of the NTT IndyCar Series. Scott McLaughlin heads to Long Beach leading the overall points standings, 28-points ahead of Will Power.
It will be Scott Dixon’s 291st consecutive start. He sits sixth overall, 42-points behind McLaughlin. Drivers face 85-laps of the 11-turn temporary street course. Let’s look at some interesting Fast Facts:
Here are the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach Fast Facts
This weekend’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach will mark the 38th INDYCAR SERIES event on the historic Long Beach street circuit. Mario Andretti won the first INDYCAR SERIES race there in 1984. Colton Herta won the race in 2021.
There have been two winners in two races in 2022 – Scott McLaughlin (St. Petersburg) and Josef Newgarden (Texas). The last time Team Penske won the first three races of an INDYCAR SERIES season was in 2012 when Helio Castroneves (St. Petersburg) and Will Power (Barber, Long Beach and Sao Paulo) claimed wins in the first four races. Since 2012, the NTT INDYCAR SERIES has averaged just under nine different race winners per season, including a record-tying 11 winners in 2014. There were nine different winners in the 16 races of 2021, with equally tight competition projected for this season.
There have been seven different winners in the last 10 NTT INDYCAR SERIES races (Marcus Ericsson, Pato O’Ward, Alex Palou, Josef Newgarden, Will Power, Colton Herta and Scott McLaughlin). The only repeat winners in that stretch are Newgarden (Mid-Ohio and WWT Raceway in 2021 and Texas in 2022), Palou (Road America and Portland in 2021) and Herta (Laguna Seca and Long Beach in 2021).
Three California natives are entered: 2021 Long Beach race winner Colton Herta hails from Valencia while Andretti Autosport teammate and 2018 and 2019 Long Beach race winner Alexander Rossi is a native of Nevada City. Chip Ganassi Racing’s Jimmie Johnson is from El Cajon. Herta has won the last three INDYCAR SERIES races held in the Golden State (Laguna Seca 2019, Laguna Seca 2021 and Long Beach 2021).
Al Unser Jr. has won the most times at Long Beach (six). Will Power and Alexander Rossi are the only entered drivers with multiple wins. Power won in 2008 and 2012, and Rossi won in 2018 and 2019. Other former race winners scheduled to compete are Helio Castroneves (2001), Takuma Sato (2013), Scott Dixon (2015), Simon Pagenaud (2016) and Colton Herta (2021).
Five drivers have won the race from the pole – Mario Andretti (1984, 1985 and 1987), Al Unser Jr. (1989-90), Helio Castroneves (2001), Sebastien Bourdais (2006-07) and Alexander Rossi (2018-19).
Twenty-one of the 26 drivers entered have competed in INDYCAR SERIES races at Long Beach. Will Power has 15 starts, most among all entered drivers. Ten entered drivers have led laps: Helio Castroneves 194, Power 170, Alexander Rossi 151, Scott Dixon 104, Takuma Sato 67, Simon Pagenaud 54, Colton Herta 43, Josef Newgarden 22, Graham Rahal 4 and Jack Harvey 1.
Six NTT INDYCAR SERIES rookies – Tatiana Calderon, Devlin DeFrancesco, Callum Ilott, Kyle Kirkwood, Christian Lundgaard and David Malukas – are expected to compete. All but Ilott will be making their first INDYCAR SERIES start on the Streets of Long Beach.
Milestones: Alexander Rossi will attempt to make his 100th NTT INDYCAR SERIES start … Scott Dixon will attempt to make his 291st consecutive start, the second-longest streak in INDYCAR SERIES history.
NTT INDYCAR SERIES Point Standings: McLaughlin 97, Power 69, Palou 67, Newgarden 65, Ericsson 58, Dixon 55, Herta 50, VeeKay 50, Pagenaud 39, Johnson 35
The race gets underway at 12:45pm local time on Sunday, 7:45am Monday 11 April NZ time.
Comments