bigbadbrother
04-17-2016, 10:43 PM
Samuel Reiman
Team Penske’s Simon Pagenaud took his fifth IndyCar Series win of his career at Sunday’s 42nd Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach in Long Beach, California.
However, it wasn’t without controversy.
As the 31-year-old French racing driver exited the pits after his second pit stop, he appeared to cut the pit exit line and, in doing so, was able to pass Chip Ganassi Racing driver Scott Dixon for the lead and for the win. IndyCar reviewed the incident and handed Pagenaud a warning:
Helio Castroneves dominated the early part of the 80 lap race on the 1.968-mile long street circuit, which was ran without caution. However, Dixon pit a lap before Castroneves in the final round of stops and was able to put on a quick out lap while the Brazilian was held up by the lapped car of Jack Hawksworth. Pagenaud pit soon after, which is when the controversial pit exit moment above took place.
Dixon noted after the race that he was uninformed that Pagenaud had yet to pit, and so he had gone into fuel conservation mode which helped the Penske driver get up front.
Dixon challenged Pagenaud for the lead in the final stint, but was unable to get by him. Pagenaud entered the race leading the points after two second-place finishes in St. Pete and Phoenix, and will now extend his point lead heading into Barber Motorsports Park.
It was the closest finish at Long Beach in IndyCar Series history, and Pagenaud's first win since 2014 and his first for Team Penske.
Full race results:
1. Simon Pagenaud
2. Scott Dixon
3. Helio Castroneves
4. Juan Pablo Montoya
5. Takuma Sato
6. Tony Kanaan
7. Will Power
8. James Hinchcliffe
9. Sebastien Bourdais
10. Josef Newgarden
11. Charlie Kimball
12. Carlos Munoz
13. Conor Daly
14. Max Chilton
15. Graham Rahal
16. Mikhail Aleshin
17. Luca Filippi
18. Ryan Hunter-Reay
19. Marco Andretti
20. Alexander Rossi
21. Jack Hawksworth
Team Penske’s Simon Pagenaud took his fifth IndyCar Series win of his career at Sunday’s 42nd Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach in Long Beach, California.
However, it wasn’t without controversy.
As the 31-year-old French racing driver exited the pits after his second pit stop, he appeared to cut the pit exit line and, in doing so, was able to pass Chip Ganassi Racing driver Scott Dixon for the lead and for the win. IndyCar reviewed the incident and handed Pagenaud a warning:
Helio Castroneves dominated the early part of the 80 lap race on the 1.968-mile long street circuit, which was ran without caution. However, Dixon pit a lap before Castroneves in the final round of stops and was able to put on a quick out lap while the Brazilian was held up by the lapped car of Jack Hawksworth. Pagenaud pit soon after, which is when the controversial pit exit moment above took place.
Dixon noted after the race that he was uninformed that Pagenaud had yet to pit, and so he had gone into fuel conservation mode which helped the Penske driver get up front.
Dixon challenged Pagenaud for the lead in the final stint, but was unable to get by him. Pagenaud entered the race leading the points after two second-place finishes in St. Pete and Phoenix, and will now extend his point lead heading into Barber Motorsports Park.
It was the closest finish at Long Beach in IndyCar Series history, and Pagenaud's first win since 2014 and his first for Team Penske.
Full race results:
1. Simon Pagenaud
2. Scott Dixon
3. Helio Castroneves
4. Juan Pablo Montoya
5. Takuma Sato
6. Tony Kanaan
7. Will Power
8. James Hinchcliffe
9. Sebastien Bourdais
10. Josef Newgarden
11. Charlie Kimball
12. Carlos Munoz
13. Conor Daly
14. Max Chilton
15. Graham Rahal
16. Mikhail Aleshin
17. Luca Filippi
18. Ryan Hunter-Reay
19. Marco Andretti
20. Alexander Rossi
21. Jack Hawksworth