Second straight victory for Newgarden, Grosjean second

Mathieu WARNIER, Media365, published on Monday, April 11, 2022 at 00:28

After enduring late-race stress from Romain Grosjean, Josef Newgarden won the Long Beach Grand Prix, his second consecutive IndyCar win.

Team Penske is the dominant force at the start of the IndyCar season. After Scott McLaughlin’s victory in St. Petersburg and then Joseph Newgarden’s victory in Texas ahead of the New Zealander, the Long Beach Grand Prix turned once again in favor of the North Carolina-based team. And just like in the Fort Worth Oval, it was Joseph Newgarden who knew how to get the chestnuts out of the fire to win. Starting in pole position, Colton Herta maintained the lead both at the start and during the first stage of the race, ignoring a tie that caused Dalton Kellette to leave the track. The situation for the driver who will test with McLaren in Formula 1 this year changed when strategies were put in place. IndyCar champ Alex Palou seized the opportunity to take the lead ahead of angry Josef Newgarden and Colton Herta after falling back down the hierarchy.

Grosjean believed in her but lost to Newgarden

Scott McLaughlin, the championship leader before this race, made a mistake in the last corner of lap 35, hitting the wall of his car and a turn. A mistake pushed him to the bottom of the rankings. In the final third of the race, as he prepared to dig, Colton Herta lost control of his car and crashed into a wall, ending his race. The victory battle came back to life 19 laps from the end with the restart, after disarmed by a spin from Simon Pagenaud, which took him to 19th, which saw Romain Grosjean take advantage of fresh soft tires to finish second from Alex. Baloo before pressing Joseph Newgarden. The French were able to match the American but the door was never opened. While the race finished under a yellow flag, the Penske driver signed for his second win of the season and moved up to the top of the standings. Romain Grosjean took the fourth podium in IndyCar, and the first with Andretti Autosport, ahead of Alex Palou.

INDYCAR / LONG BEACH GRAND AWARD
Final classification – 85 laps (269.195 km) – Sunday 10 April 2022
1- Joseph Newgarden (USA / Team Penske) at 1:46’48’010
2- Romain Grosjean (FRA / Andretti Autosport) at 1”286
3- Alex Palou (ESP / Chip Ganassi Racing) at 1”759
4- Will Power (Australia/Team Penske) at 2″ 965
5- Bateaux Award (MEX / Arrow McLaren SP) at 3”712
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19Simon Pagenaud (FRA / Meyer Shank Racing) 4 laps
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Drivers’ Championship standings after 3 races (out of 17)
1- Joseph Newgarden (USA / Team Penske) 118 pts
2- Scott McLaughlin (New Zealand / Team Penske) 113
3- Alex Ballou (Spain / Chip Ganassi Racing) 103
4- Will Power (Australia / Team Penske) 102
5- Scott Dixon (NZL/Chip Ganassi Racing) 83
6- Romain Grosjean (FRA / Andretti Autosport) 75
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12Simon Pagenaud (FRA / Meyer Shank Racing) 50
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