Dixon's Long Beach Effort Finally On Target

By MARTIN HENDERSON

Scott Dixon has won just about everything in the Verizon IndyCar Series. He won three series championships. He won an Indianapolis 500. But he had never won the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

That changed on Sunday as the lead driver for team owner Chip Ganassi piloted his red Target-sponsored car to a record-setting victory in the 41st running of IndyCar’s second-most prestigious race.

Dixon was the first of seven Chevrolet-powered cars to the finish line. Three drivers for Roger Penske—Helio Castroneves, Juan Pablo Montoya and Simon Pagenaud—finished 2-3-4; Dixon teammate Tony Kanaan was fifth, three-time race-winner Sebastien Bourdais was sixth, and Josef Newgarden was seventh. The top 10 was rounded out by Andretti Autosport teammates Marco Andretti and Carlos Munoz in Hondas and, in another Chevy, Sebastian Saavedra.

Dixon’s winning time of 1 hour 37 minutes 35 seconds, with an average speed of 96.8 mph around the 11-turn, 1.968-mile temporary street layout, beat the 2006 record set by Bourdais, 1:40:07.

It was the 36th career victory for Dixon, placing him fifth all-time; he had previously been tied with a legend from another era, Bobby Unser. Al Unser is Dixon’s next target with 39 career victories.

“It feels amazing to even be on the list with some of those names,” Dixon said. “The only way to build on it is to win races. I’m very fortunate to be with Team Target.

“To reach Victory Lane, it feels spectacular to win. It’s the first time for us in nine starts. We finally got it right.”

Dixon usually gets it right on most tracks, but success at Long Beach had been mostly elusive. It was his ninth start and only once previously had he finished in the Top 10, a fourth in 2010. In fact, Dixon had led only 25 laps ever in Long Beach prior to leading 44 on Sunday.

“I like coming here, I love the event,” Dixon said. “But as far as an event and coming and doing well and looking forward to it, it was never really on that list. To finally conquer it, a lot of credit to a lot of people. … All in all,t his is huge. Long Beach: I finally get to crack this one and I’m really happy.”

The performance was big in the series championship. After finishing 15th in St. Petersburg and 11th in New Orleans, Dixon entered the race 15th in the championship. With his victory, he moved to fourth. Montoya remained the series leader, with Castroneves three points behind, followed by Kanaan (minus 26), Dixon (minus 32) and last week’s winner, James Hinchcliffe (minus 36).

Kanaan probably deserves an assist. One of the race’s critical moments came on Lap 29 when Castroneves was in his pit but had to hold for a moment while Kanaan—entering after Castroneves but pitting in front of him—steered into his own pit box.

“It was so close,” Castroneves said when asked if Dixon had enough to beat him on track. “It was definitely close but that’s the way he passed me. … It was better to be safe than sorry.”

Castroneves didn’t think Dixon would have been able to pass him on track, and Dixon admitted as much.

With 10 laps remaining in the 80-lap race, Dixon held a 3.5-second lead over Castroneves and eventually won by 2.222 seconds.

Castroneves started on the pole with Montoya alongside him. Dixon, starting third, passed Montoya on the outside leading into the first turn on the first lap. They remained that way until the Castroneves pit stop on Lap 29 and Dixon caught his big break.

“It was a game-changer for us,” he said.

When Jack Hawksworth, who had pitted on Lap 6 during the race’s only full-course caution, finally pitted on Lap 33, Dixon assumed control of the lead.

When the second round of pit stops for the leaders were completed on Lap 60, Dixon still had the lead.

While Dixon was running away over the final 10 laps, there was some good racing between Montoya and Pagenaud for third place. Pagenaud hounded Montoya, and it allowed Kanaan and Bourdais to close. They crossed the finish line nose to tail, with third and sixth separated by 1.596 seconds.

Conor Daly, whose first time in an IndyCar was the Saturday practice before qualifying after Rocky Moran Jr., broke his thumb in a Friday crash, finished 17th after starting 21st.

Will Power, the defending series champion, started 18th and finished 20th—a lap down—after getting caught behind the stalled car of Luca Filippi. He dropped from third to sixth in the championship.

Ryan Hunter-Reay, a former resident of Orange County, finished 13th, and Charlie Kimball of Camarillo finished 15th. Rookie Gabby Chaves, last year’s Indy Lights winner, finished 17th for team owner Bryan Herta of Valencia.

All 23 cars were running at the end of the race.

Photos:

Team Penske teammates Helio Castroneves (right) and Juan Montoya finished second and third in the 41st running of the Grand Prix of Long Beach. Photo/Martin Henderson

Long Beach had Scott Dixon scratching his head in his first eight attempts to win the race; the three-time series champion finally won the race in his ninth try. Photo/Martin Henderson

Three-time series champion Scott Dixon won the Grand Prix of Long Beach for the first time on Sunday and jumped 11 places in the standings, to fourth. Photo/Martin Henderson