The third round of the 2022 NTT IndyCar Series season will be the 47th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. Long Beach returns to April after closing out the 2021 season in September due to delays because of the pandemic. Chevrolet has opened the 2022 season with a pair of victories, but the American manufacture has not won at Long Beach since 2016. Chevrolet's early success has it leading the manufactures' championship with 187 points, 50 points clear of Honda. Chevrolet has not won three consecutive races since the final three races of 2020. All three of those victories went to a Team Penske driver, and currently Team Penske is leading the way having won the first two races of the 2022 season.
Coverage
Time: Coverage begins at 3:00 p.m. ET on Sunday April 10 with green flag scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET.
Channel: NBC
Announcers: Leigh Diffey, Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe will be in the booth. Marty Snider, Kevin Lee and Dave Burns will work pit lane.
Channel: NBC
Announcers: Leigh Diffey, Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe will be in the booth. Marty Snider, Kevin Lee and Dave Burns will work pit lane.
IndyCar Weekend Schedule
Friday:
First Practice: 6:15 p.m. ET (60 minutes)
Saturday:
Second Practice: 11:45 a.m. ET (60 minutes)
Qualifying: 3:00 p.m. ET
Sunday:
Warm-up: 12:00 p.m. ET (30 minutes)
Race: 3:30 p.m. ET (85 laps)
Qualifying: 3:00 p.m. ET
Sunday:
Warm-up: 12:00 p.m. ET (30 minutes)
Race: 3:30 p.m. ET (85 laps)
* - All sessions will be available live on Peacock
Penske Leading the Way
Two races in and there have been two victories for Team Penske. That may sound like a normal occurrence for Team Penske, but this year has started much better than last year.
Team Penske has had multiple cars on the podium in each of the first two races. Last year, Team Penske had multiple podium finishers in only one race, Gateway. The team took three of the top five spots at Texas. Last year, the only time Team Penske had three cars finish in the top five was Gateway and the only other race Penske had multiple top five finishers in 2021 was Long Beach. Through the first two races of 2022, Team Penske has already won two-thirds as many races as it won in the entire 2021 season.
With three of the top five drivers in the championship, 2022 is shaping up to be a much stronger season for Team Penske.
Scott McLaughlin has opened the season with a first and a second, gifting the New Zealander a solid championship lead of 97 points, 28 points ahead of teammate Will Power, who has been third and fourth in the first two races. Josef Newgarden's Texas victory has him 32 points behind McLaughlin.
McLaughlin is looking to become the first driver to open a season with three consecutive podium finishes since Scott Dixon won the first three races of the 2020 season. Three of the last four drivers to open the season with at least three consecutive podium finishes have gone on to win the championship, but it is not a guarantee of a championship. Since 1946, there have been 33 occasions of a driver starting a season with at least three podium finishes. On only 18 of those 33 occasions has the driver gone on to win the championship.
This is the first season Power has opened with two consecutive top five results since 2014. Power had three top five finishes to open that season and he went on to win the championship. Newgarden's Texas victory made 2022 the fourth time in six seasons with Team Penske he has won one of the first three races of the season.
Team Penske is looking to become the first team to win the first three races of the season since Chip Ganassi Racing did it in 2020 with four consecutive victories. This could be the fourth time since reunification a team has opened the season with at least three consecutive victories. Besides Ganassi in 2020, Team Penske did it in 2010 with Will Power winning the first two races and Hélio Castroneves winning the third. In 2012, Castroneves won the season opener and Power then won the next three races.
Team Penske has six Long Beach victories but has not won since 2016. Penske has won only twice at Long Beach since reunification. Penske's six Long Beach victories have come from five different drivers with Al Unser, Jr. the only one to win this race multiple times for The Captain.
Herta Hoping For Honda Bounce Back
Despite not winning either of the first two races to open the 2022 season, Honda should have some confidence entering Long Beach. Honda has won the last four Long Beach races, and last year, Colton Herta picked up an impressive victory from 14th on the grid.
Herta led 43 of 85 laps after failing to make it out of the first round of qualifying. It closed out his 2021 season with consecutive victories. It was also Andretti Autosport's third consecutive Long Beach victory after Alexander Rossi won in successive years between 2018 and 2019.
Rossi's Long Beach winning streak might have ended at the hands of his teammate, but he was sixth last year, his third consecutive top ten result at Long Beach after finishing 20th and 19th in his first two visits. One more Andretti victory at Long Beach and this will become the second track it has won four consecutive races. The team won six Iowa races on the spin from 2010 through 2015.
Romain Grosjean and Devlin DeFrancesco are just two of the drivers looking to become the fifth driver to score a first IndyCar victory at Long Beach. If either were to do it, they would be the second Andretti Autosport driver to achieve a first career victory on these streets. Mike Conway did it in 2011.
Grosjean would become the third Frenchman to win at Long Beach after Sébastien Bourdais and Simon Pagenaud. DeFrancesco would be the third Canadian to win at Long Beach in IndyCar, but fourth Canadian Long Beach overall. Paul Tracy and James Hinchliffe have won in IndyCar, but Giles Villeneuve won the 1979 Formula One race at Long Beach.
While Andretti has been on a recent run of good form at Long Beach, Chip Ganassi Racing was once the kingpins around Long Beach. The team won four consecutive years from 1996 to 1999. After reunification, Dario Franchitti won the 2009 race, Franchitti's first IndyCar victory after his return from NASCAR, and Scott Dixon won in 2015. Ganassi is tied with Newman/Haas Racing and Team Penske for most Long Beach victories. Another Andretti Autosport victory would make it a four-way tie at the top.
Ganassi has had the third-place finisher in the last three Long Beach races with Scott Dixon standing on the podium the last two years. Dixon has five top five finishes in his last six Long Beach starts. Álex Palou has not finished on the podium yet at Long Beach, but he was fourth last year, which was enough to seal the championship for him. Marcus Ericsson is coming off his first podium finish of the season in Texas, but Long Beach has not been kind to him. In two Long Beach starts, Ericsson has finished 20th and 28th. Jimmie Johnson will make his second Long Beach start. Johnson was 17th last year, which remains his best street course finish.
Meyer Shank Racing has two past Long Beach winners on its roster. Hélio Castroneves won the 2001 Long Beach race and Castroneves has four Long Beach podium finishes. Simon Pagenaud won the 2016 race, but Pagenaud's fifth place finish last year was his first top five result at Long Beach since that victory. If either driver were to win this weekend they would become the tenth multi-time Long Beach winner.
Another driver who could become that tenth multi-time Long Beach winner is Takuma Sato, who leads Dale Coyne Racing into the third round of the season. While being the site of Sato's first career IndyCar victory, the 2013 Long Beach winner has not had fond results lately. Since that victory, Sato's average Long Beach finish is 14.428. David Malukas will make his Long Beach debut. Dale Coyne Racing has only three top five finishes at Long Beach: fifth in 2006 with Cristiano da Matta, third with Justin Wilson in 2013 and second with Sébastien Bourdais in 2017.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing is another team looking for its first Long Beach victory. Graham Rahal's season has opened similar to his 2021 season. In each of the last two seasons, he was seventh in the season opener and then finished outside the top ten in the next race after being caught in an incident that wasn't of his making. Rahal had three consecutive top ten finishes at Long Beach before ending up 16th last year. Jack Harvey looks to return to competition after missing the Texas race due to his practice accident. Harvey picked up his first top ten result at Long Beach last year with a seventh-place finish.
Honda opened the prior two seasons with at least three victories on the spin. It hopes to avoid going winless through the first three races for the first time since 2016, when Chevrolet won the first five races.
McLaren's 40th Anniversary
It is an anniversary weekend for Arrow McLaren SP at Long Beach, but it is not tied to the IndyCar program.
This year's race marks the 40th anniversary to McLaren's first of two Long Beach victory. It came in the 1982 United States Grand Prix West with Niki Lauda winning over Keke Rosberg driving for Williams and Riccardo Patrese driving for Brabham. Andrea de Cesaris led the first 14 laps, but de Casaris' Alfa Romeo was caught in traffic and when balked behind Rual Boesel's March, Lauda swung into the lead and led the final 61 laps.
It was the first of two consecutive Long Beach victories for McLaren, with the 1983 victory being the most famous of the two. The 1983 race saw John Watson lead a McLaren 1-2 finish despite Watson and Lauda starting 22nd and 23rd respectively. It was also the final time Formula One raced at Long Beach before IndyCar took over as the main show the following year.
McLaren looks to accomplish something that has never been done by a team before: Win at Long Beach in both Formula One and IndyCar. Though this year's IndyCar season has started on rocky terms.
Neither McLaren driver has a top ten finish this year. Patricio O'Ward enters 13th in the championship on 33 points. Felix Rosenqvist is 19th with 23 points. O'Ward was failed to finish in the top ten of his last three starts, his longest drought since joining the McLaren program. Rosenqvist does not have a top ten finish in his last four starts and he has only two top ten finishes in his 16 starts with McLaren.
O'Ward has three podium finishes on street courses, including a victory at Belle Isle last year. This will be his third Long Beach appearance. He was 12th in 2019 driving for Carlin before last year's infamous retirement after contact on the opening lap with Ed Jones and subsequent gearbox issues. Last year's Long Beach race was the first time O'Ward has retired from a race in his IndyCar career.
Rosenqvist was hoping his pole position at Texas would spark his season. Unfortunately, he didn't even lead a lap before his botched pit stop set him back and mechanical failure was the final nail in his coffin after only completely 138 of 248 laps. Rosenqvist had three top finishes on street courses in his rookie season in 2019. In his six street course starts since the start of the 2020 season, his only top ten finish was eighth at Nashville last year.
Arrow McLaren SP has not had a top ten finisher in the last three races after having at least one top ten finisher in the nine previous races. The team has not gone four consecutive races without a top ten finish since from Mid-Ohio through Portland in 2019.
IMSA
Long Beach also marks the third round for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and like IndyCar, this is IMSA's first race in three weeks. With this being a street race, only three class will be on track: Daytona Prototype international, GT Daytona Pro and GT Daytona. But 26 cars are entered for this year's race.
There are six DPi entries, and after finishing third and second in the first two races, the #5 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac of Tristan Vautier and Richard Westbrook lead the championship with 676 points. They are 11 points ahead of Wayne Taylor Racing's #10 Acura duo of Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque. Daytona winners Oliver Jarvis and Tom Blomqvist are third in the championship, 13 points back in the #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura.
Earl Bamber and Alex Lynn sit in fourth after their Sebring victory. The #02 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac is 23 points off Vautier and Westbrook. Pipo Derani and Tristan Vautier are 40 points back in the #31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac. After a pair of seventh-place finishes to open the season, Renger van der Zande and Sébastien Bourdais are chasing the field, 135 points back in the #01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac.
GTD Pro will also have six entries. Daytona winners Matt Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet lead the way with 668 points in the #9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche, 13 points ahead of Sebring winners Antonio García and Jordan Taylor in the #3 Corvette. Ben Barnicoat and Jack Hawksworth are 97 points behind in the #14 VasserSullivan Lexus.
Cooper MacNeil will run the #97 Mercedes-AMG after competing in a Porsche in the first two races. MacNeil has 524 points and Raffaele Marciello will be his co-driver at Long Beach. BMW looks to get off the floor with Connor De Phillippi and John Edwards in the #25 Team RLL BMW. Their best finish was seventh at Daytona and they are 176 points off the championship lead. The #23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin has come out of the gate poorly. Ross Gunn and Alex Riberas are 232 points behind the #9 Porsche.
GTD leads the way with 14 entries. Team Korthoff Motorsports has a surprising championship lead with Mike Skeen and Stevan McAleer in the #32 Mercedes-AMG on 672 points. Ryan Hardwick and Jan Heylen has 615 points in the #16 Wright Motorsports Porsche. The #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG of Russell Ward and Philip Ellis has 491 points, 34 points more than the #99 Team Hardpoint Porsche of Katherine Legge and Rob Ferriol, 38 points ahead of the #96 Turner Motorsport BMW of Bill Auberlen and Robby Foley, and 40 points clear of the #12 VasserSullivan Lexus of Frankie Montecalvo and Aaron Telitz.
The #66 Gradient Racing Acura of Mario Farnbacher and Marc Miller has 417 points. Heart of Racing Team sits on 409 points for its GTD entry, the #27 Aston Martin of Roman De Angelis and Maxime Martin. Robert Megennis and Jeff Westphal have 363 points in the #39 CarBahn with Peregrine Racing Audi. Crucial Motorsports scored 345 points in the first two races with the #59 McLaren for Paul Holton and Jon Miller.
NTE Sport/SSR has 321 points in the #42 Lamborghini of Don Yount and Jaden Conwright. Paul Miller Racing is back for its second race of the season with Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow in the #1 BMW. GMG Racing will have Kyle Washington and James Sofronas in the #34 Porsche. Rick Ware Racing will make its first start in the GTD class with the #51 Acura for Ryan Eversley and Aidan Read, as the team will contest the GTD Sprint Cup championship.
General Motors has won six consecutive Long Beach races overall with Action Express Racing responsible for the last three victories. Corvette won three of the last four years in the GT Le Mans class. Last year was the GTD class' first Long Beach appearance since 2017.
The IMSA Long Beach race is scheduled for an hour and 40 minutes and will start at 5:00 p.m. ET on Saturday April 9.
Fast Facts
This will be the 12th IndyCar race to take place on April 10 and first since Will Power won at Barber Motorsports Park in 2011.
This will be the second time the Grand Prix of Long Beach has fallen on April 10. The first time was in 2005 and Sébastien Bourdais won that race.
Only twice in the 13 Long Beach races since reunification has the Long Beach winner gone on to win the championship: Dario Franchitti 2009 and Scott Dixon 2015.
The Long Beach winner won the championship in eight of the 13 seasons preceding reunification.
The Long Beach winner has won the championship in 13 of its 37 seasons on the IndyCar schedule.
Four drivers have had their first career IndyCar victory come at Long Beach: Paul Tracy 1993, Juan Pablo Montoya 1999, Mike Conway 2011 and Takuma Sato 2013.
The average starting position for a Long Beach winner is 4.405 with a median of third.
Last year was the sixth time a Long Beach IndyCar winner had started outside the top ten. Colton Herta won from 14th.
Fourteen of the last 17 Long Beach races have been won from one of the first two rows. Fifteen of the last 20 Long Beach races have been won from one of the first two rows.
The average number of lead changes in a Long Beach race is 5.054 with a median of six.
The last seven Long Beach races have had five lead changes or more.
The most recent Long Beach race with fewer than four lead changes was 2008, which only had three lead changes.
The most recent Long Beach race with zero changes was 2001. In the IndyCar-era, only two other races have had zero lead changes (1984 and 1987).
The average number of cautions in a Long Beach race is 2.837 with a median of three. The average number of caution laps is 11.432 with a median of 12.
Seven of the last ten Long Beach races have had three cautions or more. Twenty-one of the last 26 Long Beach races have had three cautions or more
There has never been rain on race day for the Grand Prix of Long Beach.
Predictions
Honda's Long Beach winning streak continues and it is Romain Grosjean getting his first career victory while leading an Andretti Autosport 1-2 finish. Scott McLaughlin will finish outside the top ten. Jimmie Johnson will finish outside the top fifteen. Alexander Rossi will finish better than his starting position. Devlin DeFrancesco will not make it three-wide when he shouldn't. Patricio O'Ward avoids being spun on the opening lap. Scott Dixon will be the top Ganassi finisher. Kyle Kirkwood will be the top rookie, but he will have Christian Lundgaard finish directly behind him. The driver with the fastest lap finishes in the top five. Sleeper: Graham Rahal.
