GP Long Beach – Presentation & TV Schedule
The city of Long Beach, south of Los Angeles, hosts the IndyCar for its 41st Grand Prix. After the crash involving the French drivers in New Orleans, the streets of the Californian city could take on an air of revenge.
Long Beach is synonymous with sunshine, the Pacific Ocean, and automobile racing. The city was the venue for several Formula 1 Grand Prix races in the 70s and 80s. Today, it hosts endurance races, professional and amateur touring car races, as well as single-seater races, including Formula E and IndyCar.
The city circuit features 12 turns over 3.15 km. The last two editions in IndyCar were marked by surprise victories from Takuma Sato in 2013 and Mike Conway in 2014. To date, it’s the only victory for the Japanese driver in IndyCar. Last year, Conway achieved the feat starting from the 17th position.
The most victorious active driver is Sébastien Bourdais; he has won the event 3 times in Champ Car.
Musical chairs game
Simona de Silvestro, Sage Karam, and Carlos Huertas have not found the budget to race in Long Beach. The Swiss driver has no replacement in Andretti Autosport’s No. 25. Karam, the young American, gives up his No. 8 at Ganassi Racing to Colombian Sebastian Saavedra (former teammate of Bourdais). Meanwhile, at Dale Coyne Racing, it’s a Colombian making way for an American: Carlos Huertas, winner of a race in 2014, is replaced by Rocky Moran Jr., 35 years old. Rocky last raced in single-seaters in 2005 in Formula Atlantics and then switched to endurance racing until 2011.
Hunter-Reay penalized
The two Frenchmen Bourdais and Pagenaud were involved in an accident caused by Hunter-Reay during the Louisiana Grand Prix. The American deviated from his trajectory, forcing Pagenaud to go through the wet grass. The Frenchman lost control of his car and collided with the other two drivers when rejoining the track.
Ryan Hunter-Reay defended his actions, accusing Simon Pagenaud of a futile overtaking attempt. After the race, Michael Andretti, Hunter-Reay’s team boss, acknowledged his driver’s responsibility. The race directors also found the American’s action guilty, deducting 3 points from him in the drivers’ championship.
The changes of colors
For this third race of the year, Sébastien Bourdais returns to the black and green of Hydroxycut and Scott Dixon to the red of Target.
Helio Castroneves and Marco Andretti are in bicolor white and blue while Graham Rahal, after the orange of St Petersburg and the yellow of New Orleans, switches to red Steak ‘n Shake.
The qualifications are live on YouTube via the indycar.com website: https://racecontrol.indycar.com.
Saturday, April 18, 2015
| Qualifications | 23h | Youtube | Direct |
Sunday, April 19, 2015
| Race | 22:25 | Canal+ Sport | Live |
